13.3 - THE ORGANIZED LABOR
MOVEMENT
THE ORGANIZED LABOR MOVEMENT
VOCABULARY
1. Knights of Labor
8. Sweatshops
2. Company Towns
9. Haymarket Riot
3. AFL
10. Terence Powderly
4. Eugene Debs
11. Pullman Strike
5. Socialism
12. Collective Bargaining
6. Homestead Strike
7. Samuel Gompers
WORKERS ENDURE HARDSHIPS
• Factories
–
–
–
–
–
Long hours- 12 hours a day, 6 days a week
Low wages
Sweatshops- small, hot, dark and dirty workshops
Dangerous conditions
Strict owners, quick to fine workers for breaking
rules or fire those that missed work
• Despite these terrible conditions, there were
always more workers than jobs
FAMILIES IN THE WORKFORCE
• As industrialization advanced, more jobs opened up for
women
• Low wages meant that both parents had to work
• Children also needed to earn a wage to help the family
survive
• By the end of the 1800’s, nearly 20% of children
between the ages of 10-16 worked full time.
– Conditions were very hard for children
LIVING IN COMPANY TOWNS
• Many laborers were forced to live in isolated communities
near their workplaces
• The housing in these communities were often owned by the
company
– Company Towns- Owned by businesses and rented to employees
• Businesses often owned a “company store”
– Goods were expensive and sold on credit with
high interest
– Workers could be arrested if they left their
jobs before debts were repaid
– Workers called this “wage slavery”
LABOR UNIONS FORM
• Workers tried to gain power against
employers by using collective bargaining
– Collective bargaining- negotiating as a
group for better wages or working
conditions
• One form of collective bargaining is the
strike, or agreement to cease working until
demands are met
• Strikes could be local or involve all workers
in certain industries
• The first national labor union was formed in
1834- National Trades Union
• In the 1830’s, Socialism began to spread
– Socialism- An economic and political philosophy that
favors public control of property and income
– Distribution of wealth
– 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote The
Communist Manifesto
• This pamphlet denounced capitalism and predicted
that workers would overturn it
• Many labor activists borrowed ideas from Marx
and Engels
FOUNDING THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR
•Founded in 1869 by Uriah Stephens
•It included workers from all trades and
races/ethnic groups
•Functioned as a secret society devoted to broad
social reform
•Terence V. Powderly took control in 1881
•Former mayor of Scranton, PA (Home of
The Office)
•Encouraged boycotts and negotiations
with employers
•By 1885, the KOL had 700,00 members.
•After a series of failed strikes, the KOL had
largely disappeared by the 1890’s
Forming the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
• Founded by Samuel Gompers in
1886
• AFL was a craft union
– Loose organization of skilled
workers from 100 local unions
devoted to specific crafts and
trades
• High dues created a strike and
pension fund
• Focused on wages, hours and
conditions
• Pressed for closed shops- union
members only
STRIKES ROCK THE NATION
Major strikes of the late 1800's
STRIKE
YEAR
CAUSE
EFFECT
Railroad
Strikes
1877
Response to cuts in
workers' wages
Set the scene for violent
strikes to come
Haymarket
Square
Homestead
Strike
Pullman
Strike
Part of a campaign to
1886
achieve an 8 hour
workday
Americans became wary of
labor unions, KOL
blamed for the riot
Economic depression led to
1892
cuts in steelworkers'
wages
After losing the standoff,
steelworkers unions lost
power throughout the
country
Wages cut without a
decrease in the cost of
1893
living in the company
town
Employers used the courts
to limit the influence of
unions
RAILROAD STRIKES
• Workers in West Virginia went on strike to protest
wage cuts.
• President Rutherford B. Hayes sent federal troops to
protect the rail roads.
• This angered strikers and spread to 14 other states.
• The troops were able to put down the strikers,
which became known as the Great Upheaval.
HAYMARKET SQUARE
• MAY, 1886
• Thousands of workers mounted a national demonstration for
an 8-hour workday
• Fights broke out between strikers and strikebreakers
• Conflict escalated between strikers and police
• Haymarket Square in Chicago 40,000 workers join in strike
• Anarchists became involved in the leadership
• A protestor threw a bomb, killing dozens of police and
protestors.
• Eight anarchists were tried for murder and four were
convicted.
• Many people began to associate unions with violence
HOMESTEAD STRIKE
• Carnegie Steel Workers in Homestead, PA protested
wage cuts.
• Henry Frick, Carnegie’s partner, instituted a lock out
and hired 300 guards to protect the plant.
• The strikers and guards got in a fight resulting in 16
deaths.
• Anarchists in the union tried to assassinate Frick
• As public opinion began to turn against the workers,
the strike was called off
PULLMAN STRIKE
• George Pullman cuts wages, but refuses to lower price of
rent and goods in his company town
• The American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs,
supported the strikers and brought a halt to rail traffic.
• RR owners claimed the strike violated the Sherman
Antitrust Act because it disrupted free trade
• U.S. government stepped in, claiming strikers were
committing a federal offense by preventing delivery of U.S.
mail
• Troops were then sent in by President Grover Cleveland and
broke the strike up
PULLMAN COMPANY TOWN
PULLMAN WORKERS WALKING OUT
EFFECTS ON THE LABOR MOVEMENT
• The outcome of the Pullman strike set an important
trend
• Employers now appealed for court orders to halt
strikes
• The government usually backed employers
• The labor movement split into many factions and
lost much of its influence