LABOR STIVES TO ORGANIZE
CHAPTER 6 SECTION 3
Government and Business
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Government policies generally helped the business owners not the workers
o Laissez-faire capitalism supporters liked government help when it benefitted them
o High tariffs helped make domestic products cheaper than imported products
o Government did little to regulate business practices
American public demanded large companies be outlawed—critics said w/o competition business
would not maintain quality and low costs of goods
Sherman Antitrust Act passed in 1890 outlawed all monopolies and trusts that restrained trade
o Failed to define what a monopoly and trust is and proved difficult to enforce
Government did little to assist workers
o Distracted by political corruption
o Paid little attention to widening gulf between rich and poor
By 1890 10% of the population controlled 75% of the wealth
Nearly 50% of unskilled labor earned less than $500 per year
The New Working Class
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Demand for labor soared during this era
o Jobs filled by thousands of immigrants during the late 1800s
By 1900 about one third of all labor was foreign born
African Americans
 Immigrants were joined by flood of rural Americans moving to the cities for jobs including
African Americans moved from the South to find work
o By 1900 in Chicago 80% of all African American workers had been born south of Illinois
 Southern industries barred African American from holding factory jobs with few exceptions—in
1891 only 7400 black southerners held industrial jobs
 Even skilled African American laborers had difficulty getting jobs—best jobs went to native born
whites or immigrants
Women and Children
 Most women worked to help provide for their families
 Number of females and children doubles from 1870 through 1890
o By 1900 women make up 18% of the workforce—5 million workers
o By 1890 1.5 million children ages 10-15 worked in industry for wages—1 in 4 workers in
textile mills of North Carolina
Working Conditions
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In some textile mills children worked 12 hour shifts for pennies a day
Low wages and long hours affected all workers
o Unskilled white male laborers worked 10 hours per day, 6 days a week, for $10 per
week—non whites earned less with same hours
o Women and children earned about half as much as male
Fatigue made unsafe working conditions worse—1881 30,000 railroad workers were killed or
injured on job
o Most employers felt no responsibility to their workers—no effort to improve safety
Some employers built company towns—company owns the houses and retail outlets and paid in
company script—prices were higher than other stores—could control the workforce
Knights of Labor
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National Labor Union—federation of craft and industrial workers organized in 1866 – fell apart
by 1870
Nine Philadelphia garment workers organized Knights of Labor in 1869—led by Uriah Stephens
o Largely white male members until 1879 when Terence Powderly became leader—
rapidly expanded
o Powderly welcomed both skilled and unskilled laborers and included women—Mary
Harris Jones becomes prominent member organized strikes, marches and
demonstrations
o Mother Jones was sentenced to 20 years for her part in a 1912 strike in West Virginia—
public outcry got her freed
o Mother Jones died in 1930 at 100 years old
Knights did not allow African Americans to join until 1883—about 60,000 members by mid
1880s
o Knights did not allow Chinese workers to join
Powderly led Knights of Labor for 14 years—fought for 8 hour work day, temperance, equal pay
for equal work, and abolishing child labor
o By 1886 Knights had a membership of 700,000
The Great Upheaval
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Knights owed its growth to railroad strike of 1877
July 1877 railroad workers in West Virginia went on strike over pay cut
o President Rutherford B. Hayes ordered federal troops in to protect the railroad
o Use of troops angered strikers—strike spread to 14 states
Knights also grew after a strike against Jay Gould in 1884—wokers were willing to press for
better working conditions
1886 intense strikes and violent labor confrontations became known as Great Upheaval
o Economic depression in early 1880ds led to massive wage cuts—workers demanded
relief
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By end of 1886 1500 strikes involving 400,000 workers had swept the nation—many
turned violent such as Haymarket Riot in Chicago
Haymarket Riot
 May 1, 1886 40,000 Chicago workers joined a strike against McCormick Harvesting Machine
Company—over 8 hour work day
o Although craft unions organized strike—anarchists and political radicals took over
leadership
 May 3 a confrontation between police and strikers left two workers dead
 May 4 a peaceful and small rally in Haymarket Square was about to break up when 200 police
arrived—a bomb exploded amongst the police
o When the smoke cleared 60 officers were wounded and 7 dead one civilian died
 Police arrest 8 known anarchists on conspiracy charges—all 8 were convicted of incitement to
murder and 4 were hanged
Worker Activism Declines
 By end of 1886 activism had declined—employers wrote blacklists of union supporters who then
found it difficult to get jobs
 Employers also drew up “yellow dog contracts”—workers promised not to join unions
 When these measures failed employers instituted lockouts barring workers from plants and
bringing in nonunion strikebreakers—many were African Americans
 Tide of public sentiment went against unions and membership shrank
 Many skilled laborers broke ranks from unskilled and joined groups like American Federation of
Labor founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886
The Homestead and Pullman Strikes
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Unrest broke out again in 1892 at Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead, Pennsylvania
In June workers struck over a wage cut—managers responded by locking them out and hiring
300 guards to protect the plant
o Clash between groups left 16 dead
May 1884 workers at the Pullman Sleeping Car factory in Pullman, Illinois struck over wages
o George Pullman had cut wages but did not lower rents and prices at his company town
o Eugene Debs head of the American Railway Union supported strikers—in support of
strikers other workers brought rail traffic to a standstill in the Midwest
o Railroads turned to government for help—government ordered a halt to ARU strike
claiming they were preventing the delivery of U.S. Mail—leaders were jailed
 President Grover Cleveland ordered federal troops into Pullman in July
 Strike was broken and the ARU was destroyed.