APUSH Labor Union
Review
Labor Union Organizations
 Shoemakers
in PA (1790’s)
 Mechanics Union (1820’s)
 Molly Maguire's in PA (1860’s)
 Freemasons (1700’s)
Knights of Labor (1869)
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Org. 9 tailors in PA
Secret society
Uriah S. Stephens
Gained influence during Great RR Strike 1877
1880’s dropped secrecy & became public
Terrence Powderly—new leader of KOL
Included everyone w/ a job—except bankers,
lawyers, gamblers & liquor producers
Aims of the KOL
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An eight-hour work day
Termination of child labor
Termination of the convict contract labor system (the
concern was not for the prisoners; the Knights opposed
competition from this cheap source of labor)
Establishment of cooperatives to replace the traditional
wage system and help tame capitalism's excesses
Equal pay for equal work
Government ownership of telegraph facilities and the
railroads
A public land policy designed to aid settlers and not
speculators
A graduated income tax.
Influence of KOL
Main strategy—strikes
 Successful in Union Pacific strike (1884) &
Wabash RR Strike (1885)
 Membership rose to over 700,000 in
1880’s
 Haymarket Square Riot (1886)
 KOL implicated
 “union” = “anarchism”
 Membership declines to 100,000
 Too large, too many differing ideologies
(some radical)
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American Federation of Labor
(AFL) 1886
Rise of AFL
 Led by Samuel Gompers
 Rejected Radical Unionization
 Promoted union for skilled laborers
 Used collective bargaining & strikes as last
resorts
 Wanted much of the same as KOL
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– Focused on higher wages, better workplace
environ, & shortened work week
– Left out minorities and unskilled laborers
Minorities & Labor Unions
 African
Americans
– Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
 Women
– Women’s Trade Union League
– International Ladies Garment Workers
Union (after Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Fire-1911)
Success of AFL
 AFL
becomes the largest and most
powerful union in late 1800’s early
1900’s
 Combating the ideology of “union” =
“anarchism”
 Most strikes are unsuccessful—put
down by police, state or national
guard
Radical Labor Organizations
 Wobblies—International
the World
– Big Bill Haywood
 Socialists
Workers of
WWI
 Labor
Unions benefit from WWI
 Fed. Gov’t regulates unions—promise
to keep union demands—pay, hours,
workplace conditions, end of child
labor in return for not striking
 Women & AA also receive benefits
 End of WWI—return to labor
problems
Roaring 20’s
 Labor
unions are hurt due to
assembly line (unskilled laborers)
 Open shops—refused to give work to
members of a union
 “welfare capitalism”—internal
workplace unions
 Booming economy
 “Bull” market
 Rampant immigration
Great Depression & Unions
FDR favors Unions
 New Deal Legislation
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– NIRA “blanket code”=unconstitutional—”sick
chicken”
– NRA—creation of National Labor Board—
employers must negotiate with legitimate
unions
– CIO (Committee of Industrial Organization)
 Makes
unions industry specific
 United Auto Workers
 SWOC