UnrtedStatesHislon',1G<.:vernmgnt
11R
@nr.reilong
EjLQji{.i,nslJNsNew Work Places
Setween1860'1900the populatton
of the UnrtedStatesmorethendoubledfrom32 mrllionto 76 mtllion.
At the ttmeof the
crvtlwar moslAmerrcans
werestrllworkrngon farmsor tn srnallfamrlybustnesses.
By l goo the typrcalworkerwas a
we gcer rnar or wegcworktr, an employe€of a companyor a corporatron.
fhey nowmadeupa significant
soc,alclass.
F ac t o ri e s
In 1870theaverageworGhopemployed
8 people,by 1900a fewcompanies
hadover10,000employees.
Therncreased
useof steamporverandelectricity
atfectedworkersin manyways.Highlyskilledcrattspeople,
ertis!n3, ceased
to be necessary.
Sometrades,likemachrnists,
tncreased
In importance.
In almo$everyarea,machines
tookoverby
performrng
andbetter
lobsqurcker
ln placeof arttsans
- men,women,andchildren
cameunsktlled
andsemi-skilled
machtne
tenders
whogurded
themachrne.
Thesepeoplerequrred
littletrainingandwerepoorlypaidwrthlittle1obsecurrty
beause theycoukleastyOereplacd.
Waoeg
wagesof workersremalned
thesameor declines
duringthelastpartof the 19rth
century
whilercal wegos.purchastng
,llhh
t'4wer tncreased.
Thecoslof livingdroppedmorequicklythanwages.Purchasngpowerln 1900wasalmost5096beterthan
, d60
The"skilled aristocracyof labor'- locomotive
printers,
engineers,
machinists,
carpenters,
andothercrattspeocie
tmproved
thelrearnlngsmorethanunskilledworkers.Theaverageannualwagefor a manufacturing
workerin l gOJwas$,435
or 58 37l'veek.
Unskllled
workerswerepatdabout$.1O/hour
or S5.s0ineek.
A girlof12or 13,tending
a loomin a texlilemt1,
mtghttakehomeas littleas $21rc€katler vanousfineshad beentalen out.
H ou r g
lours variedwidelywithgovernmenternployeeshavingan &hour day since184O.Skilledrvorkersin the buildingtrades
generally
workeda l0-hourday.Factory
workerswereluckyit theyworkeda 12-hour
itwas
daysince,duringthesummer,
oftena 16-hour
day.
=3cloryworkerswereregularly
laidotf becauseol economic
changes.Somerrcrkwasseasonal.
rnthe
ln timesof depressron
t 870'sand 1890's.ab,out
12a/o
of the populationwas unemployed.
W o r k i n oC o n d i t i o n s
Manyrndustrres,
railroads,
werenotsafeplacesto work.Everyyearonerailroadworkerin 26wastnluredandonern
especrally
400waskrlled
workers
without
fingers
Textrle
or handswerea commonsightin everymilltown.
wasgenerally
tsetween188&1900,35,000workerswerekilledon thajob,an avarageof 5lday.Employercompensation
lust
TlEo:ral expens€s.ln thecoajfields,it was consrderedgenerousrtthe ownerotlereda deadmine/ssona job, especiajlyIt the
'',v
Wasunderage.
Thc Comornv Town
ln acomprny town, employersnot onlyohtn€dthe fctory hn dso trc homss,doreg,sdtools.andevenchurchburldings.
Theywereusedto controlemployees.lf the companyownedthctstoreat whichlood was purchased,
workerswouldbe pardin
sCript rarherlhancash
Scrrptcculd only be us€'fat the company$ore so the ernployermadea Frriit on thai also.if employeeswent
Inlodebt at the
:0mpany store,the employerwouldhave added leverageagatnstihe wcrkerrn cf,s€ of a disoute.
F O F M A T I O NG F U i { | O N S
-abor Oroanization
n lhe Industrlal
raptdly.As industry
era.labororganrzatlons
developed
grew,ownersdemanded
morefromtheirworkers.As
nanagementbecam€tncreastngly
dlstancedfrom ttsworkers,employees
organized
gain
to
recognition
andbetterconditions.
'hey
establlshedunpns. Crrlt unlont organizedworkersby a partcularskiltard Indurtrhl unlonr organized
allworkers
1 a partrcular
tndustry.Workersrealizedth€ strengthof actingtogetherandengagingin collcclvc brrglf nlng (workers
to seekcommondemandsinsteadof doingit individually).
rnrtrng
,lationrl Lrbor Unlon
n 1888 Wllllrm Sylvlr foundedan organization
calfedtho Ndlon.l Lrbor Unlon. He believedthattheworkerstuture
AfterSylvisdiedin 1869,the unionput up candidates
lependeduponpolitical
involvement.
in the Presidentiat
Electron
ot
t872.Theydid so pmrly thatth€ membership
was demoralized
and.by 1874,the NLUhaddisappeared.
l'ha Knlohtr of Lrbor
-he
Knlghtr of Lrbor wasorganaedby Urhh Strphcnr in 1 8 Ce. in admittedallworkss,frornskilladto unskitled.
the Knightsurgeda numberof basicreformsinctuding
Jnderthe leadership
of Totnncr' Powdtrly in the 1880's,
theeight
tourday,rtochrldlabor,equalpaylor menand women,andestablisftment
of cooperatves.Dunnga stnkein Chrcagorn 1885.
r bombwentotf and vrolence
aupted. The Knightsof Laborwereblamedlor theseincidents,knownas thaHrymrrkct
\ffclr. The Knighlsthenquicklybeganto loso marnbership.
'he
Amerlcrn Fcdcrrtlon of Lrbor
'heAmerlcan
Frdrrrtlon of Lrbor (AFL)wasfoundedbySrmuolGompcreinl{t81. ltomphaszed"breadand
rutterunionism,"!h€ seekingof betlcr economicconditionsfor its memborship,irrcludlrghigherwagesand inglranca.
iompers beliewd that workss worc concqn€d abost rrl wrger (disposableinccmo),fic amountof groodsand scrvicas
hatcan be purchasedby one'swages. The AFL accaptedindu$rialcagtafisrnand soughtto impror/€condilions.They
rrEanrzed
onlyskill€dworters. Localunitshandl€dthe day-todayaffairsol the unionwhilethe
alongcrattlines.accepting
handlcdpublicrdations.and provhedthc mainorganazation.
rarronal
unrtiobbiedlor legislation,
)rganrzedlaborin generalinsistedon a freoand puUicsystemof educationas a foundaticnfordemocrrcy.In additionthey
,tressedinclusonol fre practicalas wdl and tha libcralarts Compulsoryscfrcolattandarcowils.lnothergoal 8y removing
:hrldrenfrom the worktorce,job compditlonwas lcssonod
f a n a g e m o n t ' sP o s i t l o n
interlerenca;irpruasc productlvrt!and prolitat minimal
/anagement'sgoalsare to mana€ethdr cornpenieswilhoutotrtsi<Je
(right
hira
to
any workers,unionor non-union).
an openshop
ost anCmarntarn
WEAPONSUSEOBY EOTH SIDES
POWERFUL
Unions
Strikr
I boycott
i strikc fund - S forsirikers
'. pickrtlng
i. publlctty
Emolovars
1 , lockout (refusrng
to letworkasin)
ers)
2. hirirqf c. br (sfikebreafi
3 . Inlunctlon (courtstopactionorder)
of
notto unioniza
ascondition
4, yollow dog contrrct - *ortcrs agreG
employmgrt
5. blrckflct
break
theprocsss
of colhctlvr brrgrfnlng, lf ncgotiations
agre€ments
aredeided through
dosttabor-management
mayb€$ught. .ln mcdlrtlon, a diintcrestd thirdpartyst k3to wortoute olution. ln
or arbitraton
lown,mediation
rrbttrrilon, bothsidesagreeto abirtcbythc dccisionof a dlintcrestcdthirdparty.
SocialStudies11
LaborOrganizations
lnfol'n.t
Fiame:
Date:
waydid the typeof taborchang*fcr the average
American
by
2. Howdid machinesaffectartisan$?
3. Who replacedartisans?
4. Whatarerealwages?
5. Whathappened
to realwagesby 1900?
6. Approximately
howmuchdid an un
7. ${owlongwasa faCorywcrkersday?
8. Whatwas a cornnarrv
tour,n?
9. What was scl-lpt?
10.Whatis tnedifierence
between
a crattunionanffi
11. Whatis coileclive
bargaining?
12.what typeof workersdid the Knightsor l-aooiaomin
13.Wahtdid .$arnuel
Gornpers'
America
do?
14.List3 t*chnlquesueedLryunicnsto attaintherrgoals"
1.
2. __*.
3.
15. Lisi3 tec,lilr,uns
rr;;;
1-2._
a
\
ilry@ars.