The Gilded Age
Workers and the Rise of Unions
Images of Gilded Age Workers
Images of Gilded Age Workers
Images of Gilded Age Workers
Approximately 200 laborers died daily in the Industrial North
Labor Unions
• Began forming in the early
1800s
• Did not gain significant
membership base until the
1860s and 1870s.
• Hazardous and harsh
working conditions from
industrialization drove
laborers to organize
Knights of Labor
• Founded in 1869 as one of
the first U.S. Labor Unions
• Terrence G. Powderly
became first leader
• Knights demanded
sweeping reforms:
• Equal pay for women
• An end to child labor
• Progressive income tax
• Substantial membership,
included women, blacks,
and immigrants.
American Federation of Labor
• Craft laborers of the Knights of
Labor broke off and formed the
American Federation of Labor
(AFL) in 1886
• Created under the leadership of
Samuel Gompers
• Catered exclusively to skilled
professional laborers
• Generally hostile to organizing
unskilled workers
• Opposed allowing women in the
workforce for any reason
American Federation of Labor
• Rejected the AFL’s idea of one
labor union for everyone
• Accepted the principals of
Capitalism, but with greater
shares for the working class
• Did seek equal pay for women
who did work in industries
• Eventually sought out women
leaders to help organization
• Objected to fundamental
economic labor reforms
controlled by the government
Industrial Workers of the World
• The Industrial Workers of
the World was a more
radical organization
• Nicknamed the Wobblies
• Co-Founded in 1905 by
leaders like Eugene Debs
and Mother Mary Jones
• More famous for their
militant anti-capitalism
Socialist stance
• Wobblies never grew to
more than 30,000
members before fading
away around 1920
The Goal of Labor Unions
• To negotiate with business owners:
 Better wages
 Better benefits
 Better working conditions
• If negotiations didn’t work, other
actions were taken by workers:
 Slow downs
 Walk outs
 Strikes
Labor’s Weaknesses
• Late 19th century workers suffered many losses
due to harsh working conditions
• Wages rose hardly at all and could not keep up
with rising cost of living
• Most labor organizations represented only a small
percentage of the industrial work force.
• ONLY 4% of industrial workers belonged to a
Union by 1900.
• 2 reasons for not organizing:
• Immigrants usually only intended to make some money in
America and then return home
• Other American workers believed they were not going to
be part of a permanent working class
Rise of Labor Strikes & Violence
1880 – 1905: Union activities in the United
States led to well over 35,000 strikes.
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
• Followed the onset of a
national economic recession
in 1877
• Railroad wages across the
nation declined and many
laborers were laid off
• 16 July 1877: Workers on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
staged a spontaneous strike
• Strike provoked widespread
violence requiring federal
troops to subdue the angry
mobs.
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
• The use of Federal
Troops by President
Rutherford B. Hayes
led to a nationwide
Railroad Strike.
• President Hayes called in
additional state militias
• Leading to over 100 dead
before the strike ended
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
• The Strike damaged
the reputation of the
Labor Unions
• Membership in many
Unions declined
• Interruption of nation-wide
rail service affected the U.S.
economy adversely
• Dislike for unions increased
Haymarket Square Riot
• May 1886: The AFL Called for an 8 hour workday
• Workers from the McCormick Harvesting Machine
Company went on strike to demand better work hours
• Police response resulted in the death of four strikers
Haymarket Square Riot
• The Knights of Labor
refused to support the
McCormick Co. strike
• The next day hundreds
of workers met in
Chicago’s Haymarket
Square
• Anarchists spoke up
against the police
brutality and the poor
treatment of workers
• A strong force of police
responded in formation
Haymarket Square Riot
• The Police ordered the
crowd to disperse
• An unknown individual
threw a bomb into the
crowd
• 6 Policemen &
67 Protestors
were killed
• 8 Anarchists
were convicted
as scapegoats
(4 were executed)
Homestead Strike of 1892
• The Amalgamated
Association of Iron and
Steel Workers Union
(AA) staged a strike at
Carnegie’s Homestead
Steel Company
• Strike was to protest a
pay cut and seventyhour workweek.
• Company Manager
Henry C. Frick set out
to break the strike.
Homestead Strike of 1892
• Henry Frick called in
Pinkerton detectives
as Strikebreakers
• 3 guards and 10
strikers were killed
• Federal troops were
called in to suppress
the violence
• Non-union workers
called scabs were hired
to break the strike
The Pullman Strike of 1894
• George Pullman’s
Company built a town
to house its workers
• Worker’s were forced
into debt slavery by
the company
• Eugene V. Debs and
the American Railway
Union called for a
mass workers strike
• Within days thousands
of workers in 27 states
were on strike
The Pullman Strike of 1894
• The Strike effectively shut down production and
services in all Pullman operations
• The Strike caused railroad transportation and U.S.
mail delivery to stop from Chicago and the West
The Pullman Strike of 1894
• President Grover Cleveland mobilized almost
12,000 U.S. Army Troops to deal with strikers
• 13 Strikers were killed, 57 were wounded, and
about $80 million in property was damaged
• Eugene V. Debs was arrested and imprisoned
Organized Labor Lost Strength
• The Supreme Court upheld
the use of injunctions against
labor unions
• Businesses gained a
powerful new weapon to
suppress strikes
• Resentment against Unions
by Middle-Class workers rose
due to radical leadership
• Organized labor began to
fade in strength and did not
resurge until the 1930s.