Workers of the Nation Unite
The Baltimore-Ohio Strike 1877
Workers are Exploited
Long Hours and Dangerous
–
Exploitation, unsafe conditions unite workers across regions
workers have 12 hour days, 6
day workweeks
– Most
• perform repetitive, mind-dulling tasks
• no vacation, sick leave, injury compensation
families need all member to
work, including children
– Sweatshops, tenement workshops
often only jobs for women,
children
– To survive,
• require few skills; pay lowest wages
Labor Unions Emerge
Early Labor Organizing:
• National Labor Union - first largescale national organization
• 1868, NLU gets Congress to give 8-hour day to civil
servants
• Local chapters reject blacks; Colored National Labor
Union forms
• NLU focus on linking existing local unions and created
its own political party, Labor Reform.
• Succeeded in obtaining an 8 hour day for government
workers.
• Knights of Labor - open to all
workers.
– Knights support 8-hour day, equal
pay (regardless of race, gender, or skill), arbitration
Knights of Labor poster – Uriah Stephens >
Terence Powderly
Union Movements Diverge
• Craft Unionism - included skilled
workers from one or more trades
– Samuel Gompers helps found American
Federation of Labor (AFL)
• uses collective bargaining for better
wages, hours, conditions
• AFL strikes successfully, wins higher pay, shorter workweek
• Industrial Unionism - included
skilled, unskilled workers in an
industry
– Eugene V. Debs forms American Railway
Union; uses strikes
Eugene Debs (1855-1926), labor
organizer, giving a speech.
• Socialism - some labor activists turn to
socialism:
– government control of
business, property
– equal distribution of wealth
• Industrial Workers of the
World (IWW), or Wobblies, forms 1905
– Organized by radical unionists, socialists;
include African Americans
•
Industrial unions give unskilled workers dignity,
solidarity
Women in the Labor Movement
Women Organize - women barred
from many unions; unite behind powerful
leaders
– Mary Harris “Mother” Jones — most
prominent organizer in women’s labor
• works for United Mine Workers
• leads children’s march
– Pauline Newman — organizer for
International Ladies’ Garment
Workers at the age of 16.
• 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire
results in public outrage. Over 500 workers
were trapped inside and 146 women died.
Mother Jones (1830-1930), labor
organizer, leading children’s march.
Left–Side
“Labor Strikes Back”
Directions: Divide paper into 4 boxes.
• Each box: a title, a brief description of what
occurred and an illustration of the strike
(page 247 – 249) [266-268]:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Great Strike of 1877
Haymarket Affair
Homestead Strike
Pullman Company Strike