Name
Date
CHAPTER
6
GUIDED READING
Workers of the Nation Unite
Section 4
A. As you read about labor and management, answer the questions below.
1. What conditions led to the formation of labor unions?
Union
Who led it?
What types of workers belonged to it?
2. Knights of Labor
3. American Federation
of Labor
4. Industrial Workers
of the World
5. American Railway
Union
Strikes and Violence
What happened?
6. Great Strike of 1877
8. Homestead, 1892
9. Pullman, 1894
10. Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire, 1911
11. What conditions led to the decline of labor unions?
B. On the back of this paper, identify who Mary Harris “Mother” Jones was. Then,
define each of the following: collective bargaining, socialism, and scab.
22 Unit 2, Chapter 6
© McDougal Littell Inc. All rights reserved.
7. Haymarket, 1886
Answer Key
Chapter 6, Section 4
GUIDED READING
A. Possible answers:
1. Conditions: Specialization of
labor; dangerous working conditions; low wages; long hours;
unequal pay for equal work
2. Knights of Labor: Uriah
Stephens and Terence V.
Powderly; all workers, regardless of race, gender, or degree
of skill
3. American Federation: Samuel
Gompers; skilled workers from
many different industries
8. Homestead: Carnegie Steel
workers struck because of poor
pay and unhealthy working
conditions; violence broke out
between Pinkerton detectives
and strikers; the National
Guard called in; strikers eventually gave in.
9. Pullman: Workers struck
because of low wages and high
rents; violence broke out when
Pullman hired scabs; federal
troops called in; strikers fired
and blacklisted.
4. Industrial Workers: William
“Big Bill” Haywood; miners,
lumberers, cannery and dock
workers; included women and
African Americans
10. Triangle: A company policy of
locking all doors forced many
workers to jump to their
deaths when a fire broke out;
146 workers killed.
5. American Railway: Eugene V.
Debs; unskilled and semiskilled
laborers, along with skilled engineers and firemen
11. Decline of unions: Legal limitations (the Sherman Antitrust
Act used against unions); the
growing opposition of business
leaders; negative public opinion toward strikes and socialism; decreased membership;
prejudices against racial and
national groups that kept workers from uniting
6. Great Strike: Pay cuts led railroad workers to strike; the strike
spread quickly across several
states; the strike halted by
President Hayes.
7. Haymarket: Workers gathered
to protest the killing of a striker
by police; a bomb was thrown at
police, who fired at the crowd,
killing several people.
B. Answers will vary widely
depending upon the specifics
noted.