1. Labor unions in the gilded age

2. overview What’s a union? Why unions? The rise of unions Major unions
Major events
Women in the labor movement

3. What’s a union?

4. What’s a union? Groups of workers in the same industry
Elect leaders to negotiate with employers
Engage in collective bargaining over wages, benefits, and working conditions
Sometimes launch strikes to enhance bargaining power

5. strikes
Strike: when a group of workers refuses to work in the hopes of getting better pay, benefits, or working conditions

6. Why unions?: Working conditions in the industrial era

7. industrialization More people start working for wages
Work becomes much more unpleasant for many
Low-wage, low-skill jobs makes workers easier to replace  less bargaining power

8. Working conditions Long hours Low pay Most family members had to work
Extremely difficult manual labor, often with no rest
Dangerous work
: 35,000 deaths/year in factory/mine accidents
500, million more injuries
Panic of 1873 leads employers to lay off workers and cut wages

9. retaliation
Strikebreakers (“scabs”): workers hired by companies to replace striking workers
Immigrants
African Americans
Intimidation/firing
Sabotage/infiltration
Pinkerton guards
Pinkerton National Detective Agency: founded 1850 in Chicago
Private security and law enforcement firm
Frequently hired by factory owners to intimidate union activists and protect strikebreakers
Reputation for violence

10. The railroad strikes of 1877
Many small, local, trade-specific unions and guilds
July 1877: railroad unions organize strikes to protest wage cuts
Violent confrontations between strikers and police  huge impact on rail travel and shipping
Worst violence in Pittsburgh
July 21: State troops fire on demonstrators, killing 10
Mob sets railway property on fire, burning 2,000 train cars
Troops shoot their way out, killing 20 more
Rutherford Hayes sends federal soldiers
Strikes collapse thanks to imbalance of force, weak economy (more strikebreakers), and lack of central leadership
Spurs workers to organize across trades

11. Union membership,

12. The rise of unions

13. The knights of labor Founded 1869 Terence V. Powderly
Included skilled + unskilled, women, immigrants, black workers
Ultimate goal: workers’ cooperatives
Generally opposed to strikes, but engaged in some militant action

14. The haymarket affair
May 1, 1886: general strike for an 8-hour day led by all unions in Chicago
3 days of peaceful demonstrations; police shoot and kill two union members while breaking up a fight on May 3
May 4: rally to protest police violence in Haymarket Square
Police approach to break up the orderly rally
Someone in the crowd throws a bomb
7 killed, 67 injured
Mass arrests of anarchists and union activists
Result: public becomes suspicious of labor unions; destroys the Knights of Labor

15. The American federation of labor
Founded 1886
Samuel Gompers
Generally moderate
Concrete goals: wages, hours, collective bargaining
Generally excluded unskilled workers, immigrants, women, and African Americans

16. The homestead strike
June 1892: Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steelworkers (AA) negotiating with Carnegie steel plant in Homestead, PA
Henry Frick closes plant and hires Pinkertons to protect strikebreakers
July 5: Firefight between workers and Pinkertons
State militia called in to break the strike and protect new, non-union employees
July 23: Anarchist attempts to assassinate Frick
Impact: setback for AFL; loss for strikers

17. The pullman strike: causes
Pullman, Chicago: a “company town” for workers building Pullman railway cars
1894: Pullman lays off workers and cuts pay, but does not lower rents
Eugene V. Debs travels to Pullman and recruits factory workers to the American Railway Union (ARU)
The ARU calls for a boycott of all trains carrying Pullman cars

18. The pullman strike: boycott
June 26, 1894: ARU members begin refusing to work on trains carrying Pullman cars
125,000 workers walked off the job within the next four days
Huge disruption to transportation, shipping, and the economy in much of the country
Rail traffic shut down in 27 states
Railroads hire strikebreakers (“scabs”), including black workers
Violence by some union supporters angers the public and increases calls for federal intervention

19. The pullman strike: intervention
President Cleveland directs the government to shut down the strike
Federal troops protect strikebreakers and force an end to the boycott
30 strikers killed, 57 wounded
$800 million in property damage
By August 2, ARU ends the boycott; most strikers abandon the union and return to work

20. international workers of the world
Founded 1905 by radical Colorado miners
Known as IWW or “the Wobblies”
“One big union”: all laborers, regardless of race or trade
Ultimate goal: socialism
Often supported violence and sabotage
Collapsed during WWI and Red Scare

21. Women in the labor movement
Most unions excluded women from membership; nearly all excluded them from leadership
A few exceptions: International Ladies Garment Workers Union; Lawrence textile mills
1919: IBEW Telephone Operator’s Department strikes, shutting down phone service in five states
Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) – founded 1903; link between women’s and labor movements

22. Mary harris “Mother” jones
Lived approx
Traveled the country organizing coal miners and other laborers
Unconventional tactics
Included black and white workers
Used women and children in her protests
Didn’t wear a bow tie, but…