1. Chapter 24 B Labor Unions and Strikes

2. Positive and Negative Effects of Unionism
Standard of living is higher
Jobs are available
Negative:
Rise in immigration (cheap wages)
Job competition (nativism rises)
*Union: a group of workers that fight for a common cause
*Collective Bargaining:
(1)
(2)

3. Employers “controlling” Unions / Factors that LIMIT the success of Labor Unions
Yellow Dog Contracts / Ironclad Oaths– swearing
an oath they will NOT join a Union
Blacklist – if you are part of or leader of a union against the productivity of a business, you are placed on this list / difficult for you to get a job
Lockout: owner tells the employees not to bother showing up until they agree to a pay cut
Scabs: Strikebreakers (hired to continue economy of
business while strikers are not working)
Company Towns (used by:
*SCRIP* = town money used at town store
Given “EASY CREDIT”…thus keeping workers in debt and can’t get out!
Interstate Commerce: a company claims strikers are affecting interstate commerce and the federal government comes running!

4. Early Labor Unions (Post Civil War)
National Labor Union (NLU) 1866 –
refused African Americans as members
Skilled and unskilled (Trade unionism)
Leader: William Sylvis
Tactics:
Lobbied Congress, not the Employers
Used *Arbitration (settled by a mediator / not injunction (federal government)
MAIN LEGACY: 8 hours a day (Originally pushed by Populist…later adopted by Democrats)

5. Knights of Labor Began in secrecy, and then publically emerged in 1882
Beliefs:
(1) EQUALITY = Equal pay for equal work
(2) ACCEPTED EVERYONE…(women and African Americans) / “skilled AND unskilled”
Leader: Terrence Powderly
(3) DID NOT USE STRIKES – refusal to work, as a LAST resort (favored non-violence)
(4) Practiced Arbitration
“Injury to one is the concern of all”

6. Haymarket Square Riot Chicago, 1886 Anarchists call for change!
Before: American public supported the Labor Movement
After: American public “turned” on the Labor Movement due to: VIOLENCE!
Outcome:
(1) KOL were blamed for the intermingled anarchists’ regime against the federal government
(2) Governor John P. Atgeld “pardoned” the sentenced anarchists (unpopular and cost him reelection)

7. The AF of L (American Federation of Labor)
Leader: Samuel Gompers (1886)
Main agenda: USE STRIKES ALL THE TIME
Membership: Housed ONLY skilled workers.
Justification: unskilled laborers would weaken the Union
Labor Day (1894) granted, ironically, workers a day off of work

8. American Railway Union (ARU) / Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Leader - EUGENE V. DEBS (SOCIALIST)
*STRIKES WERE USED!
“The Strike is the weapon of the oppressed” Eugene V. Debs

9. Socialism and I.W.W
Socialism – an economic system in which the government controls business and property / less extreme version of communism
Individuals do not work for themselves, but live in corporation of one another
Purpose: Overthrow Capitalism
Pro: total equality regardless of physical differences
Con: hard workers get no support
“EQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH”
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD (IWW)
****************Example of Socialist Union*********************
Formed in 1905 and used through WWI
Mostly Unskilled workers
Leader: Eugene V. Debs
Nickname: Wobblies
Used STRIKES….all the time! (USED VIOLENCE)
* Socialist Unions – EUGENE V. DEBS!!!!!!!!

10. Women Organize Fighting for: Better working conditions Equality
End of child labor
****MAIN LEADER: MARY HARRIS JONES (MOTHER)
To expose the cruelties of child labor – Mary Harris Jones led a march of 80 mill children to the home of President Teddy Roosevelt….this crusade influenced the passage of Child Labor Laws

13. Triangle Shirtwaste Factory Fire
March 25, 1911 (New York City)
Oil-drenched machines caught on fire! (conditions)
Company locked all of the doors *(Crime / force)
146 women died (from fire or jumping)
MAJOR EFFECT/ Public Reaction: a task force was set up
to study working conditions of many industries in New York
* spurred the growth of improved factory conditions and
safety standards