1. Late 19th Century Unions

2. Typical Labor Demands 8-Hour Workday Equal pay for women
Child labor laws
Workers’ Injury insurance
Abolish prison labor
Children Coal Miners

3. Knights of Labor Founded 1869
Key: welcomed all wage earners, skilled or unskilled
Led by Mother Jones and Terence Powderly
Union appeared to attack the capitalist system, not just improve conditions
Membership soared, but then fell when its later strikes failed

4. American Federation of Labor
Key: admitted only skilled workers: AFL
Led by Samuel Gompers
Concept: Force employers to listen, because craft workers could not be replaced easily
Demands: 8-hour workday, employers’ liability for workers’ health
To gain public favor: resisted appearance of attacking capitalism in general; instead, worked toward attainable goals
Exists today as AFL-CIO, one of largest unions in US

5. 1877: Railroad Strike 1881-1905: 37,000 strikes 1877: Railroad strike
Wage reduction on B&O railroad led to national railroad strikes
100 people died, 2/3 of railroads stood idle
Stunned public: fear and dislike of unions

6. 1886: Haymarket Strike Chicago’s McCormick Harvester plant protest
Police killed 4 strikers; ensuing riot killed 7 policemen
Middle class lashed out at labor unions, lowering public support of union movement

7. 1892: Homestead Strike
Homestead, PA: small town dedicated to steel mill owned by Carnegie
Union consistently won rights and concessions
1892: Carnegie, previously a union supporter, decided to break the union because other plants produced more than Homestead
300 Pinkerton’s security personnel tried to land from boats on river; fought by workers; 7 workers died, 3 security workers died
National guard called to put down strike
Union broke, workers returned to factory

8. 1893: Pullman Strike
Pullman: luxury train coaches, made in factory-planned city of Pullman
Depression of 1893: Pullman lowered wages, but kept rent costs high for workers
Strike, led by Eugene Debs
RR owners called on government to intervene: troops attacked workers
Workers burned 700 RR cars. Fighting killed 13, wounded wounded
Debs jailed; set precedent of using government against unions

9. Results By early 1930s Reform was slow to take place nationally
Child labor finally ended, but not until 1930s
8-hour day became law gradually around country by 1930s
Workers insurance became federal law in 1930s
Bobbin Girl in 1910