The Labor Movement Unions and Strikes “We’re not gonna take it, no we ain’t gonna take it. We’re not gonna take it anymore.”

Living Conditions for Workers Tenement: apartments located in urban slums that lacked light and ventilation Settlement Houses: multipurpose buildings in poor neighborhoods that offered social welfare, educational, and homemaking services to the poor or immigrants - led by middle-class women

Freedom and Liberty of Contract Laissez-Faire Policies = No Government Regulation Contract between labor and the company Government has no place inserting regulation Bottom Line: Workers get very little support from the federal government

Working Conditions Sweatshop: cramped, poorly ventilated textile factory Benefits of industrialization are distributed unequally Problems for Workers: Long Hours Low Wages Unsafe Conditions (35,000 die each year between 1880 and 1890)

Women and Child Workers To survive, many families put their mothers and children to work By 1900, 1 million women were in the workforce In 1880, 1 in 6 children <16 years old forced to work By the early 1900’s most states had passed laws against child labor.

Social Beliefs in the Gilded Age Social Darwinism: inequality is a natural and unavoidable part of society; some people were supposed to be rich and successful while others were meant to be poor and not succeed Gospel of Wealth: if you are rich, you have an obligation to share your money so that it can benefit the poor and society in general Hard work and perseverance lead to wealth, anyone can become wealthy Articulated by Andrew Carnegie

Tactics to Fight Unions Owners resisted unions with violence and government assistance Lockout: closing a factory before a strike can be organized Blacklists: names of pro-union workers that were passed around employers Yellow-Dog Contracts: workers must agree to stay away from unions if they want a job Court restrictions against strike

The Rise of Labor Unions The growth of industrialization matched by the rise of labor unions Before unions = low pay, long hours, unsafe conditions, fierce competition This was due to laissez-faire because businesses were not regulated Workers responded by organizing and fighting for improved wages, hours and working conditions

The Knights of Labor -One of the 1st unions -Started in 1870, eventually welcomed workers of all industries, genders, races

The Knights of Labor, cont’d Goals : 8-hour workday Public employment programs Currency reform and graduated income tax Equal pay for women Regulate child labor

American Federation of Labor -Concentrated on winning specific and practical goals, collectively bargaining with management Different from large reform efforts like Knights of Labor -Focused on higher wages and safer conditions -Samuel Gompers

Haymarket Affair Advocating for the 8-hour workday Meeting of workers in Haymarket Square in Chicago Someone throws a bomb  7 police officers killed  7 activists were arrested and sentenced to death Knights of Labor loses popularity because people think they are too radical

Pullman Strike Pullman makes cars for railroads In 1894, Pullman cuts wages for workers and fires worker leadership  American Railroad Union, led by Eugene Debs, boycott Pullman trains Court prohibits the boycott  Debs is arrested

Homestead Strike Steelworkers in Pittsburgh strike to protest wages being cut (20%) Homestead Steel uses the lockout and private guards to defeat the strike 3 private guards and 17 strikers are killed Sets the steel labor movement back