1. The Labor Movement 20.4

2. Workers Organized Poor working conditions existed in most places 10-12 hour work daylow pay No sick daysdull, boring Unsafe and unhealthy working conditions Factory owners operated as cheaply as possible. Safety equipment is expensive and would keep them from making as much money. Average weekly pay was less than $10 a week

3. Workers Organized One of the first union created was the Knights of Labor Not very popular. Combined workers from multiple trades. First to allow women and African Americans to join.

4. Workers Organized 1873 US Depression lasted about 4 years. Many works took pay cuts, many lost their jobs 1877, B&O Railroad proposed a 10% pay cut. In response, workers refused to operate the trains. Workers in other cities quickly joined in. Grew into the Railroad Strike of 1877. President Hayes called for federal troops to keep order. Lasted 2 weeks, dozens of people killed.

5. Workers Organized Strike did not prevent the pay cut, but it did show how angry works were. 1884- 1885 there was a Railroad strike again- Union Pacific and 2 smaller railroad companies. Members of Knights of Labor Union which won their strike against the railroad this time.

6. Racism and Unions Most unions would not allow African Americans or minorities to join the union. Chinese workers made lower wages and faced violence at their jobs. During strikes, employers would hire African Americans and Chinese workers at lower wages.

7. Struggle Between Business and Labor Some unions were so powerful that they could threaten business profits with their near-complete control of the industry. Business try to portray unions as anti-American. They called them socialist or anarchists. Socialist- a system in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively by the government. Anarchist- someone who believes in anarchy or the abolition of all governments.

8. Violence Business and government leaders tried to break union power. Chicago, 1886, McCormick Harvester Co. locked out striking union members and hired strikebreakers to work for them. Union members, strikebreakers, and police clashed leaving a union member dead. The next day, union members called for a protest at Haymarket Square. Police moved in to end the meeting, someone threw a bomb. Killed 7 police and injured 60 people. The police fired on the crowd killing several and wounding about 100 people. Named the events the Haymarket Affair.

9. Homestead and Pullman Strikes Same year as the Haymarket Affair, American Federation of Labor (AFL), led by Samuel Gompers, organized strikes, boycotts, and negotiations to achieve it’s aim. 1904 AFL had 1.7 million members. Samuel Gompers and AFL were considered very successful.

10. Homestead and Pullman Strikes 1892 Andrew Carnegie reduced pay in the steel mills in Homestead, PA. Union quickly organized a strike, known as the Homestead Strike. In response, the mill locked union workers out and hired nonunion labor as well as 300 armed guards. July 6 th, fight between guards, locked out workers left 10 people dead. Armed escorts at to be brought in for the nonunion workers safety. After 4 months the strike collapsed, breaking the union.

11. Homestead and Pullman Strikes Unions lost another dispute in 1894, which was another depression year, many railroads went bankrupt. In order to stay in business, Pullman Palace Car Company cut workers pay by 25% but did not lower the rent it charged workers to live in company housing. After rent was deducted many Pullman workers took home almost nothing. The workers began the Pullman Strike, which spread to the entire railroad industry in 1894. Pullman Company refused to negotiate with the unions. Eugene V. Debs called on ALL US railroad workers to refuse to handle Pullman cars, causing almost all train traffic to stop. President Cleveland had to call in federal troops to end the strike. Eugene V. Debs ended up in jail.