1. Industrial Age
Labor Unions Emerge

3. Hazards to Workers Industry grows; number of workers grows too
Employment in factories and sweatshops
Injuries are common
Pay is low (avg male made $498 annually in 1899, Carnegie made $23 million that year – tax free!)
Hours are long
No unemployment or workers compensation
Laborers mostly unskilled; easily replaced
Children as young as 5 work

4. Workers Organize
Knights of Labor – Early Union that allowed any type of labor. Eventually fails as unskilled workers can be easily replaced
American Federation of Labor (AFL) – Formed by Samuel Gompers. Accepts only skilled workers
Industrial Unions – Eugene Debs and American Railway Union as an example. All workers from one industry join together. Debs later jailed for role in Pullman Coach Strike – comes out a socialist

5. Workers Organize / Tools of Unions
Industrial Workers of the World – Socialist / radical union – nicknamed “Wobblies” formed in 1905.
Tactics Used by Unions –
Strikes, collective bargaining, arbitration
Tactics used by owners –
Blacklists, lockouts, scabs, injunctions

6. Government Sides with Business
Early on, the Federal Government supported business in labor disputes:
1877 Railroad Strike – Federal Troops break up strike – interstate commerce
1886 Haymarket Square Riot- Chicago, bomb thrown at police after brutality; union blamed for violence, loses some support of public
union leaders convicted – leads to decrease in union activities

7. Women and Children Workers
Often suffered most
Women made only ~1/2 what men made
Many children were crippled for life
Mary Harris “Mother Jones” begins crusade to stop child labor
Uses injured children as visual aid in strike 1

8. Public Support is Mixed
Public sympathizes with workers, but also likes cheap goods.
Triangle Fire in New York
140 women killed
Owners had locked doors to stop theft
Ladders could not reach top floor
Massive outpouring of grief and anger by public

9. From http://www.womanoperator.org