1. Wednesday October 22, 2014 Mr. Goblirsch – U.S. History
OBJECTIVE – Students Will Be Able To – SWBAT:
Describe the harsh working conditions and why workers began to organize in Unions.
AGENDA:
WARM-UP: Rockefeller & Standard Oil Cartoons
CONCEPT: Working Conditions & Labor Unions
GUIDED READING: Changing Workforce
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: Strikes Chart
PARTNER TASK: Inventions Poster
***Inventions Advertisement Poster DUE TOMORROW***
Oil Cartoons WARM-UP: (Follow the directions below)
***5 Minutes***
Analyze the 2 cartoons to the right.
What does the top cartoon say about
the Standard Oil Company?
What does the bottom cartoon say
John D. Rockefeller?
3) Based on these two cartoons, what do
you feel the public’s perception of
Rockefeller & Standard Oil were?

2. Ch 6 Sec 3
Working Conditions
& Labor Unions

3. WORKERS HAD POOR CONDITIONS
Workers routinely worked 6 or 7 days a week, had no vacations, no sick leave, and no compensation for injuries
Injuries were common – In 1882, an average of 675 workers were killed PER WEEK on the job

4. - Entire families had to work (women & children)
Changing Workplace
- Entire families had to work (women & children)
- Long work week (most 6 days, some 7)
- Long hours (many hour days)
Low wages (Child sweatshops pay as low as $.27 for a 14 hour day)
MEN: $498, $540, $631
WOMEN: $267, $289, $339
- No benefits like unemployment, vacation, sick pay, or medical reimbursement
- Division of labor = mind-dulling, repetitive
- Dangerous work conditions (fatigue, faulty equipment, little training = fires & accidents often)

5. CHANGING WORKFORCE HANDOUT
About how many workers were there in the U.S. in 1860? 1900?
What percentage of workers in 1860 were farmers? 1900?
In what decade did the percentage of nonfarm workers first exceed the percentage of farm workers?
About how much did the average farmworker & nonfarm worker earn in 1860?
About how much did the average farmworker & nonfarm worker earn in 1900?

6. LABOR UNIONS EMERGE
As conditions for laborers worsened, workers realized they needed to organize
The first large-scale national organization of workers was the National Labor Union in 1866
Fighting for better working conditions, wages, and hours

7. Labor Unions Form
Workers Unite---More Power in Numbers
A. Fight for: Benefits
Safer Working Conditions
Better Wages
Shorter Work Day
Collective Bargaining
B. Labor Unions
1. Early - Small, local unions formed since late 1700s
2. National Unions  Violent Strikes
Fed Govt steps in to end strikes
Public turns against the union movement

8. First Large National Organization – 640,000
II. New Unions
A. National Labor Union 1866
(NLU)
First Large National Organization – 640,000
William H Sylvis (Iron Worker)
NLU gets 8 hr Workday for Govt Workers
Many chapters refused Afr. Am.
Led to formation of CNLU
Labor Leader

9. B. Knights of Labor 1869
Open to All Workers – “an injury to one is the concern of all – 700,000
(Women, Blacks, Unskilled)
Equal Pay for equal work - Women & Men
Favored Arbitration not Strikes
K of L Logo
Founder Uriah Stephens

10. C. American Federation of Labor - 1886
(AF of L is a Craft Union)
Showed divergence in Union movement
Skilled Workers from 1 or More Trades
Founded by Samuel Gompers
Used collective bargaining to negotiate wages, hours
Used
Strikes As
Major
Tactic

11. D. American Railway Union
(ARU Industrial Union) – 150,000
Skilled & Unskilled in a Specific Industry
Founded by Eugene V Debs
“The strike is
the weapon of
the oppressed”

12. E. Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW or Wobblies)
Some Labor activists turned to Socialism
Open to all Unskilled Workers and Blacks
(miners, lumberjacks cannery & dockworkers)
Founded by William “Big Bull” Haywood

13. EMPLOYERS FIGHT UNIONS
The more powerful the unions became, the more employers came to fear them
Employers often forbade union meetings and refused to recognize unions
Employers forced new workers to sign “Yellow Dog Contracts,” swearing that they would never join a union
Despite those efforts, the AFL had over 2 million members by 1914

14. Not a strike, but who was involved:
Strike / Event
Name
Year
Who went on strike & Why
What happened?
How did it end?
Great Strike
Of 1877
Haymarket
Affair
Homestead
Strike
Pullman
NOT A STRIKE:
Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire
Not a strike, but who was involved:

15. Inventions Advertisement Group Poster
New inventions changed the way people lived and worked during the mid to late 1800s. Your group will be selecting an invention and your task is to create an attractive advertising poster to promote your new invention. Your poster should be creative, original, and include: the name of your invention, an illustration, and benefits of your invention.
1869 – Transcontinental RxR (P. 237)
1837 – Steel Plow (P. 217) – Typewriter (P. 232)
1831 – Reaper (P. 217) – Telephone (P. 232)
1874 – Barbed Wire (P. 217) 1879 – Light bulb (P. 232)
Late 1800s – Oil (P. 231) Late 1800s – Steel (P. 232)

16. Strikes Turn Violent
The Great Strike of 1877
B&O RxR Workers Protest Wage Cuts
Strike Impeded Interstate Commerce
Violence Erupts---Fed Troops End the Strike

17. Chicago’s Haymarket Square Riot 1886
Workers Protesting Police Brutality
Violence Erupts (Bomb Thrown at Police)
The Public Turns Against Labor Movement

18. Homestead Strike 1892 (Pennsylvania)
Carnegie Steel Workers Strike over pay cuts
Pinkerton Guards
Hired to Keep
Plant Open
Strikers Keep Plant Closed
National Guard
Reopens Plant
Took 45 yrs for Steel Workers to Mobilize Again

19. Pullman Company Strike 1894
Workers Laid off or Wages Cut
Strike Stopped the Mail from going West
Violence Erupts-Fed Troops End Strike
Strikers Fired & Blacklisted
Could Never Work RxR Job Again

20. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
146 Women Die in the Fire
No Fire escapes
Ladders Too Short
Windows & Doors Locked
Public Becomes Outraged
Led to Improvements in Garment Industry

21. Not a strike, but who was involved:
Strike / Event
Name
Year
Who went on strike & Why
What happened
Great Strike
Of 1877
Haymarket
Affair
Homestead
Strike
Pullman
Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire
Not a strike, but who was involved:
WHO: Railroad workers (B&O Railroad)
WHY: Protest 2nd wage cut in two months
State governors said it was impeding interstate commerce, so federal troops ended the strike.
1877
1886
1892
1894
1911

22. Not a strike, but who was involved:
Strike / Event
Name
Year
Who went on strike & Why
What happened
Great Strike
Of 1877
Haymarket
Affair
Homestead
Strike
Pullman
Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire
Not a strike, but who was involved:
WHO: Railroad workers (B&O Railroad)
WHY: Protest 2nd wage cut in two months
State governors said it was impeding interstate commerce, so federal troops ended the strike.
1877
WHO: 3,000 people protesting police brutality
WHY: a striker was killed & several wounded the day before
A bomb was thrown, and several policeman & workers died & were wounded. The public began to turn on strikes
1886
1892
1894
1911

23. Not a strike, but who was involved:
Strike / Event
Name
Year
Who went on strike & Why
What happened
Great Strike
Of 1877
Haymarket
Affair
Homestead
Strike
Pullman
Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire
Not a strike, but who was involved:
WHO: Railroad workers (B&O Railroad)
WHY: Protest 2nd wage cut in two months
State governors said it was impeding interstate commerce, so federal troops ended the strike.
1877
WHO: 3,000 people protesting police brutality
WHY: a striker was killed & several wounded the day before
A bomb was thrown, and several policeman & workers died & were wounded. The public began to turn on strikes
1886
Strikebreakers were hired to keep plant operating. Steelworkers forced out guards & kept plant closed until Pennsylvania National Guard arrived
WHO: Carnegie steel workers
WHY: to protest harsh working conditions & wage cuts
1892
1894
1911

24. Not a strike, but who was involved:
Strike / Event
Name
Year
Who went on strike & Why
What happened
Great Strike
Of 1877
Haymarket
Affair
Homestead
Strike
Pullman
Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire
Not a strike, but who was involved:
WHO: Railroad workers (B&O Railroad)
WHY: Protest 2nd wage cut in two months
State governors said it was impeding interstate commerce, so federal troops ended the strike.
1877
WHO: 3,000 people protesting police brutality
WHY: a striker was killed & several wounded the day before
A bomb was thrown, and several policeman & workers died & were wounded. The public began to turn on strikes
1886
Strikebreakers were hired to keep plant operating. Steelworkers forced out guards & kept plant closed until Pennsylvania National Guard arrived
WHO: Carnegie steel workers
WHY: to protest harsh working conditions & wage cuts
1892
WHO: ARU boycotted Pullman trains
WHY: Protest lay offs & wage cuts
The strike turned violent when Pullman company hired strikebreakers, & federal troops once again stopped a strike
1894
1911

25. Not a strike, but who was involved:
Strike / Event
Name
Year
Who went on strike & Why
What happened
Great Strike
Of 1877
Haymarket
Affair
Homestead
Strike
Pullman
Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire
Not a strike, but who was involved:
WHO: Railroad workers (B&O Railroad)
WHY: Protest 2nd wage cut in two months
State governors said it was impeding interstate commerce, so federal troops ended the strike.
1877
WHO: 3,000 people protesting police brutality
WHY: a striker was killed & several wounded the day before
A bomb was thrown, and several policeman & workers died & were wounded. The public began to turn on strikes
1886
Strikebreakers were hired to keep plant operating. Steelworkers forced out guards & kept plant closed until Pennsylvania National Guard arrived
WHO: Carnegie steel workers
WHY: to protest harsh working conditions & wage cuts
1892
WHO: ARU boycotted Pullman trains
WHY: Protest lay offs & wage cuts
The strike turned violent when Pullman company hired strikebreakers, & federal troops once again stopped a strike
1894
146 women were killed in a fire because they were locked in the factory with no sprinkler system
1911
Workers of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in NY

26. THE HAYMARKET AFFAIR
Labor leaders continued to push for change – and on May 4, ,000 people gathered at Chicago’s Haymarket Square to protest police treatment of striking workers
A bomb exploded near the police line – killing 7 cops and several workers
Radicals were rounded up and executed for the crime

27. WOMEN ORGANIZE
Although women were barred from most unions, they did organize behind powerful leaders such as Mary Harris Jones
She organized the United Mine Workers of America
Mine workers gave her the nickname, “Mother Jones”
Pauline Newman organized the International Ladies Garment Workers Union at the age of 16

28. Industrialization Costs & Benefits
DIRECTIONS: Draw a 2-column chart like the one below. Then, fill in the chart with each item based on whether it was a cost or benefit of industrialization.
Growth of large corporations - Labor v. Management conflicts
Corruption - Improved technology/machinery
More manufactured goods - Less isolation (regions are linked)
Better transportation - Less creative/skillful jobs
Poor/dangerous working conditions - Improvements in construction techniques
COSTS
BENEFITS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
More manufactured goods
Growth of large corporations
Corruption
Better transportation
Improved technology/machinery
Poor/Dangerous working conditions
Less isolation (regions are linked)
Labor v. Management conflicts
Improvements in construction techniques
Less creative/skillful jobs