1. INDUSTRIAL AGE
How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875 to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved.

2. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement Knights of Labor 1. Leader
Uriah Stephens & Terence Powderly
2. Members/Eligibility
Open Membership = Male, Female, African American, etc.
3. Goals
Reform Economic system = worker cooperatives, abolition of trusts, abolition of child labor, 8hr. Day, govt. regulation
4. Methods of Achieving Goals
Arbitration (preferred, but couldn’t stop local assemblies from striking
5. Results/Public Perceptions
a = May Day & Great Upheaval = strike failures and fear of economic chaos
b. Haymarket = become associated with anarchists
c. Large and loosely organized
d. By 1890s = down to 100,000 and disappear by mid 1890s

3. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement American Federation of Labor (AFL)
1. Leader
Samuel Gompers
2. Members/Eligibility
Skilled Workers = Association of Craft Unions
3. Goals
“bread & butter” issues (accept capitalism/wage system)
Better Wages, Hours, Working Conditions = not economic or governmental reform; concentrate on relationship between management and labor
4. Methods of Achieving Goals
bargain collectively & closed shop
walk out, boycott, strikes against employers who refuse to bargain
5. Public Perceptions
Not as bad as K of L, but still associated with anarchists after Haymarket

4. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 1. Railroad Strike 1877
Causes
i. Wages Cut 10% for 2nd time since 1873
VI. Union Movement
C. Strikes
1. Railroad Strike 1877

5. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 1. Railroad Strike 1877
Labor Actions
i. Strike = First National Strike, 11 states, 2/3 of country’s rails
ii. Railroad strikers joined by 500,000 workers from other industries
iii. Disrupt service from Baltimore to St. Louis, destroy equipment, riots in Pittsburgh & other cities

6. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 1. Railroad Strike 1877
Response & Results
i. President Hayes uses Federal Troops in W.V.,
militiamen used in other cities, 100 killed by end
ii. Shows resentment on both sides, and lengths both
sides would go to; Government use Federal Troops
iii. Fear of union by propertied classes

7. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886
Causes
i. May Day labor movement in Chicago
ii. Strike and violence at McCormick Harvester plant
VI. Union Movement
C. Strikes
2. Haymarket Riot, 1886

8. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886
Labor Actions
i. Labor leaders call for public meeting at Haymarket Square
ii. Radical and anarchists present

9. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886
Response & Results
i. Police attempt to break up, bomb thrown
ii. Kills 7 policemen, 60+ injured; police fire into crowd and kill 4 civilians
iii. 8 anarchists accused & found guilty; 7 sentenced to death, 4 executed, 1 suicide, 3 pardoned (Gov. John Altgeld)
iv. Most middle class associate unions w/ anarchists

10. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
Causes
i. Frick & Carnegie cut wages 20% in 1892
Had been cutting wages for two years = not want to pay workers by ton produced but by sliding scale (market price) = want streamline efforts & cut labor costs
want to get rid of union at Homestead plant

11. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
b. Labor Actions
Strike

12. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
c. Response & Results
i. Frick closes Plant & calls in Pinkertons (strikebreakers) = violence erupts, 13 killed & 100+ wounded

13. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
c. Response & Results
Firing continued for hours, “One observer estimated more than one thousand shots were fired in the first ten minutes”
“The noise that they made on shore was awful, and it made us shake in our boots. We were penned in like rats….All of our men were under the beds and bunks, crying and trembling.” (Gillon, Ten Days…)

14. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
c. Response & Results
“According to one account, the joyous crowd formed itself ‘into two lines, 600 yards long, between which the men from the barges had to pass.’ The crowd assaulted the detectives as they walked the gauntlet. A woman used her umbrella to punch out the eye of one man. ‘The men screamed for mercy. We were clubbed at every step.”(Gillon, Ten Days…)

15. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
c. Response & Results
ii. Governor sends in state militia
iii. Scabs used to resume production
iv. public opinion turns when radical attempts assassinate Frick
v. Union surrenders after 4 months & is broken

16. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 4. Pullman Strike, 1894
Causes
i. Pullman cut wages 25%
ii. Refused to reduce rents in Pullman town (already higher than surrounding rents)

17. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 4. Pullman Strike, 1894
Labor Actions
Workers Strike & helped by American Railway Union led by Eugene Debs
Effects rail transportation across the country
VI. Union Movement
C. Strikes
4. Pullman Strike, 1894

18. INDUSTRIAL AGE VI. Union Movement C. Strikes 4. Pullman Strike, 1894
c. Response & Results
Gov. Altgeld refuses to call out militia; Pres. Cleveland & Att. Gen. Olney get court injunction = interfering w/ mail
Debs & union leaders refuse, arrested and jailed; strike broken
Use of court injunction gives employers powerful weapon against unions
VI. Union Movement
C. Strikes
4. Pullman Strike, 1894