2. Most industrial workers worked six days a week for more than 12 hours a day. Employees were not entitled to vacation, sick leave, unemployment compensation, or reimbursement for injuries suffered on the job. Yet injuries were common. In dirty, poorly-ventilated factories, workers had to perform repetitive, mind-dulling tasks, sometimes with dangerous or faulty equipment. In 1882, an average of 675 laborers were killed in work- related accidents each week. In addition, wages were so low that most families could not survive unless everyone held a job. Therefore, with little time or energy left for school, child laborers forfeited their futures to help their families make ends meet.

3. URBAN LABOR -increased 400% by 1890 More industry = more labor -mostly unskilled labor Machines doing labor -assembly line work Making one part of a product, move along to another station “When I was younger, girls learned full trades, now they do not—one stitches seams, another makes buttonholes, and another sews on the buttons. Once girls learned to do all these things…Now you see then in those shops, seated in long rows, crowded together in a hot, close atmosphere… working at 20 and 25 cents a day.” ~Aurora Phelps

4. WORKING CONDITIONS -sweatshops Harsh workshops in tenements rather than factories -low wages Everyone paid low so owners can make large profits -long hours 14-hour days, 6-7 days a week -dangerous conditions Hot, poorly-ventilated, dangerous jobs -company towns “The bulk of the sweater’s work is done in the tenements, which the law that regulates factory labor does not reach…In [them] the child works unchallenged from the day he is old enough to pull a thread. There is no such thing as a dinner hour; men and women eat while they work, and the ‘day’ is lengthened at both ends far into the night.” ~Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives

5. WORKING CONDITIONS -child labor 20% of boys and 10% of girls under 15 had jobs to support the family

6. National Labor Union Skilled, unskilled, farmers Excluded Chinese Few women and blacks

7. KNIGHTS OF LABOR TRADE UNION -Terence Powderly -any kind of labor accepted Skilled and unskilled labor from all sexes and races Barred non-producers (lawyers and bankers) -eventually failed Used strikes as a last resort Strikes failed -weakness?? Advocated arbitration, which was not strong enough “An injury to one is the concern of all.” ~Motto: Knights of Labor

8. American Federation of Labor (AFL) CRAFT UNION -Samuel Gompers -Skilled workers only (carpenters) Only allowed white males Successful strikers Collective bargaining “Show me the country in which there is no strikes, and I will show you the country in which there is no liberty.” ~Samuel Gompers

9. Unions What did they want? Safer conditions- many businesses did not focus on worker safety, often poorly lit, bad ventilation, dangerous machines. Labor laws- place restrictions on what a company could and couldn’t do to workers. Better wages- because the big businesses were making so much money off of the laborers, they wanted more money.

10. LABOR UNIONS Tools and Techniques of Unions strikes - refuse to work Collective bargaining - negotiations Arbitration - 3 rd party makes decisions for both groups Boycott – refuse to buy products or services from a company. Closed shop – wanted businesses to only hire union workers “…I can never get a day’s work under that company or any other around here, for…I’ll be blacklisted. Then what will my wife and my babies do?” ~American Worker

11. LABOR UNIONS Tools of Businesses to fight Unions Scabs- replacement workers, often immigrants Lock outs- lock the doors and don’t let them work Yellow dog contracts- workers signed contracts that they wouldn’t join a union. Blacklists- names of union members and organizers spread between companies Injunctions- a court order to stop striking

12. GOV’T INTERVENTION -Railroad strike of 1877 Cut wages, railroad workers strike until wages raised -violent protests Freight and passenger traffic stopped on railroads Strikers tearing up railroads -Federal troops sent to restore order by President Hayes Damage done by railroad strikers in the 1877 railroad strike

13. HAYMARKET SQUARE -Chicago strike of 1886 Protesting police brutality used at another strike -bomb thrown at protest Police fire back at crowd -several people killed Strikers blamed, four executed -union activity was blamed for the violence Public turns against labor unions “They have grown rich and powerful on your labor. They amass stupendous fortunes, while you, who bring them into existence, are suffering from want. In answer to your pleadings they ask for the bodies of your little children, to utilize them in their gold mints, to make dollars out of them!” ~August Spies, Haymarket Square

14. Homestead Strike Carnegie Steel plant; Pinkertons (private police) tried to stop the strike Gun fire broke out

15. Pullman Strike of 1894 Injunction by President Cleveland ended this strike b/c of mail delivery (Sherman Anti-Trust Law)

16. Industrial Managers eventually take control of labor unions, forcing them to give up some of their power. They forbade union meetings, fired union members, and forced “yellow-dog” contracts. The federal government then helped the employers by pointing toward the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which stipulated that no one could interfere with Interstate Commerce. Because most of the strikes did interfere in some way (ex: destroying railroad cars), most unions lost the ability to strike without federal interference.