2. Conditions of Labor Long Hours and Low wages – 10-14 hour days – 6 days a week – Pay average: 3-12 dollars a week – Immigrants, women and children paid less. Poor condition, boring and repetitive tasks – Working conditions were extremely hazardous. – Thousands of workers were killed in industrial accidents each year. Lack of Security – Fired at anytime for any reason. – In bad economic times, manufacturers simply fired workers. – Workers lacked benefits: (unemployment insurance, workers compensation, paid sick days.)

3. Children at Work Many children worked in factories, performing dangerous jobs. Children were sometimes paid lower than adult workers.

4. Unions Unions: Organized strikes and other forms of protest to obtain better working conditions. National Unions: – Knights of Labor: formed in 1869 hoped to create a single national union by joining together skilled and unskilled workers. Demanded: – 8hr work day – Higher wages – Safety codes – American Federation of Labor: Was founded in 1881 by Samuel Gompers, hoped to create a powerful union by uniting workers. Unlike Knights of Labor it consisted of separate unions of skilled workers creating a federation.

5. Haymarket Riot The May 4, 1886, rally at Haymarket Square was organized by labor radicals to protest the killing and wounding of several workers by the Chicago police during a strike the day before at the McCormick Reaper Works. Toward the end of the Haymarket Square rally, a group of policemen arrived to disperse the crowd. As the police advanced, an individual who was never identified threw a bomb at the police. The police and possibly some members of the crowd opened fire and chaos ensued. Seven police officers and at least one civilian died as a result of the violence that day, and an untold number of other people were injured.

6. Homestead Riot July 6, 1892 Andrew Carnegie’s Steel Plant decided to cut wages, due to an economic down turn. Displaced workers opened fire on a barge loaded with 300 Pinkerton agents who were being brought in as strikebreakers. A battle raged for several hours. Three Pinkerton agents and seven strikers (or their supporters) were killed; later, several other men died from their wounds. The governor of Pennsylvania called out the state militia to enable management to regain control of the area. The Homestead plant was reopened to non-union workers, but wages were cut beyond the earlier proposal and the work day was lengthened. The union continued the strike until November, when they capitulated. Many strikers were blacklisted, which prevented them from regaining employment as steelworkers elsewhere.

7. Pullman Riot Pullman's cars became popular with the railroads, and in 1867 he formed the Pullman Palace Car Company. – Pullman cut the wages of workers by one-third, but he refused to lower the rents in the company housing. In response, the American Railway Union, called for a strike at the Pullman Palace Car Company complex. – Outraged by the strike at his factory, Pullman closed the plant. The union's national convention voted to refuse to work on any train in the country that had a Pullman car, which brought the nation's passenger rail service to a standstill. – On July 2, 1894 the federal government got an injunction in federal court which ordered an end to the strike. – President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to Chicago to enforce the court ruling. When they arrived on July 4, 1894, riots broke out in Chicago and 26 civilians were killed. A railroad yard was burned.

8. Closing Task: (Individually you will create a 3 flap foldable on the “Three Great Strikes” – You have to answer the following for each strike: Where did it happen? When did it happen? Who were involved? Why did it happen? What happened?