Labor unions in the gilded age

1. Labor unions in the gilded age

2. overview • What’s a union? • Why unions? • The rise of unions • Major unions • Major events • Women in the labor movement

3. What’s a union?

4. What’s a union? • Groups of workers in the same industry • Elect leaders to negotiate with employers • Engage in collective bargainingover wages, benefits, and working conditions • Sometimes launch strikesto enhance bargaining power

5. strikes • Strike: when a group of workers refuses to work in the hopes of getting better pay, benefits, or working conditions

6. Why unions?:Working conditions in the industrial era

7. industrialization • More people start working for wages • Work becomes much more unpleasant for many • Low-wage, low-skill jobs makes workers easier to replace  less bargaining power

8. Working conditions • Long hours • Low pay • Most family members had to work • Extremely difficult manual labor, often with no rest • Dangerous work • 1880-1900: 35,000 deaths/year in factory/mine accidents • 500,000 - 1 million more injuries • Panic of 1873 leads employers to lay off workers and cut wages

9. retaliation • Strikebreakers (“scabs”): workers hired by companies to replace striking workers • Immigrants • African Americans • Intimidation/firing • Sabotage/infiltration • Pinkerton guards • Pinkerton National Detective Agency: founded 1850 in Chicago • Private security and law enforcement firm • Frequently hired by factory owners to intimidate union activists and protect strikebreakers • Reputation for violence

10. The railroad strikes of 1877 • Many small, local, trade-specific unions and guilds • July 1877: railroad unions organize strikes to protest wage cuts • Violent confrontations between strikers and police  huge impact on rail travel and shipping • Worst violence in Pittsburgh • July 21: State troops fire on demonstrators, killing 10 • Mob sets railway property on fire, burning 2,000 train cars • Troops shoot their way out, killing 20 more • Rutherford Hayes sends federal soldiers • Strikes collapse thanks to imbalance of force, weak economy (more strikebreakers), and lack of central leadership • Spurs workers to organize across trades

11. Union membership, 1900-2000

12. The rise of unions

13. The knights of labor • Founded 1869 • Terence V. Powderly • Included skilled + unskilled, women, immigrants, black workers • Ultimate goal: workers’ cooperatives • Generally opposed to strikes, but engaged in some militant action

14. The haymarket affair • May 1, 1886: general strike for an 8-hour day led by all unions in Chicago • 3 days of peaceful demonstrations; police shoot and kill two union members while breaking up a fight on May 3 • May 4: rally to protest police violence in Haymarket Square • Police approach to break up the orderly rally • Someone in the crowd throws a bomb • 7 killed, 67 injured • Mass arrests of anarchists and union activists • Result: public becomes suspicious of labor unions; destroys the Knights of Labor

15. The American federation of labor • Founded 1886 • Samuel Gompers • Generally moderate • Concrete goals: wages, hours, collective bargaining • Generally excluded unskilled workers, immigrants, women, and African Americans

16. The homestead strike • June 1892: Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steelworkers (AA) negotiating with Carnegie steel plant in Homestead, PA • Henry Frick closes plant and hires Pinkertons to protect strikebreakers • July 5: Firefight between workers and Pinkertons • State militia called in to break the strike and protect new, non-union employees • July 23: Anarchist attempts to assassinate Frick • Impact: setback for AFL; loss for strikers

17. The pullman strike: causes • Pullman, Chicago: a “company town” for workers building Pullman railway cars • 1894: Pullman lays off workers and cuts pay, but does not lower rents • Eugene V. Debs travels to Pullman and recruits factory workers to the American Railway Union (ARU) • The ARU calls for a boycott of all trains carrying Pullman cars

18. The pullman strike: boycott • June 26, 1894: ARU members begin refusing to work on trains carrying Pullman cars • 125,000 workers walked off the job within the next four days • Huge disruption to transportation, shipping, and the economy in much of the country • Rail traffic shut down in 27 states • Railroads hire strikebreakers (“scabs”), including black workers • Violence by some union supporters angers the public and increases calls for federal intervention

19. The pullman strike: intervention • President Cleveland directs the government to shut down the strike • Federal troops protect strikebreakers and force an end to the boycott • 30 strikers killed, 57 wounded • $800 million in property damage • By August 2, ARU ends the boycott; most strikers abandon the union and return to work

20. international workers of the world • Founded 1905 by radical Colorado miners • Known as IWW or “the Wobblies” • “One big union”: all laborers, regardless of race or trade • Ultimate goal: socialism • Often supported violence and sabotage • Collapsed during WWI and Red Scare

21. Women in the labor movement • Most unions excluded women from membership; nearly all excluded them from leadership • A few exceptions: International Ladies Garment Workers Union; Lawrence textile mills • 1919: IBEW Telephone Operator’s Department strikes, shutting down phone service in five states • Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) – founded 1903; link between women’s and labor movements

22. Mary harris “Mother” jones • Lived approx. 1837-1930 • Traveled the country organizing coal miners and other laborers • Unconventional tactics • Included black and white workers • Used women and children in her protests • Didn’t wear a bow tie, but…