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Labor Unions

The rise of labor unions marked a pivotal shift for the working class during the Industrial Period. As factories replaced personal employer-worker relationships, workers faced harsh realities: long hours, low pay, strict discipline, and poor working conditions. Despite these challenges, early labor organizations like the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) emerged, advocating for wage increases, shorter workdays, and safer workplaces. The evolution of labor movements highlights the ongoing struggle for workers' rights and societal reform amid capitalism’s relentless profit pursuit.

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Labor Unions

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  1. Labor Unions The Workers’ Search for Power

  2. Work in Industrial Period • Factory system ended personal relationship between employer and worker • Big. biz. cut corners to maximize profits • Long hours • Low Pay • Rigid Timetables • Strict discipline • Frequent layoffs • Reduced wages for women and children • Machines replacing workers • Unsafe, unsanitary, and poorly lighted factories

  3. Urban Working-Class • Average workday 11-12 hours • In some cities averaged about 10 hours • Wages: • Employers believed that workers should not earn more than a subsistence income. Why? • High wages hurt profits • Moral reasons • Prevented wasting money on alcohol, gambling, prostitutes, etc. • 1890: • Subsistence income: $530 • Average annual wages for family of four: $380

  4. Labor Organization before Civil War • 1820s-1830s • First attempts to organize in major cities • Attempted to influence politics with third parties (“Workingmen’s Parties”) • City based • Farm migrants to cities; Skilled Laborers • Little experience with labor in cities • Followed middle- and upper-class leaders • Goal: Organize labor as a tool to reform society • NOT for benefit of laborers • No feelings of oppression • No class consciousness

  5. Labor After Civil War • Unskilled labor • Status of labor changed • “De-skilling” of the labor force emerged • Urbanization and the lure of the city brought many rural citizens into urban areas • Sources of labor: • Women, children as young as five • By 1910: 25% of U.S. children employed full-time

  6. The Two Main Labor Groups • Knights of Labor (1866, Terrence Powderly) • First significant, national organization • Membership? Wide ranging, included black laborers, women, skilled/unskilled (except. Chinese and non-producers) • Goal? Economic and social reform • get rid of capitalism w/ worker owned businesses • 8 hour work day • Tactic used? Strikes, boycotts, mass meetings • Aroused public anger. Why? Use of violence and anti-capitalist agenda • 1,000,000+ members in the 1880’s

  7. American Federation of Labor (AFL) • Founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers • “Mainstream” voice of labor • Membership? only skilled workers, a federation of various existing trade unions under the umbrella of the AFL. Not open to individual to join. • Goals? Higher wages, shorter hours, improved working conditions. Closed shop? Meaning all union labor • Tactic? Strikes, but refrained from alignment w/political parties • Public disapproved of AFL collective actions but saw them as less of a threat than Knight of Labor Why?

  8. Discussion: • What are the biases of the following groups/individuals: • Capitalists • Nativists • Horatio Alger (‘luck and pluck’) • Anarchists • Socialists • American Public

  9. More Discussion • In what ways do the biases actually strengthen American capitalism. • In what way did the biases weaken the American labor movement? • According to Judge Jenkin, does the right of the property owner of laborer take precedence. • In what way does the “violence” cartoon reflect his decision? • How did government actions in the Homestead and Pullman strike also reflect Judge Jenkin’s decision.

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