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Labor Movement 1860s-1900

Labor Movement 1860s-1900. Industry relied on its laborers, who worked in low-paying, unskilled jobs & often unsafe factories. What is illustrated in the cartoon below?. Exploitation of the workforce Who is the workforce?. Immigrants! 14 million of them!

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Labor Movement 1860s-1900

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  1. Labor Movement 1860s-1900 Industry relied on its laborers, who worked in low-paying, unskilled jobs & often unsafe factories.

  2. What is illustrated in the cartoon below?

  3. Exploitation of the workforce Who is the workforce? • Immigrants! 14 million of them! • Contract Labor Act in 1864- employers pay immigrants passage to U.S. in return for labor up to a year • Farms struggling poor people migrate to cities. Urban growth! • Women & children– low wages, whole families had to work • Children as young as 5! • 20% boys under 15 & 10% are girls • boys given preference to stay in school • See page 244 for shifts in population & employment data.

  4. Working Conditions • 12 hr days 6 or 7 days a week • States had 10 hr workdays, but did NOT enforce • Low pay • Danger! (1882– 675 workers killed per week!) • No sick time, vacation, workman’s comp., unemployment compensation • 1868 federal law grants govt. employees 8 hr day, but private industry does NOT have to comply

  5. Could workers get govt. assistance? • NO!!! • The popular theory of Social Darwinism held that poverty resulted from personal weakness. Many thought offering relief to the unemployed would cause idleness.

  6. Faces of Labor Children of the Poor, Jacob Riis, 1892- Reformer- wrote exposing the impact of factory work on children. Stated the development of mind & body was stunted.

  7. Most employers paid a fixed amount for each finished piece produced– piecework Employees worked long hours at low wages to earn more– sweatshops Children – 30 cents/day(14 hr/day) Women --$270/year Men -- $500/year (for comparison) ***In 1899, Carnegie made $23 million dollars without income tax! WAGES

  8. Increasing Efficiency • The Principles of Scientific Management, Frederick Winslow Taylor, 1911 -time & motion studies; increase productivity thereby increasing profits; broke tasks down • Division of Labor- tasks broken down into parts, workers perform same task repeatedly, efficient BUT not joyous • “hands” or “operatives” were interchangeable parts in a vast impersonal machine

  9. DANGER on the Job • Noisy, loud, deafening • Lighting & ventilation poor • Faulty equipment • Careless training • Frequent fires, accidents • Grime from mines lead to disease, cancer • Fined for tardiness, talking or refusing to do a task

  10. Labor Unrest 1870-1900

  11. Widening the Gap • 1890, richest 9% own nearly 75% of national wealth • The rich get richer, the poor get poorer Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

  12. SOCIALISM • Economic & political philosophy that favors publicinstead of private control. • Society at large should take charge of national wealth • Equal distribution • Began 1830s, idealistic, utopian • Most Americans opposed– threatening to private property, free enterprise, individual liberty, wealth & public order

  13. Cartoon: Socialism

  14. COMMUNISM • Karl Marx & Frederick Engels wrote Communist Manifesto, 1848 • Radical, takes utopian socialism farther • denounces capitalism, create a classless society without private ownership • Predicts workers (proletariat) would rise up & overthrow the govt.

  15. The Rise of Labor UnionsBusinesses Merge, Why Not Labor?

  16. “Solidarity Forever!”by Ralph Chapin (1915) When the union's inspiration through the workers‘ blood shall run,There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,But the union makes us strong! CHORUS:Solidarity forever,Solidarity forever,Solidarity forever,For the union makes us strong!

  17. National Labor Union • 1866, Baltimore, William Sylvis • 60,000 members • Made 8hr day legal for govt. work • Most excluded African Americans • Union failed following 1873 depression

  18. Knights of Labor • 1869, Philadelphia, Uriah Stephens • Organized working women & men, skilled & unskilled, into one union • Farmers, factory workers, office workers • African Americans were members too • “An injury to one is the concern of all.” • 1881- Terence Powderly pursues 8hr day, equal pay for equal work, end child labor • Preferred arbitration over strikes • Forced Jay Gould RR to give up a wage cut • Series of failed strikes and some violence follows • By 1890, K of L disappears from national scene

  19. Knights of Labor Knights of Labor trade card

  20. Notice the invitation to prospective Members!

  21. American Federation of Labor (AFL) • 1886, Samuel Gompers • Craft union; organizes only skilled workers • Women were NOT welcome; believed their presence brought wages down • 1890-1915 increased wages from $17.50/wk to $24/wk; 54 ½ hrs/wk to 49 hrs/wk • Collective bargaining, strikes • Rally for “closed shops”—only union workers

  22. International Workers of the WorldThe Wobblies (IWW) • 1905, William “Big Bill” Haywood • Chicago, 43 groups opposed to AFL founded this group • focused on unskilled workers • Socialists- more govt. control of business, equal distribution of wealth • Violence was justified to overthrow capitalism

  23. American Railway Union (ARU)

  24. IWW, Debs • 1894, Eugene Debs • Unskilled & skilled workers • Debs is ANTI strikes & ANTI violence • Protect wages & rights of employees • Debs arrested following Pullman strike, 1894 • Becomes leader of Socialist Party, runs for president

  25. Management vs. Labor “Tools” of Management “Tools” of Labor • “scabs” • P. R. campaign • Pinkertons • lockout • blacklisting • yellow-dog contracts: won’t join union • court injunctions • open shop • boycotts • sympathy demonstrations • informational picketing • closed shops • organized strikes • “wildcat” strikes

  26. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

  27. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 • B&O RR announce a • 10% wage; increase cars • pulled by engines • RR workers in WV strike • Violence spreads to • Pittsburgh, Chicago, • St. Louis & others • Pres. Hayes sends in • federal troops • In Pittsburgh, soldiers • kill/wound rioters; 20,000 • cause $5 million • in damages • THE VIOLENT ERA • of LABOR had begun!

  28. Haymarket, Chicago1886 • May 1, demonstration begins “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will” • May 3, police break up fight between strikers & scabs; casualties result • May 4, Haymarket Square- anarchists join demonstration w/ strikers • Bomb is thrown, kills police officer. Riot breaks out! • Bomb thrower never found. 8 anarchists tried for conspiracy to commit murder. 4 were hanged. One commits suicide in jail. • Gov. later pardons remaining 3– not enough evidence. • K of L blamed for the Haymarket Riot (although involvement never proven)

  29. Haymarket Riot (1886) McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.

  30. Governor John Peter Altgeld

  31. Homestead, Pennsylvania 1892 • Henry Frick cuts wages at Carnegie Steel • Union calls strike • Frick calls in Pinkertons, private police force, to break strikes • Result: violence, death • Anarchist tries to assassinate Frick • Union calls off strike- bad PR for unions • Homestead reopens under National Guard protection

  32. A “CompanyTown”: Pullman, IL Built in 1880

  33. Pullman Cars A Pullman porter

  34. The Pullman Strike of 1894

  35. Pullman Strike, 1894 • ARU, Debs • ½ employees laid off; other ½ wage cuts • Panic of 1893 • Pullman bans alcohol • Employees can’t pay rent • Pullman refused arbitration—strike & boycotts followed • Peaceful until strikebreakers called in; Debs warns not to interrupt delivery of mail • Pres. Cleveland sends in federal troops (violation of Sherman Anti-Trust Act) • Strikers fired & blacklisted. Debs jailed.

  36. President Grover Cleveland If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card will be delivered!

  37. Government Action • Sherman Antitrust Act– used against labor (said strikes interfere with interstate trade) --Support for owners help keep union membership low --Nativism & prejudice towards immigrants keeps membership low

  38. The Rise & Decline of Organized Labor

  39. Right-to-Work States Today

  40. Mother Jones: “The Miner’s Angel” • Mary Harris. • Organizer for theUnited MineWorkers. • Founded the SocialDemocratic Party in 1898. • One of the founding members of the I. W. W. in 1905.

  41. Mother Jones supported strikers, daughter of Irish unionist Led women to the scene to prevent violence Children’s March (1903)– led 80 child laborers to President Roosevelt’s home Pauline Newman organized garment workers at 16 Strike in 1909—moderate success Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)- Working conditions, locked doors led to 145 dead Owners acquitted; public outraged New Laws!! – 54 hr/wk for women & children; only 14 & older can work Women & Labor

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