1. UNIONS DOWN WITH THE MAN!!!

2. Background • Large Immigrant & Unskilled Labor workforce • They fought against: • Child Labor • safety or health standards • 8 hr. work day

3. Knights of Labor • Isaiah Stevens • Unskilled workers • Wanted to reform the system “with laws against child labor and 8 hr. work day. • Lost success after Haymarket Riot  associated with ANARCHISM

4. 1877 Great Railroad Strike(THE GREAT STRIKE) • Happened in Ohio / Baltimore • Laborers for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad protested their second wage cut in 2 months. went on strike and the WV militia was called in (but they sided with the strikers) • President Hayes sent in National Guard in. • First time soldiers were used in strike  also caused resentment against President Hayes • The government issued an injunction (a court order NOT to strike) and sided with the management)

5. Molly Maguires • Secret organization • They were brought down by infiltration.

6. American Federation of Labor(AFL) • Spearheaded by Samuel Gompers • Organization of separate craft unions • CRAFT UNION: A union that represented a group of workers with one particular skill • All about practical goals, they didn’t want to change major laws • They paid union dues • AFL to be one of the most upstanding unions

7. Haymarket Square Strike • Tuesday May 4th 1886 Chicago IL. • Workers gathered the next day in Haymarket square - to protest police brutality • Anarchists called a rally and someone threw a bomb into the police line. • Many were injured and some killed, this event turned public opinion against the labor movement. • Caused the end of the Knights of Labor

8. Homestead Strike • June 30th 1892 Pittsburg PA. • Carnegie Steel Mill • Strike against wage reductions by the management of 20%. • The management hired scabs to keep mill working • Scabs were so unpopular because they were workers used to break up strikes • Hired Pinkertons to protect plant (private detective co.) • In the end the steelworkers lost and gave in to the company

9. Pullman • Spring 1894 • The depression caused a decline of use of Pullman sleeping cars which led to wage cuts however Pullman did not reduce the cost of his employees rent. • The American Railroad Union went on strike led by a man named Eugene Debs. • President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops again. He issued another injunction because the inability to use the railroad interfered with the US Postal service. • The strike broke and Pullman fired most of the strikers and the railroad blacklisted many others, so they couldn’t work at any RR job again.

10. Socialists • Extreme form of communism, advocated my Marx. With the idea of an overthrow of the capitalist system. • Eugene V. Debs • Organized the American Railroad Union • Nominated for president 5 times • Mother Jones (Mary Jones) • Irish immigrant who fort for the laboring class “with a Mother’s Love.”

11. Industrial Workers of the World(IWW or Wobblies) • Founded in 1905 • Chicago, Illinois • It was made up of socialists, radical unionists

12. Why they failed in the Gilded Age: • Laissez-faire: the government was supportive of Big Business through their Laissez-faire attitude, and because of that SAME attitude they were very harsh on Unions and organized labor. • Sherman Anti-Trust Act: The government could never get the act to work correctly because the terms of the Act were not clearly defined. The government eventually stopped using the act and Consolidation continued. • ALSO • Socialists and Wobblies were hurt by racism and fear of communism.