Unit 2: The Gilded Age I Now Pronounce You, Unionized Objective: I can explain what led to the development of labor unions in the United States. Preview:

Unit 2: The Gilded AgeI Now Pronounce You,

UnionizedObjective: I can explain what led to the development of labor unions in the United States.

Preview: Set up your unit page.

Process: Guided Notes.

On Your Own: Unionizing our school discussion.

Characteristics of the Gilded Age

Child labor Nativism Filth/crime in cities Tenements Farmers debt—buying new technology to help them. Treatment of Native Americans Monopolies Working conditions, low pay, long hours

Little was being done to address these problems because of the laissez-faire attitude of the government

Workers Get Common Sense Northern wages were generally higher than Southern wages

BUT exploitation and unsafe working conditions drew people together across the country in a massive labor movement.

Laborers wanted improvements on their work life. Due to the lack of government response, three different

groups challenged the issues of the gilded age. Each group responded to different issues so their solutions will

be different. Not all groups will be successful in addressing the problems…

Labor Unions – workers Populists – farmers in the Midwest Progressives – Middle class people living in the cities.

Labor Unions

- Organizations of workers

- Craft unions = skilled laborers

- Industrial Unions = unskilled laborers

- Fought for higher pay and better working conditions

- Opposed by businesses and the government

Workers Unite The solutions for some workers is to unite together as

one. This is known as a labor union What are some things labor unions call for?

Better pay

Better hours

Better conditions

Limits on immigration

School attendance laws – limits child labor who could be paid far less

Some workers have more radical ideas Overthrow owners and place workers in charge – socialism

How will laborer’s achieve their goals?

Collective bargaining – when workers unite as one and negotiate with management for hours, conditions and pay.

Instead of…

vs.

Vs.

Knights of Labor Led by Uriah Stevens & Terrence Powderly Was open to all workers regardless of skill level,

gender, color, or trade Fought for an eight hour workday

Wanted equal pay for men and women

Wanted child labor abolished

Improved safety in the workplace

Compensation for on-site injuries

Success - the KOL peaked with 700,000 members – they did achieve some of their smaller goals for some workers, but many of their greater demands were ignored.

Failure of the KOL: Haymarket RiotOn May 1, 1886, local chapters of the Knights

went on strike demanding an eight-hour day for all laborers. At a rally in HAYMARKET SQUARE in Chicago on May 4, someone threw a bomb into the crowd. One police officer died and several crowd members sustained injuries.

Who was responsible? No one is really sure, but the American press, government, and general public blamed the Knights of Labor.

Americans associated labor activity with anarchists and mob violence. Membership began to fall. Soon the Knights were merely a shadow of their former size

The AFL American Federation of Labor

Leader – Samuel Gompers

Members – skilled workers only – craft union (organized into chapters based on particular skill)

Platform- Bread and Butter Unionism – better pay, hours and conditions.

Success Due to the fact that the AFL represented skilled labor they did see more successes because it was tougher for management to replace skilled labor.

As a result of these successes the AFL will live on and is still the major union today – (known today as the AFL-CIO)

Think why professional athletes are able to get many of their demands when they negotiate with owners

They are skilled – not easy to replace.

The Radical Option After the death of the Knights of Labor another

union formed in attempt to unite all workers (AFL only skilled)

The IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) Known as the Wobblies

Leader was Eugene v. Debs

Far more radical then the KOL – socialist Wanted to overthrow management & capitalism

Workers should run all business

Violence was an appropriate tactic

Membership peaked at 100,000 but struggled to gain mass acceptance (ideas counter to the “American Dream” ideology that was so dominant at the time)

Management’s Response to Unions Management in most cases refused to recognize

Unions right to exist and especially their right to collective bargain.

What are some tactics management used to undermine labor? Lockouts, scabs, injunction, yellow-dog contract, blacklist

Scabs: Hiring a substitute worker

yellow-dog contracts: Workers pledge not to unionize as a condition of their employment

Blacklists: Employers circulate lists of undesirable workers who led strikes, or who were known for union organization

Injunction: using the court system to break strikes

Laborer’s Last Option…

With management working so hard to undermine Labor unions, many Unions felt their only tactic was to strike Strike - Stopping of work by

employees to gain demands made on their employer

Noteworthy Strikes Great Railway Strike – 1877

The B & O RR cut wages 20% over 8 monthsRiot turned violent – Federal troops called into put down

workers Homestead Act of 1892 – details in movie – ended when

Pennsylvania State militia put down strike http://

www.history.com/topics/andrew-carnegie/videos/homestead-strike

Pullman Strike - 1895 Pullman, a railway car maker laid of workers, cut wages by 25%

and refused to collective bargain. 120,000 railway workers went on strike.

With the halting of the railroads – mail was not being delivered. So President Cleveland used this as justification to send in federal troops to break up the strike

Pattern: Government always takes the side of business – laissez-faire in this time period actually means help business (free land, open immigration, strike breaking)

Why did most unions fail at the time? Unions for the most part failed to achieve demands for

workers.

Why?

National and State Government support big businesses (break strike, little legislation passed to address problems)

Public fear of unions – Haymarket strike turns many against unions

Business undermined Unions whenever they could

Leaders jailed, scabs, blacklisted, yellow dog contracts, did not recognize the right to collective bargain

large supply of labor therefore the employer could replace unskilled labor easily

History of Labor Day

http://youtu.be/FJamea576YY