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Industrialization. Labor Reactions. The Development of Labor Unions. Why did labor Unions form during this era? Long Hours 6-7 day workweeks 12+ hour workdays Low Wages In sweatshops 27 cents for a child’s 14-hour day 1899 – women earned an average of $267 a year; men $498 Danger - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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IndustrializationLabor Reactions
The Development of Labor Unions• Why did labor Unions form during this era?
– Long Hours• 6-7 day workweeks• 12+ hour workdays
– Low Wages• In sweatshops
– 27 cents for a child’s 14-hour day– 1899 – women earned an average of $267 a year; men $498
– Danger• Injuries = common
– 1882 – an average of 675 laborers were killed in work-related accidents each week
– Lack of worker benefits• No vacation, sick leave, unemployment compensation and injury reimbursement
– Child Labor• 1890-1910 – 20% of boys & 10% of girls under 15 held full time jobs
Early Labor Organizing • National Labor Union (NLU)
– 1st large scale national organization of laborers– Formed – 1866– Membership ~ 640,000– Big accomplishment – helping legalize the 8 hour work day for
gov’t workers• Knights of Labor
– Motto – “ An injury to one is the concern of all”– Membership open to all
• ~ 700,000– Supported an 8 hour workday and “equal pay for equal work” – Strikes were a last resort
• Instead advocated arbitration
Knights of Labor
Department of Labor
Labor Unions Diversify• Craft Unionism– Included skilled workers form one or more trades
• Industrial Unionism– Included both skilled and unskilled workers in a specific
industry• Labor Unions in the West– Small unions– Increased the strength of the labor mov’t / the tension
between labor and management
Labor Relations Turned Violent: Strikes
• Industry and gov’t responded forcefully to union activity– Saw it as a threat to capitalism
• Various strikes turned violent– The Great Strike of 1877
• Strikers protesting wage cuts at B&O Railroad• Federal troops ended it
– The Haymarket Affair• Strikers protesting police brutality• Bomb was tossed into a line of police• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OQxncb2ihQ
– Homestead Strike• Steelworkers strike against cut wages• Broken up by the National Guard
– Pullman Company Strike• Strikers protesting lay offs, wage cuts and high rent• Broke up by federal troops
Management & Government Reactions to Unions
• The more powerful unions became, the more employers came to fear them
• Ways that management tried to undue labor progress– Not “officially” recognizing unions– Forbidding union meetings– Firing union members– Turning the Sherman Antitrust Act against labor
• By claiming that strikes, boycotts, etc. would hurt interstate trade
• Despite setbacks, workers still viewed unions as powerful tool
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