• A pro to having labor unions is increased wages. So you make more money.

• A con is that it force businesses to look elsewhere for workers and could cause you to loose your job.

• Would you want to be a part of union that could cost you your job, but make you more money?

• You will be creating a world cloud about the Industrial Revolution

• You start with your worksheet• Come up with 10 POSITIVE

terms about the Industrial Revolution

• Must be EXPLAINED• Do the same for 10 NEGATIVE

terms• Use one of the sites to create

your word cloud• Must print it out!• Your world cloud is your list of

terms, the worksheet contains your explanations!

Work Place

&

Labor Unions

• Only a few entrepreneurs became rich

• Machines replaced skilled labor

• Work became monotonous

• Highly repetitive tasks• Little pride in work• Working conditions

were unhealthy and dangerous

• Breathed in lint, dust, and toxic fumes

• Machines lacked safety features

• Workers decided they needed to organize– Create a Union

• Goals:– Improve working conditions– Better wages

• Problems in organizing:– No laws that allowed they to organize– Courts usually ruled against workers who

went on strike– Might be fined or put in jail

• Unions had to work against perception– People felt unions were

against capitalism – Marxism- worker control

over factories and production

• Immigrants were bringing in these ideas

• People were suspicious of Unions

• Eventually courts, police, and even the army were used to break up Unions

• Early Unions only were made of highly skilled workers– Factory owners needed their

skills, so they were able to negotiate

• Owners of large Corporations were particularly opposed to:– Industrial Unions- united all craft

workers and common laborers in a particular industry

Opposition to Unions

• Early Unions however rarely succeeded

• Companies used several techniques to prevent Unions from forming– Required workers to sign contracts promising

not to join a Union– Hired undercover detectives – Workers who organized Unions were fired

• Created a list of “Trouble Makers”• “Black Listed”= you couldn’t get a job!

Opposition to Unions

• If a Union did form:– Companies locked out workers– Refused to pay them– Hire replacement workers

• In most cases, Union confrontation with owners and governments, led to violence– Haymarket Square in Chicago– Great Railroad Strike of 1877– Pullman Strike of 1894

• Most early large scale industrial Unions failed

• Trade unions however did find some success

• Created the American Federation of Labor or the AFL

• First AFL leader, Samuel Gompers– Felt Unions should stay out of politics– Wanted to negotiate before a strike

• The AFL had 3 goals:– 1. Convince companies to recognize Unions

and agree to collective bargaining – 2. Create Closed Shops, only hire union

workers– 3. Promote an 8 hour work day

• By 1900 AFL was the largest Union– 500,000 members

• Only represented 15% of the workforce

• Only 18% of working population belonged to a Union

• As the 1900’s began most workers were unrepresented and unions were relatively weak

• Types of Jobs:– 1/3 worked as domestic

servants– 1/3 worked as teachers,

nurses, sales clerks, and secretaries

– 1/3 worked in light industrial jobs that were deemed appropriate, mainly garment and food industries

• Women were paid less, assumed they had a man earning higher wages to help

• Created the WTUL Union– 8 hour work day– Minimum wage– Abolition of Child Labor