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Organized Labor Movement

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12 views21 pages

Organized Labor Movement

Uploaded by

Jibby Hendrixx
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Do Now

• Please pick up Do Now from the table.

• Make sure you also get your packet, discussion


questions, and all other handouts.
You have 10mins to complete the Do Now @ a voice level
0.
Triumph of Industry

Organized Labor Union


MDE Objectives
MDE Objectives
• 2.1: Interpret the changes brought by industrialization to the
American economy (including The New Industrial Age, AFL-
CIO, IWW, Pullman Strike, Haymarket Riot, etc.).
• 2.3: Interpret the impact of the New Industrial Age on life in
urban areas (including work/living conditions, the Labor
Union Movement, “New Immigrants”, etc).
• 2.4: Analyze the effects of laissez-faire economics on
business practices in the US (including John D. Rockefeller,
Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, the Bessemer Process, & the
Sherman Anti-trust Act).
The Organized Labor Movement

Learning Objectives
• Assess the problems that workers faced in
the late 1800s.

• Compare the goals and strategies of different


labor organizations.

• Analyze the causes and effects of strikes.


Terms and People
• sweatshop – small, hot, dark, and dirty
workhouses
• company town – communities near workplaces
where housing was owned by the business and
rented out to employees
• collective bargaining – negotiating as a group
for higher wages or better working conditions
• socialism – an economic and political philosophy
that favors public, instead of private, control of
property and income
Terms and People (continued)
• Knights of Labor – a labor union that included
workers of any trade, skilled or unskilled
• Terence V. Powderly – the leader of the Knights
of Labor beginning in 1881 who encouraged
boycotts and negotiations with employers
• Samuel Gompers – a poor English immigrant who
formed the AFL, a skilled workers union, in 1886
• AFL – American Federation of Labor, a loose
organization of skilled workers from many unions
devoted to specific crafts or trades
Terms and People (continued)
• Haymarket Riot – a labor protest in Chicago in
1886 that ended in dozens of deaths when
someone threw a bomb
• Homestead Strike – an 1892 Pennsylvania
steelworkers’ strike that resulted in violence
between company police and strikers
• Eugene V. Debs – leader of the American
Railway Union who eventually became a Socialist
• Pullman Strike – a nationwide strike in 1894 of
rail workers that halted railroads and mail delivery
Quick Activity
• Vocabulary Matrix
Industrial workers faced hardships.

• Factory owners employed people who


would work for low wages. Many of these
people were immigrants.
• They often labored in dangerous
sweatshops.
• Laborers often had to live in company
towns and buy goods at high interest at
company stores.
Discussion Question
• In what ways did factory owners exploit
their workers?

- Factory owners could require workers to live in


company towns, and these owners charged high
interest at company stores where workers were
required to shop.

- Owner often segregated workers according to their


ethnicity.
• collective bargaining – negotiating as a group
for higher wages or better working conditions

Labor unions formed.

Workers tried
collective
bargaining to gain
more power against
employers. One form
was the strike, in
which workers stop
work until their
demands are met.
Child laborers in 1890
Labor Unions of the Late 1800s

Labor Union Industry and Activity


• included all workers
Knights of Labor from any trade
• devoted to broad social reform

American
• included skilled workers
Federation of • focused on specific worker
Labor (AFL) issues

• included rail workers


American Railway • conducted the Pullman Strike
Union (ARU) of 1894
A movement called socialism spread through
Europe in the 1830s.

It held that wealth should be distributed


equally to everyone.

Most Americans rejected socialism,


but some labor activists borrowed
ideas from it to support social reform.
Discussion Questions
• Why were factory workers often unhappy with their
jobs?
- Long hours and working conditions were sometimes
unsafe.
• How did workers communicate with their employers
about their complaints?
- Collective bargaining to negotiate better conditions
• How did the goals of the AFL differ from those
of the Knights of Labor?

- The AFL was organization for skilled workers focused on


specific labor issues, such as wages and working hours.
The Knight of labor was for skilled workers and unskilled
working and sought broad social reform.
As membership in
unions grew in the A major strike of
1870s, a wave of railroad workers in

confrontations 1877 resulted in the


federal government
between labor
sending in troops
and management
to restore order.
rocked the country.
Across the nation, workers mounted demonstrations for
more rights. One such protest in Chicago turned violent.

The 1886
Haymarket
Riot made
many Americans
wary of labor
unions.
Yet another conflict broke out with the
Homestead Strike. Troops were called in to
control fighting between workers and
Carnegie Steel.

One year later, the Pullman Palace Car Company


laid off rail workers and cut wages.

This touched off the Pullman Strike, which


halted nationwide railroad traffic and mail
delivery.
The government ordered strike organizers, led by
Eugene V. Debs, to end the strike.

He refused and was sent to jail. Troops were


called in to end the strike.
Discussion Question
• Why might it have been difficult for labor
unions of this period to win popular
support?
- Because labor union were often associated
with violence.
Effects on the Labor Movement
• Employers successfully appealed for
court orders against unions.

• Contract disputes and strikes


continued to occur as American
industry grew.
• The labor movement split into
different factions. Debs helped organize
the American Socialist Party and the
IWW.

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