TEXTBOOK NOTES:
LABOR UNIONS FIGHT FOR BETTER CONDITIONS
DIRECTIONS: Use the textbook The American Journey, pages 132 to 137 to fill out the notes sheet below.
WOMEN WORKERS:
Five jobs typically done by women workers:
--Textile Mills
--Tobacco factories
--Shoemaking
--Food producing and packaging
--Other jobs without much physical labor
How did their pay differ from male workers?
Usually made only half as much as men for the same job.
BLACK WORKERS:
Why were black workers usually given the least desirable jobs?
Discrimination: employers would not hire black workers if there was an available white worker, so they got the worst jobs.
List four of the jobs usually given to black workers:
--Sewer digging
--rock quarrying
--coal shoveling
--mining
What jobs did black women typically do?
Domestic service—laundry, household chores, etc.
IMMIGRANT WORKERS:
A niche is a job that is typically filled by a person from a specific group. For example, Chinese workers often worked in the laundries on the west coast and Germans typically worked as mechanics.
Two (2) other niches:
--Jewish workers often worked in the clothing industry in NY
--Slavic workers worked in steel mills
WORKING CONDITIONS:
Give four (4) examples of health problems industrial workers faced:
--Inhaled dust a fibers
--35,000 accidental deaths a year
--Explosions in mines
--Burns and chemicals
Steel workers faced the harshest conditions. Describe three (3) ways that steel workers had even harsher conditions than average.
--Very long hours
--Very hot factories
--molten metal burns
NATIONAL UNIONS:
Usually, workers at a specific workplace would form a union, and then to increase their power they would join up with other unions to form national unions. In other words, they were a union of unions.
After 1879, who did the KNIGHTS OF LABOR let into their union?
--Blacks
--Women
--Immigrants
--All other American workers
List three (3) demands of the KNIGHTS OF LABOR:
--8 hour day
--improved safety in factories
--pay if a worker is injured
Do workers today have these rights and benefits? How do you know?
Yes, they do. Workers get paid extra if they work more, the conditions have to be safe, and if they are injured they get insurance money.
HAYMARKET RIOT:
Describe what happened on MAY 4th, 1886 on Haymarket Square, Chicago IL?
Who marched that day? 1,000 workers upset
How did violence begin? Someone threw a bomb at the police
Who died? Four police officers and seven strikers
How did it affect the membership of the KNIGHTS OF LABOR? Why?
People thought the Knights of Labor were violent anarchists even though they didn’t have anything to do with the violence. People were pressured not to join.
THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR (AFL):
Who founded the American Federation of Labor?
--Samuel Gompers
What is a craft union, and how does it differ from the Knight of Labor?
CRAFT UNION: A collection of workers from one type of job, i.e. teacher’s union.
DIFFERENT FROM K of L: Knights of Labor let all kinds of workers in, no matter what.
What is collective bargaining, and how can it improve working conditions and pay?
Collective Bargaining is when workers come together to make demands for their employers, and then the two sides try to find a fair compromise.
What should the workers do if they try to collectively bargain with their employers, but the employers refuse to negotiate with them?
They can go on strike and stop all work at the company, which hurts the company because it will not be able to make any money.
Which groups were not always allowed in the AFL?
Blacks, women, and immigrants were sometimes banned if a local union did not want them in. The American Federation of Labor did not insist that they had to be let in.
TENSION BETWEEN LABOR AND MANAGEMENT:
Rights of owners:
Owners sometimes claimed that unions took away their rights. How could a union do this?
The owner could not decide what to pay its employees, or how long they could work, etc. if the union did not let them. They interfered in how the business was run.
Do you agree or disagree with the business owners? Why?
Agree: Yes, a person who starts a business should be allowed to have the flexibility to make it successful. If workers don’t like it, they can quit.
Disagree: No, a worker should have rights, such as safety and enough money to support their family, and if a greedy business owner doesn’t give them that, workers have to demand it. A worker’s union is the only way to achieve this.
BARRIERS TO UNION SUCCESS (OPPOSITION TO UNIONS)
Besides employers, what other groups usually argued against unions fighting for better working conditions?
--Newspapers and journalists blamed them for violence and problems.
--The courts ruled against their right to bargain and strike, saying it took away a person’s property.
--The public usually thought that labor unions were unfair and did not support their battles.
DEFINE THE FOLLOWING TERMS:
Union: A group of workers who band together to change their pay or working conditions.
Strike: When workers refuse to work until their demands are met.
Collective Bargaining: A group of people negotiating for better pay and working conditions.