LABOR ISSUES AND EVENTS:
Supplement Chs. 18-20
I- Knights of Labor
a) Early attempt at a national union
b) All working men and women belonged to the same union
c) Included factory and white collar workers
d) Sought an 8 hour day, equal pay for equal work, and an end to child labor
e) Primarily interested in working conditions
f) Maximum membership – 700,000 in 1885
g) A series of failed strikes caused the union to fail around 1890
II – American Federation of Labor (AFL)
a) Formed in 1886 by Sam Gompers
b) Organized skilled workers into smaller, specific craft unions
c) Limited opportunities for Africans and Women
d) Interested in wages, hours, and working conditions
e) Used Collective Bargaining as a negotiating technique
f) Employers used yellow dog contracts ( workers promised not to unionize) as a tool against unions
III – The Railroad Strike of 1877
a) Resulted due to a 10% cut in wages by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads
b) Other railroads followed suit while increasing workloads as well
c) Violent reactions quickly spread among workers
d) Local troops were called out in Philadelphia – they fired on the demonstrators
e) A crowd of 20,000 angry men and women set fire to railroad property
f) Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes sent federal troops to crush the strike and riots
g) Many strikes followed and between 1881-1890 24,000 strikes occurred among the nations industrial complexes
IV- The Haymarket Strike – 1886
a) May 1, 1886 there was a national demonstration for an 8 hour workday
b) Strikes began to spread across the country
c) On May 4 a group of anarchists called a rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. Tension was running high.
d) A bomb was thrown into a police formation causing a riot, killing 7 police and causing police to open fire into the crowd.
e) The Anarchists were caught, tried and some were hanged – charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
f) To Unionists the anarchists became martyrs, to employers they were criminals
V – The Homestead Riot – 1892
a) A strike against the Carnegie Steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania
b) Carnegie’s partner, Henry Frick tried to cut wages for company workers
c) Frick wanted to crush the union.
d) On July 1st Frick called in the Pinkertons, a private police force.
e) That evening 300 Pinkertons attempted to sneak up on the strikers. Striking workers fired on them. Many were killed on both sides.
f) The union was forced to admit defeat and Homestead reopened under government protection.
g) Carnegie Steel and it’s successor U.S. Steel remained non-union until the 1930’s
VI – The Pullman Strike
a) George Pullman is best known for inventing the “sleeping car.”
b) He was known for taking good care of his workers – providing schools and homes for them.
c) During the depression of 1893 Pullman was forced to cut wages 25-40% and to lay off many workers.
d) When workers protested they were fired.
e) A strike was called and Pullman refused to negotiate.
f) Eugene V. Debs, founder of the American Railway Union, convinced 120,000 workers to join the Pullman strike.
g) It led to a complete disruption of the nation’s mail service
h) President Grover Cleveland sent in troops to break the strike. 12 deaths occurred.
i) Debs was jailed for 6 months.
Questions:
1. What general pattern can you see in the resolution to these strikes?
2. Would you say that during the latter part of the 19th century government tended to side with organized labor or with big business? Why?