Goal 5.03: Assess the impact of labor unions on industry and the lives of workers.

  1. Working conditions in factories
  2. General Conditions
  3. Monotonous – same job day after day
  4. 12 – 16 hour shifts, 6 days a week
  5. Dangerous machinery: Workers frequently lost fingers, limbs, eyesight, & hearing
  6. Lung diseases from coal and lint dust
  7. When workers were injured or too sick to work, they were ______
  8. Child Labor - factory owners often hired children because:
  9. They were ______, so more room for machinery
  10. They were ______; children were paid less than half of what grown men were
  11. They were easier to intimidate with beatings and abuse
  12. Types of Unions
  13. ______Unions: Only allowed highly skilled craftsmen to join
  14. ______Unions: Designed for unskilled laborers
  15. ______Unions:United all craft and trade workers in a specific industry
  16. Union Tactics
  17. ______: workers refused to work as a form of protest
  18. ______: encouraged public to avoid goods from companies that refused to negotiate with unions
  19. ______bargaining: employees negotiated contracts as a group rather than as individuals
  20. ______: allowing a neutral third party to oversee negotiations
  21. ______: allowing a neutral third party to hear both sides’ arguments and make a final, binding ruling
  22. ______: agreement where employers could only hire union members, non-union workers were banned from the workplace
  23. Reaction to Unions
  24. By employers:
  25. ______contracts: contracts which forbade workers from joining unions
  26. ______: known union sympathizers were fired
  27. ______: closing of factories to punish workers for unionizing
  28. ______: replacement workers hired to replace strikers
  29. ______: sought legal court orders that forbade strikes
  30. ______: hired thugs used to violently attack union leaders, strikers
  31. By government:
  32. Supported employers over labor unions
  33. Courts often ruled unions and strikes to be illegal ______
  34. Courts authorized use of force to break strikes when necessary
  35. Presidents even used the ______to break strikes
  36. Union Actions
  37. ______Strike of 1877
  38. 80,000 railroad workers went on strike to protest pay cuts
  39. Angry strikers damaged equipment, ripped up tracks, and blocked other tracks
  40. President Hayes ordered US Army to break the strike and reopen tracks
  41. Over 100 people died in clashes between strikers and troops, millions of dollars in damage done to railroads
  42. The ______(1869 – 1949)
  43. Workers’ organization (NOT a labor union)
  44. Wanted an 8-hour workday
  45. Promoted equal pay for women
  46. Supported a ban on child labor
  47. Proposed worker-owned factories
  48. Never well-organized, which left it ineffective
  49. The ______Riot (May 1886)
  50. Unions called for a day of general strike to promote the 8-hour workday
  51. Strikers and police clashed in Chicago, 1 striker killed
  52. Anarchists protested in Haymarket Square the next day; police arrived to break up the demonstration
  53. A bomb was set off, followed by a gun battle, killing 8 policemen, 4 strikers
  54. 8 anarchists were arrested, including 1 member of the Knights of Labor
  55. Knights of Labor lost popularity for being associated with anarchists
  56. The ______(AFL)
  57. Merger of 20+ trade unions into the AFL in 1886
  58. Focus was to get companies to recognize unions and agree to collective bargaining; also pushed for closed shops, promoted the 8-hour work day
  59. ______(1850 – 1924)
  60. 1st leader of the AFL (1886 – 1924)
  61. Supported “plain and simple” unions: keep unions out of politics, reject ideals of socialism, communism, and anarchism
  62. Concentrated on basics – better wages and working conditions
  63. Preferred negotiation over strikes or boycotts
  64. The ______Strike (June-July, 1892)
  65. Steel workers in Homestead, PA demanded higher wages, management responded by locking out workers and trying to hire scabs
  66. Striking workers surrounded the plant, refused to allow anyone entry
  67. Armed agents of the Pinkerton Security firm sent to secure the plant, leading to a gun battle which killed several people
  68. Governor of Pennsylvania sent in the state militia to end the violence
  69. Under the protection of 4000 soldiers, the plant reopened with (mostly black) replacement workers and the strike failed; union voted to accept the pay cut and go back to work
  70. The ______Strike (May 1894)
  71. Pullman Company (which built train cars), required workers to live in the town of Pullman, IL and buy goods from company owned stores
  72. Pullman cut wages, leading to workers struggling to pay their bills
  73. Workers who complained were fired, prompting a general strike
  74. Members of the American Railway Union across the country refused to work on Pullman-built cars to show support for the strikers, tying up rail traffic
  75. Railroads arranged for US mail to be attached to Pullman cars, resulting in the mail not being delivered
  76. Strikers and the ARU were then in violation of federal law for interfering with the delivery of the US mail; this prompted the US government to get involved to ensure the delivery of the mail
  77. Pres. Grover Cleveland ordered US troops to enforce a court injunction, breaking the boycott and ending the strike
  78. ______(1855 – 1926)
  79. Worked with many different unions in his career, but gained much of his experience by helping to form the American Railway Union
  80. Sent to prison for failing to obey the court injunction ordering the end to the Pullman Strike
  81. While incarcerated, he became a socialist and would later run for President as the Socialist Party’s candidate 5 times
  82. The ______(WTUL)
  83. Most unions excluded women workers because they weren’t the primary breadwinners for families
  84. 1903: Mary Kenney O’Sullivan, Leonora O’Reilly, Jane Addams, & Lillian Ward created the WTUL
  85. Goals: 8-hour work day, a minimum wage, no night shifts for women, ban on child labor
  86. Support for unions was damaged by:
  87. ______: believed that labor should own and operate factories communally (socialism / communism)
  88. ______: opposed all government, were willing to use violence to achieve their ends (essentially terrorists)
  89. ______: anti-immigration sentiments were fed by the number of Eastern European union members who were Marxists or anarchists