Rise of Organized Labor

• Assembly lines create more jobs• Assembly lines create more products• Assembly lines get work done faster…

NOW there’s a “mad dash” to see which companies will make MORE products FASTER

People are rushing to get the job done, so the level of quality goes down

Workers are under poor conditions as a result

Who will protect us?......UNIONS

Rise of Organized Labor

“If you’re going to do something, do it right”- Love Mom

“This process was handed down from father to son & in the course of time came to my father and so to me. None of us ever went to school & learned the chemistry of it from books. We learned the trick by doing it, standing with our faces in the scorching heat”

Puddler: person who mixes molten, dangerous metals in a

factory

Machines begin to take over the jobs people had performed in the past• Example: converters could mix metals, cook

them at right tem, produce perfect steel• A growing sense of powerlessness leads

workers to join together in UNIONS

Rise of Organized Labor

New Workplace– Before: small factories, family owned, very personal,

good wages– By 1802:• Large, crowded factories• No personal relationships• Low wages (skills easily replaced by machines)

Sweatshops: workplace where people labor long hours in poor conditions for low pay begin to crop up. Most workers were young women & children

Children- 2 million children under 15 working in sweatshops- Textile mills, tobacco factories, garment sweatshops, coal mines- No school or rest = destroys chance for a better future• Vicious cycle (what was our “vicious cycle” during

Reconstruction?)

Hazards

»Lung damaging dust»Cave-ins»Gas explosions»Molten metal spills»Health problems & injuries• 195 die in Pittsburgh in one year

alone

Organized LaborMany workers unhappy with conditions & find ways to fight back

• Slowed work pace• Went on strike

– Informal – organized by workers in individual factories– Pushed for better conditions, but most failed (unorganized)

I’m not being

treated well!!!My lungs are bleedinggg!

Knights of LaborKnights of Labor: 1869 an American labor organization to protect the rights of workers• Elected Terence Powderly as president

– He opens membership to» Immigrants» African Americans» Women» Unskilled workers

Rallies in Favor of

• Shorter workday• End to child labor• Equal pay for men and women•Workers and employers share

ownership & profits• 1885: 700,000 people join KOL

Haymarket Square Riot:• Workers at McCormick Harvester Co. in Chicago go on

strike (not-endorsed by KOL)• McCormick (like many others) hired strikebreakers:

replacements for striking workers• May 3, 1886: workers clash with strikebreakers outside

the factory– Police open fire, 4 workers killed

• Next day thousands gather to protest killings, rally led by anarchists: people who oppose all forms of organized government–Bomb goes off & kills 7 policemen

Haymarket Square

8 anarchists arrested for part in Haymarket Riot: labor rally in Chicago in 1886 that ended in violence when a bomb exploded »4 men were tried, convicted & hanged with no proof»Many Americans linked unions to dangerous anarchists• Result: many dropped union membership in KOL

Haymarket Square

American Federation of LaborColumbus Ohio, 1886 – AFL: American Federation of Labor - organization of trade unions that represented skilled workers only

AFL–Workers didn’t join directly, instead they

joined a trade union• Trade union: union of people working in the

same trade– Ex. A typesetter joins a typesetter’s union/ that

union then joins AFL» SO…AFL is a large organization made up of

many different unions

AFLCollective bargaining: the right of the unions to negotiate with management for workers as a group

How is the AFL different from the KOL?...1.5 million people join AFL by 1910• -: African Americans, immigrants, unskilled

workers were barred from most trade unions and couldn’t join the AFL

Women– Form the majority of workers in factories by 1890• Tobacco, garment, textile mills• Women begin to form their own unions

Mother Jones• Irish-born Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones)– Speaks out about children working in textile mills

“barefoot- reaching thin little hands into the machinery”

Triangle Tragedy • 1911: fire breaks out in Triangle Shirtwaist

Factory (sweatshop in NY city)– Exits are locked (lockouts for union employees)–No doors push out (body blocks)– Fire truck ladders can’t reach windows– Fire hoses not long enough– Elevators didn’t work (no one knew)– Poor/ overwhelmed communications don’t

transfer–Windows on lower floors have bars on them–Only option….jump!150 people die Result: new safety laws

“As I looked up there at a window, a young man was helping girls to leap out. Suddenly one of them put her arms around him and kissed

him. Then he held her out into space and dropped her. He jumped next. Thud…dead. Thud…dead” – NY Times March 26th 1911

• Biggest travesty to hit NY until 9/1/2001

Organized Labor Meets Hardship

– In a booming economy, many industries rush too fast to gain higher profits

– Goods flood the market and prices drop

Think back to our conversation yesterday about the loss of quality in becoming more commercialized

To cover losses, owners fired workers• Ends in vicious cycle…holds for a while, until progress

rebuilds, more are hired, same cycle repeats• Result: a wild yo-yoing between very good & very bad

times• 1870-1900: 2 major depressions & 3 smaller

recessions rock country

Organized Labor Meets Hardship

Over production

Factories & Faster Work

Price Drops Layoffs

After Economy Has a Short Time

to Re-boost…

How difficult would it have been to support a family in such conditions?

»Competition»Low $$»Safety or harassment»Injuries, health and sanitation?

When Workers Go On Strike…• Gov’t usually sided with owners–Political reasons–Bribery–They are the people who are “responsible” for

creating economic booms which the country needs»Who is actually responsible for turning out

production???• Presidents send in troops/ military/ police to

intimidate strikers• Courts rule against strikers too

Strikes get a bad reputation… but why?

1. They result in progress- but it’s slow

2. Because of instances like Haymarket Square, many strikes are associated with riots & anarchists or

“extremists”

3. Intimidation by the government makes people want to support strikes less and less

Want To Test Yourself A Little More?!?!?!?.......

YouTube: “A New Industrial Revolution” (1:30)

Mr. Parker found this nice “wrap up” video….use it as a

review/ what to expect!

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1m0QudJibQ

The Lorax

• http://gozie.com/video/MXNSGS1U8S7K/The-Lorax-Full-Movie-by-Dr-Seuss