The Growth of Unions During the Gilded Age

The Problem

• What were some of the problems with industrialization that we identified on Friday?

• If you worked in a factory during the “Gilded Age,” how would you protect yourself?

The Solution…

• Change the system…– Socialism

• An economic and political philosophy that favors public instead of private control of property and income.

– Most Americans opposed. Why?

• Work within the system…– Unions

• Groups of workers united in their efforts to pressure businesses into improving working conditions.

– Appear in large part after Civil War

The First Unions: Knights of Labor

• All labor united under one union.

• Membership varied– farmers– factory workers– shopkeepers– office workers.

• Goals:– If you were to start a

union, what would your primary goals be?

– Equal pay for equal work– Eight-hour workday– End to child labor

The First Unions: American Federation of Labor

• First “Craft Union”– Organizes skilled workers in a

number of smaller unions specific to craft.

• Goals:– Closed Shop

• All workers in the workplace must be Union members

– Higher wages– Less hours– Better working conditions

• Means:What could you do to get your

demands met?– Strikes

• Systematic stoppages of work.– Collective Bargaining

• Process by which workers negotiate demands as a group.

The First Unions: The

Industrial Workers of the

WorldWhat’s going on in the poster?

Judging by what’s going on in the poster, what do you think this union stands for? Why?

Based on the two questions above, do you think this union less or more radical than the two earlier unions? Why?

Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies)

• Formed in Chicago!

• Membership focused on both skilled unskilled workers.

• Radical union, many socialist members.– Strikes that were

oftentimes violent

Reactions of Employers

• The Situation:– You are the owner of a large corporation

whose employees would like to form a union. What sorts of things would you do to prevent this from happening?

• The Reactions:– Forbidding union meetings.– Firing union organizers.– Forcing new employees to sign “yellow dog”

contracts in which workers promised never to join a union or participate in a strike.

– Refusing to bargain collectively if strikes do occur.– Refusing to recognize unions as their workers’

legitimate representatives.

Would you Join?

• Quietly read the following scenario and respond in a few sentences…

Tonight’s Homework…

• “The Great Strikes”– Complete the “Great Strikes” Chart.

• Include The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, The Haymarket Riot, The Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike.

– (If applicable) Include the name, date, key players, major grievances, and outcome.

Homestead

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Haymarket

Homestead

Pullman

Considering all you’ve learned about Unions, were they needed in the US in the Gilded Age?

Do we need them still today?

Gulf Between Rich and Poor Stats

• What do you suppose that statistic looks like now? Is wealth more equally distributed, less equally distributed, or the same?– In 1998, the richest 10% of Americans

held 70% of the nation’s wealth…