Labor Unions Emerge

Context

• Workers unite in response to business leaders' consolidation.
• Unions formed due to exploitation and unsafe conditions despite regional wage differences.
• Inclusive of skilled, unskilled, female, male, black, and white workers.

Working Conditions

• Long Hours and Danger:

  • Steel mills demanded 7-day workweeks; seamstresses worked 12+ hours a day, 6 days a week.
  • No benefits such as vacation or sick leave.
  • High injury rates in factories due to poor conditions.

• Child Labor:

  • By 1910, 8 million women were working; significant child labor force.
  • Sweatshops employed women and children at very low wages.

Early Labor Organizing

• National Labor Union (NLU):

  • Founded in 1866, excluded African Americans leading to the CNLU.
  • Achieved an 8-hour day for government workers.

• Knights of Labor:

  • Open to all workers, prioritized arbitration and equal pay.
  • Peaked at 700,000 members but declined after failed strikes.

Types of Unionism

• Craft Unionism:

  • Focused on skilled workers across trades.
  • American Federation of Labor (AFL) led by Samuel Gompers, used strikes effectively.

• Industrial Unionism:

  • Encompassed all workers, skilled or unskilled, within industries.
  • American Railway Union (ARU) led by Eugene V. Debs; significant strike but faced backlash.

Socialism and the IWW

• Radical movement partly turned to socialism for worker rights.
• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) aimed to unite unskilled workers; only notable success in 1912.

Labor Activism in the West

• Strikes and unions also formed among minorities and in agricultural sectors.
• Increased tensions between labor and management.

Major Strikes and Events

• Great Strike of 1877: Railroad strike ended by federal troops.
• Haymarket Affair (1886): Violent protest led to public backlash against labor.
• Homestead Strike (1892): Violent clash at Carnegie Steel; union eventually weakened.
• Pullman Company Strike (1894): Resulted in military intervention and blacklisting of workers.

Women in the Labor Movement

• Key figures like Mary Harris "Mother" Jones advocated for worker rights.
• Pauline Newman and others led successful strikes and highlighted poor working conditions.
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911): Resulted in public outrage and set task force for factory conditions.

Management and Government Pressure

• Employers resisted union recognition and employed legal strategies to suppress unions.
• Courts and the Sherman Antitrust Act used against labor efforts.
• Despite challenges, unions remained a significant force, notably the AFL.