Labor Conditions and Impending Labor Union Strikes

Essential Question:After reading through the Shop girl stories, formulate a description of

working conditions these women faced, then determine what it is they are trying to convey in their writings.

Unsafe Working Conditions– Steel Mills required 7 day workweeks– Seamstresses worked 12 or more hours/day, 6 days a

week– No one entitled to vacation, sick leave, unemployment

compensation, or reimbursement for injuries suffered on the job• In 1882 and average of 675 laborers were killed in work-

related accidents each week!– Wages were so low that everyone in the house had to

work to make enough money to eat• Between 1890 and 1910 the number of women working for

wages doubled from 4-8 million• 20% of the boys and 10% of girls under age 15 held full-time

jobs

Read the accounts written by sweat shop workers

How much were they paid?!

• In 1889 – Guesses? – As low as 27 cents for a child’s 14 hour day– Women earned an average of $267 a year– Men earned an average of $498 a year – twice as

much as women– Andrew Carnegie made $23 million – with no

income tax• What do you think the workers could do to

improve their situation?

Early Labor Organizing• In 1866 the first large-scale labor union was

formed, the National Labor Union (NLU)– Membership grew to 640,000– In 1868 they persuaded Congress to legalize an 8

hour day for government workers• The Colored National Labor Union was created

out of the refusal to admit blacks into the NLU

• In 1869, Uriah Stephens founded the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor– They focused on individual needs whereas the

previous unions focused on workers as a whole– Motto – An injury to one is the concern of all

Two Major Types of Unions1. Craft Unionism –– Included skilled workers from one or more trades– Samuel Gompers lead the Cigar Makers’

International Union to join with other craft unions in 1886

– The American Federation of Labor (AFL) with Gompers as their leader used strikes as a major tactic winning them higher wages and shorter workweeks

– From 1890-1915• Wages rose from $17.50 to $24• Average workweek fell from 54.5 hrs to just under 49 hrs

2. Industrial Unionism

• Included all laborers of a specific industry, skilled and un-skilled

• Eugene V. Debs formed the American Railway Union (ARU)

• In 1894 they won a strike for higher wages • Their membership because of this climbed to

150,000

Strikes Turn Violent• The Great Strike of 1877 was the country's

first major rail strike – Spawned violence that briefly paralyzed the

country's commerce and led governors in ten states to mobilize 60,000 militia members to reopen rail traffic.

– The strike would be broken within a few weeks, but it helped set the stage for later violence in the 1880s and 1890s, including the Haymarket Square bombing in Chicago in 1886, the Homestead Steel Strike near Pittsburgh in 1892, and the Pullman Strike in 1894.

The Haymarket Affair• May 4, 1886– 3,000 people gather together at Chicago’s Haymarket

Square to protest police brutality– Once police arrive, someone (unknown still today)

tossed a bomb into the police line– Police opened fire– Seven officers and several workers died – 3 speakers and 5 other radicals were charged with

inciting a riot• All 8 were convicted – 4 were hanged, 1 committed suicide

in jail

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The Homestead Strike• In June 1892 Carnegie Steel Plant president,

Henry Frick announced he was going to cut wages of workers– On the 29th the workers went on strike– Frick calls in the Pinkerton Detective Agency to

keep the strike under control, and he replaced striking workers – infuriating strikers

– Unclear as to how, but a battle ensued • 3 detectives and 9 workers died

– The National Guard had to be called in to stop the fighting

The Pullman Company Strike• In 1893, Pullman laid off more than 3,000 to 5,800

employees• Also reduce the wages of the remaining staff by 25-

50% - but DID NOT cut cost of employee housing• In 1894, Eugene Debs asked for change, but was

refused by Pullman– The ARU began boycotting Pullman trains– Pullman calls in strikebrakers and thing turned violent– The President Grover Cleveland had to call in federal

troops– Debs was jailed and Pullman fired most of his workers and

blacklisted the rest

Women Organize• Although they were barred from unions,

women organized behind powerful leaders– Demanded better working conditions– Equal pay for equal work– End to child labor

• Most prominent was Mary Harris Jones– Supported the “Great Strike” – Endured death threats and was jailed for

supporting minor workers strikes – was given the nickname “Mother Jones”

30 Million Children March

• In 1903, to expose child labor cruelties, she lead 80 million children on a march to the home President Theodore Roosevelt– These children had hideous injuries from labor

accidents

• This powerful march influenced the passing of child labor laws

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

• It is no surprise that the government and business owners had to reassess the safety of their factories to prevent something like this from happening again.

Labor Conditions and Impending Labor Union Strikes

Essential Question:After reading through the Shop girl stories, formulate a description of

working conditions these women faced, then determine what it is they are trying to convey in their writings.