labor unions & strikes
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Labor Unions & Strikes. United States History. Three Choices for Workers…. Continue in misery Join a Union and possibly get fired or even killed Become a communist and start a revolution. Socialism. Public control of property & income Society should be in charge of wealth - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Labor Unions & StrikesUnited States History
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Three Choices for Workers…
1.1.Continue in miseryContinue in misery
2.2.Join a Union and Join a Union and possibly get fired or possibly get fired or even killedeven killed
3.3.Become a communist Become a communist and start a revolutionand start a revolution
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Socialism• Public control of
property & income• Society should be
in charge of wealth
• Wealth should be redistributed equally
• Karl Marx & Frederick Engels
• How to get this done? Workers revolution
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Could This Happen In America?
•How could this help workers?
•Who would be against Socialism/Communism in America?
•This is radical—is there something less radical that would help workers?
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Less Radical—Labor Unions•Unions: improve working conditions (not overthrow the system)
•Collective Bargaining•Strikes (last resort)•Best—national strike•Why was this appealing to workers?
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Knights of Labor• First important national union
• Wanted to organize ALL workers: skilled, unskilled and of all backgrounds (no racial restrictions)
• Set the example: negotiate, then strike if needed
• Goals: 8 hour day; end of child labor
• Lost influence after violent strikes
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Other Unions• American Federation of
Labor (AFL): – Smaller local unions with
a national organization– Wages, hours, conditions– Strikes, collective
bargaining– Barred African-Americans
• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)– Wobblies– Socialists
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Wobblies View of the World
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Employers’ Reaction•No Union Meetings•Union organizers fired•Blacklisting•Yellow Dog contracts•Would not bargain collectively
•Strikes met with violence
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The Great Strikes• Haymarket Riot (1896)—8 hour workday
(national strike); scabs hired in Chicago (fights); rally—bombing & gunfight btw. Police & strikers; Ill. Law: help with murder, then you are a murderer: 4 anarchists hanged for murder (one blew himself up in prison). Never determined who threw the bomb.
• Homestead Strike (1892)—Carnegie Steelworkers called a strike (factory cut their wages) & were fired; management sent in “private” police force (fight with deaths); strike called off
• Pullman Strike (1894): Company town; wages cut 25% (Panic of 1893); food prices in town NOT cut; Pullman fired three negotiators; strike; al RR traffic halted; strike ordered illegal because mail couldn’t get through