WORKERS OF THE NATION UNITE

WORKERS ARE EXPLOITED• Long hours and

danger• 12+ hours a day, 6

days a week• No vacation, sick leave,

unemployment, or workers compensation

LABOR UNIONS EMERGE•Workers deserved better conditions• Organized into to unions to petition employers

20. KNIGHTS OF LABOR• Labor union that accepted all races, genders, and religions. Advocated an eight-hour workday and equal pay for men and women.

21. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR• Focused on collective bargaining and relied on strikes as a major negotiating tool.

22. SOCIALISM• An economic and political system

based on government control of business and property and equal distribution of wealth.

STRIKES TURN VIOLENT• Great Strike of 1877• Rail workers balked at wage cuts

and shut down the nation’s railroads

• Pres. Hayes sends troops to stop the strike

23. HAYMARKET AFFAIR-1886• A meeting held by Knights of Labor that

resulted in the death of seven police officers and turned the tide of public opinion against the labor movement.

GOVERNMENT PRESSURE ON UNIONS• Sherman Anti-Trust Act• Owners could claim that unions hurt

interstate commerce• “Yellow-dog contracts”• Union membership declined in the early

1900s