Labor Unions & Strikes : Labor Unions & Strikes United States History
Three Choices for Workers… : 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 : 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
Could This Happen In America? : 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?
Less Radical—Labor Unions : 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?
Knights of Labor : Knights of Labor First important national union
Wanted to organize ALL workers: skilled, unskilled and of all backgrounds
Set the example: negotiate, then strike if needed
Goals: 8 hour day; end of child labor
Lost influence after violent strikes
Other Unions : Other Unions American Federation of Labor (AFL):
Smaller local unions with a national organization
Wages, hours, conditions
Strikes, collective bargaining
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Wobblies
Socialists
Wobblies View of the World : Wobblies View of the World
Employers’ Reaction : Employers’ Reaction No Union Meetings
Union organizers fired
Blacklisting
Yellow Dog contracts
Would not bargain collectively
Strikes met with violence
The Great Strikes : The Great Strikes Haymarket Riot (1896)—8 hour workday (national strike); scabs hired in Chicago (fights); rally—bombing & gunfight: 4 anarchists hanged for murder
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
Try to negotiate a labor contract (2 on each side) : Try to negotiate a labor contract (2 on each side) Activity: