Labor in the 1890s

1
Labor in the 1890s
2
Widening gulf between rich and poor

• 1890 richest 9 held 75 of the nations wealth
• Average working family made only a few hundred
  dollars/year
• Necessary for most members of working class
  families to work in order to survive
• Wealthy lived very well and ostentatiously

3
Socialism

• A political and economic theory of collective
  government ownership of factories and property
• Goal a fair distribution of wealth and equality
• Never a strong movement in U.S.

4
Karl Marx

• Criticized the capitalist economic system and
  predicted its eventual overthrow by the workers

5
American Reaction to Socialism

• Contrary to American ideals of free enterprise
  and private property
• Most Americans did not support
• However growing discontent existed among the
  working class
• Union movement was an alternative

6
Early Unions

• Organized by trade
• Helped members in hard times
• Became a voice for demands for shorter workdays,
  higher wages, and better conditions

7
Knights of Labor

• Early national union
• Willing to organize virtually all working men and
  women farmers, factory workers, white collar
  workers included African Americans
• President Terence Powderly
• Goals Equal pay for equal work 8 hour day an
  end to child labor

8
American Federation of Labor

• Samuel Gompers President
• Ignored politics concentrated on strong
  organizations of each skill
• Organization Loose confederation of craft
  unions organization of each skill
• Philosophy workers as a group had more power
  than working individually

9
Goals of AFL

• Bread and Butter Issues wages, hours, and
  working conditions
• Collective bargaining workers negotiate as a
  group with the employer
• Closed shop Wanted a shop that employed only
  Federation members

10
Friction between Labor and Management

• Measures taken to stop unions forbid union
  meetings and fire union organizers
• Yellow Dog Contracts promise not to join the
  union or to participate in a strike new workers
  were forced to sign these

11
Great Railroad Strike of 1877

• Baltimore and Ohio RR
• Cause RR cut wages 10 and ran double headers
  (long trains with 2 engines) as a means to cut
  workers
• Reaction to wage cuts spread through Pennsylvania
  to Ohio and the Midwest
• Riot in Pittsburgh state militia called in 10
  people killed strikers fought back and set fire
  to railroad cars and buildings

12
Results of the RR Strike

• President Hayes sent federal troops to put down
  the strike
• Precedent set From 1877 on - employers relied
  on state and federal troops to repress labor
  unrest

13
Haymarket 1886

• Company McCormick Reaper in Chicago
• Cause Workers wanted an 8 hour day called for
  a strike. Strikebreakers (scabs) were brought in
  and there was a fight. The police broke up the
  fight and several people were injured. A protest
  rally was called by anarchists.

14
Rally at Haymarket
15
Rally at Haymarket

• A bomb was thrown
• 7 policemen were killed and many wounded
• Police opened fire on the crowd
• There were dozens of deaths

16
Results of Haymarket

• 8 anarchists convicted of conspiracy
• Bomb thrower never found
• 4 anarchists hung
• 1 committed suicide
• 3 pardoned by Governor Altgeld

17
Homestead Strike - 1892

• Company Carnegie Steel Homestead, PA
• Cause The Union of Steel and Iron Workers had
  negotiated a labor contract with Carnegie Steel
• Carnegie went to Europe
• Carnegies partner Frick cut wages
• The union went on strike

18
What Happened?

• Frick called in the Pinkertons (police force to
  break strikes)
• The strikers fired on the Pinkertons
• An anarchist Alexander Berkman tried to
  assassinate Frick
• The governor called in state troops to end the
  violence
• The union acknowledged defeat

19
The Battle at Homestead
20
Pullman Strike - 1894

• Company Pullman Sleeping Cars of Chicago
• Pullman built a company town owned all of the
  houses and shops
• Depression Pullman cut wages and did not reduce
  rents
• A team of workers went to Pullman to protest and
  he fired them
• The workers went out on strike

21
Pullman Strike

• Pullman refused to negotiate and shut down the
  plant
• The American Railway Union refused to handle any
  trains that hauled the Pullman Car
• This became a national rail strike which
  disrupted the western rail traffic including the
  mail

22
More Pullman

• Attorney General Richard Olney argued that the
  mail had to go through and the union was in
  violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act
• Olney got a court order to end the strike
• Union president Eugene Debs refused the order
  and went to jail
• President sent in U.S. troops and 12 strikers
  were killed

23
Precedents

• From 1877 on employers relied on state and
  federal troops to repress labor unrest
• People associated unions with the rising tide of
  labor violence
• Factory owners could get court orders against
  unions as combinations in restraint of trade and
  deny unions recognition as legally protected
  organizations