HIST 106 2nd Edition Lecture 6 Outline of Last Lecture I Emerging Industries II John D Rockefeller III Rise of Monopolies IV Inventions V The consumer society Outline of Current Lecture I Workers II Culture of work III Knights of Labor Current Lecture Workers o Real wages increased The buying power of the money that the workers do make will improve but not that much o Conditions slightly improved o Organized labor Molly Maguire s 1870s Irish Opposed to poor working conditions that were forced upon them as they began working in the steel mining industry Violence was not a passive movement and used intimidation and violence as their form of protest o Most people in the US saw this as terrorism as opposed to organized labor o 40 of the them arrested and 20 are hung for their crimes against society This didn t do anything positive for labor unions and labor unions at the time were a foreign idea The Railroad strike of 1877 The first major interstate strike in US history o There were strikes before in the US but they were very local o The strike will turn violent and the workers will start destroying railroad track and railroad cars Federal troops o The federal troops were called in for the violence and the troops had to put down the strike o Not only the first interstate strike but also the first time that the federal government had to be called in to put down the strike o Problems 60 hours 6 10 hour days a week the low end of the average of how much work people did Some businesses the workers worked 7 days a week There were no labor laws that prevented people from making their workers work long hours without extra pay 400 500 a year 600 a year for a family This is how much a family would need to provide for themselves and their families food clothing shelter Danger No occupational health and safety administration or worker compensation organizations In 1913 there were 25 000 work related fatalities the likelihood of getting hurt or killed in the industrial job was very high o There was little to none compensation for you and your family if you got hurt and were no longer able to work Racism Chinese Exclusion act 1882 Racism hurt all minorities and they often said that they were the last hired and the first fired As the population of the US becomes more urban and African Americans move from the south to the north there will be even more discrimination in the workplace Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 o Up until the 1880s the US had been actively supporting Chinese immigration into the US o Chinese immigration was actively supported by the people of the US because there was not enough labor to build the railroads or other laborintensive work o As the population of the US grows there is less and less of a need for Chinese labor and it was said that the Chinese were taking away jobs from Americans o This view becomes violent and people start protesting and lynching the Chinese o The Exclusion Act bans Chinese immigration into the US for a decade and will put a damper onto immigration into the 1940s o State governments are the most eager to limit the rights to their citizens Culture of work o Gilded age This era was called the Gilded Age the outside looks really nice but when you look inside its not so great o Rags to riches The American dream start out with nothing and with hard work you become very wealthy The number of people who achieved the rags to riches dreams during this period of time were very small The robber barons owned 2 3 of the wealth of that time so there was only 1 3 left to the rest of the people and the top 10 of the people in the US owned of the economy so there is only left to the rest of the people o Child labor Most children especially if they are living in an urban setting will be engaged in full time employment This would hinder the education for children most children will not get any education at all and this will contribute to a cycle of poverty and will not be able to advance in society at all If they are lucky they may be able to get into a skilled labor position and advance but this is not usually the case The Knights of Labor o Established in 1869 o Spread rapidly after 1873 o 8 hour day Haymarket riot in 1884 Workers were having a peaceful riot until some anarchists came and threw a bomb at the policemen The police open fired and many were injured and killed The view of organized labor after this will be that people in organized labor will be that they are anarchists and terrorists This will be another reason why the Knights of Labor will become so popular because they are very secretive o Paper currency They wanted paper to be what the US based their money off of not gold o Equal pay They advocated equal pay for men and women the most controversial topic of what they wanted The fact that they were advocating gender equality in terms of pay was very unusual o Skilled and unskilled They allowed both skilled and unskilled workers to join their labor organization which was also very unusual for this time period o 1886 peaked At this time their organization became too big and after this year their organization will slightly go downhill
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