“Eight Hours for What We Will”: Unionization and the LaborMovementI. Working Conditions in U.S. Factories, c. late 19th centurya) Sanitation – badb) Working hours – longc) Dirty, loud, unsanitary, dangerous, fatali) 35,000 industrial deaths per yeard) Work style – regimented, repetitive, “on the clock”i) Taylorism – scientific management system for labore) “Deskilling” of laborf) Wages – lowi) Average $100-200 below the poverty lineII. Unionization and Strikes – Workers Resist Industrial Conditionsa) Unionization- forming unions to improve working conditions via strikes, etcb) 1866 -- National Labor Unioni) First union; small, not aggressivec) 1877 – Great Railroad Strikei) Ohio, wages cut 20% strikeii) RR important because main transportationiii) Government calls in military (Rutherford B. Hayes)III. 1870s-1880s – Knights of Labor. a) Founded by Terrance Powderlyb) Allowed almost anybody to joini) Unskilled laborers, women, African Americansii) Completely excluded Chinesec) radical goals – increased wages, fewer hours, equal pay for womend) The Eight Hour Movement, 1886e) Haymarket Square Riots (Summer 1886). Spells the end ofthe Knights1i) Chicagoii) 80,000 people show up; goes peacefully until a scuffle with police a few days later; there is a bombIV. 1886—American Federation of Labor. More “respectable.”a) Founded by Samuel Gompersb) Limited membership- skilled laborers onlyV. More Radical Unions – often repressed by authoritiesa) United Mine Workers of America – Ludlow Massacre, 1914i) Book- Voices of Protestb) Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) – very radical:socialists, communists, anarchists, etc.VI. 1892 -- Homestead Steel Strike: Andrew Carnegie fights
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