This link will aid you in completing the Cardsort Article: Labor's Response to Industrial Growth
1. List in chronological order all the major incidents that took place involving labor uprisings and be sure to include the names of specific incidents that ended in violence.
2. What types of unions were organized, and list the founding purpose and people involved?
4. List the methods Unions went to to protest unfair/unsafe labor practices.
5, How were the Wagner Act, and the Taft-Hartley Act significant to the Labor unions and the factory owners?
Cardsort Aticle: Labor’s Response to Industrial Growth (6.1.2)
HOW SUCCESSFUL WERE EFFORTS TO ORGANIZE A NATIONAL LABOR MOVEMENT IN AMERICA?
With increasing industrialization after the Civil War unionism became more and more important. The National Labor Union (NLU), a federation of national and local unions and of city federations, was founded in 1866. Was the first national union. Within two years it had more than 600,000 members. The NLU collapsed in in 1872 as the result of a national depression.
The 1870's was a period of widespread activity, largely because of the terrible working conditions faced by workers after the disastrous economic crisis of 1873. Many unions struck against pay cuts and the replacement of workers by machines. Most employers strongly opposed unions. The struggle between workers and employers often took violent forms. In the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, federal troops had to be used to restore order.
The 1870's saw the creation of the Knights of Labor. The Knights of Labor were a true national union. The Knights admitted both skilled and unskilled workers as well as those of each race. The Knights declined after the Haymarket Square Riot.
In 1886 the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded by Samuel Gompers, president of the Cigarmakers International Union. The initial membership of the AFL was estimated at about 140,000 workers grouped in 25 national unions. The AFL was a national federation of independent unions. The AFL concerned itself primarily with organizing skilled workers.
In the Supreme Court case called In Re Debs, in 1895, the court ruled on union strikes. In this case Eugene V. Debs, an American railway union officer and one of the leaders of the Pullman Railroad Car workers' strike in 1894, refused to honor a federal court "injunction" ordering him to halt the strike. Debs appealed his "contempt of courts conviction. At issue was whether the federal government has the constitutional authority to stop railroad workers from striking.
The Supreme Court of the United States, in a unanimous decision, upheld the authority of the federal government to halt the strike. The Court reasoned that the federal government has "enumerated powers" found in Article 1, Section 8, to "regulate commerce ... among the several states," and to establish post offices and post roads. When the American Railway Union struck, it interfered with the railroad's ability to carry commerce and mail which benefited the needs and "general welfare" of all Americans.
While Debs lost the case he did not lose the support of the workers. In fact, Debs ran for President of the United States from his jail cell and millions voted for him!
In 1905 the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), was organized in Chicago to represent unskilled workers. The IWW never had more than about 100,000 members, who were called Wobblies, but it conducted numerous strikes, many marked by bloodshed, and exerted a major influence on the American labor movement until the early 1920's. In the early 20th century, the first woman workers became members of unions, notably of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU).
In 1933 a faction of the AFL led by John L. Lewis calling itself the Committee for Industrial Organizations staged a battle within the AFL for the representation of industrial unions to represent unskilled workers. In 1938 the committee split from the AFL and formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The CIO as it was called grew in strength and in 1955 after many years of acrimonious competition the AFL and CIO merges under Lewis' leadership. Today the AFL-CIO is the nation's largest union organization.
HOW DID MANAGEMENT RESPOND TO THE EFFORTS OF WORKERS TO FORM UNIONS?
The terrible conditions faced by industrial workers during the gilded age resulted in the call for the creation of unions. These efforts, however, were strongly, and often violently opposed by management.
Workers efforts to form unions were strongly and often violently opposed by management. Factory owners used a variety of methods such as:
1. Firing union organizers.
2. Placing union organizers on what was known as a blacklist. The blacklist was circulated and those on it would not be hired by other factory owners. The blacklist was eventually made illegal.
3. New hires were forced to sign a yellow dog contract. The yellow dog contract made a new employees promise he would never join a union as a term of employment. This was also eventually made illegal .
4. Factory owners were granted injunctions by the courts. An injunction is a court order barring a certain activity. If the court granted an injunction against a unions activities then the union had to stop that activity.
The courts used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act which made illegal any "conspiracy in restraint of trade" to justify the injunctions. While the Sherman Act was not written with this use in mind the courts who sympathized with management interpreted unions to be a "conspiracy in restraint of trade."
5. Striking workers were often fired and replaced with scabs.
6. The police and hired thugs would use violence to break up strikes and union rallies. In the Great Railroad Strike 26 workers were killed. Most strikers were fired and wages were eventually restored.
Perhaps the most telling event was the Haymarket Square Riot. The Haymarket Square Riot was confrontation between police and protesters that took place on May 4, 1886, in Haymarket Square in Chicago. A strike was in progress at the McCormick reaper works in Chicago, and on the previous day several men had been shot by the police during a riot at the plant. A meeting was called at Haymarket Square on May 4 as a protest against police violence by a group of mainly German-born anarchist workers living in Chicago. The police attempted to disperse the meeting, and in the ensuing riot a bomb was thrown, which triggered another gun battle. Seven policemen were killed and many injured; so were many civilians. Eight anarchists attending the meeting were arrested and charged with being accessories to the crime, on the ground that they had publicly and frequently advocated such violence. They were tried and found guilty on a variety of charges (the identity of the bomb thrower was never discovered); seven were sentenced to death and one to imprisonment. Eventually four were hanged, one committed suicide, the sentence of two was commuted to life imprisonment, and one received a 15-year term. In 1893 the three in prison were pardoned by the governor of Illinois, John Peter Altgeld, mainly on the ground that no evidence had been presented actually connecting the defendants with the throwing of the bomb.
HOW HAS THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT TREATED UNIONS?
Unions have been a very successful force in winning things for their members. Wages have gone up, hours have gone down and conditions have improved. This was not an easy road however. As we know management strongly opposed unions. What many people do not know, however, is that the government strongly opposed unions for many years as well.
The government positions on unions can basically be broken into three time periods:
1. Anti Union - 1830's - 1932 - During this time the government sided with factory workers as it embraced the Laissez Faire/Rugged Individualist mentality.
- Courts granted injunctions (court order stopping a certain activity) based upon the Sherman Antitrust Act to stop union activity. The Sherman Act declared any "conspiracy in restraint of trade" to be illegal and the courts felt that unions were such a conspiracy.
- President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to break up the great Railroad strike. 26 strikers were killed.
- President Teddy Roosevelt sent in federal troops to break up the Great Anthracite (coal) strike.
- In 1914 the Clayton Anti-Trust Act made unions legal but courts continued to grant injunctions and favor management.
2. Pro Union - 1932 - 1945 - During the time the government passed laws that supported union activity. The Depression changed the way people looked at government help and the way we viewed governments responsibility as a whole. The notion of rugged individualism died as did the laissez faire economic philosophy.
- The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) gave unions allot of bargaining power. It also created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB had the power to mediate in negotiations and assist unions in gaining fair negotiations.
- The Wages and Hours Act was passed creating a 40 hour work day and a minimum wage.
- The Social Security Act was passed providing for government run pensions for all workers.
3. Seeking a Balance -1945 - Present - Since the end of WWII the government has tried to find a fair balance between unions and management. The goal has been to keep a level playing field. Often the government (even the President himself) has acted as a mediator.
- In 1947 Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act limiting the actions of Unions and balancing the trend begun by the Wagner Act.
4. Today - Many feel the government has begun to swing the pendulum in favor of management again, what will the future hold...no one knows.
Goals of unions: To negotiate a contract for their members that gain improved wages, benefits and working conditions. These contacts are known as collective bargaining agreements (CBA's)
Methods:
Negotiation - Unions bargain and discuss their wished with management in an attempt to come to a peaceful agreement that they both can live with. This is the art of compromise.
Slow Down - If unions do not get what they want sometimes they tell workers to slow down production to "push" management to give them what they want.
Sick Out - One tactic that might be used is having numerous workers call in sick on one day. This temporarily stops production and is a show of force.
Picketing - Unions will protest outside of the place of work to gain public support and attention.
Strike - This is the last resort, walking out of work. If the workers can hold out long enough they may push management to give them what they want.
Works Cited:
"The Formation of Unions." The Social Studies Help Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
"Management Responds to Unions." The Social Studies Help Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
"Government Treatment of Unions." The Social Studies Help Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
"Unions Methods." The Social Studies Help Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
