Industrial America At Work Flashcards
Laborers worked ## hours a day, # days a week
12 hours a day
6 days a week
Piecework
Paid not by hour but by what they produced. Those who worked fastest and produced the most made the most money.
What kind of shops paid by piecework?
Sweatshops
Sweatshops
A shop where employees worked long hours at low wages under poor working conditions
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Organizer at a steel factory whose goal was to increase efficiency and profits through division of labor
Division of labor
Break down tasks into a number of steps and its overall timing. Proved efficient but took joy out of work.
Factory work environment
Ruled by clock Strict discipline Fear of being fired Unsafe conditions But factory work offered higher pay than other jobs
In the 1880s, children made up what percent of labor force?
5%
Jacob Riis
Social worker that explained the impact of factory work on children in his 1892 book “Children of the Poor.” As a result, child labor came under attack in 1890s and 1900s
Socialism
Workers were drawn to the economic and political philosophy that favored public rather than private control of property and income. Promoted in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, which denounced capitalism and predicted that workers would overthrow the system.
The first union was:
National Trades Union
First union opened to all, survived only a few years
Knights of Labor
Formed in Philadelphia in 1869
Led by Terence Powderly
Equal pay, 8 hours, no child labor (under 15), open to all
American Federation of Labor
Formed by Samuel Gompers
Skilled workers, no Africans or women
Focused on wages, hours, conditions
Used strikes, boycotts, collective bargaining, closed shop
Collective Bargaining
Workers negotiate as a group with employers
Closed shop
Workplace in which only union members were employed
Industrial Workers of the World
AKA Wobblies, IWW 1905 43 groups opposed to AFL Radical Union of unskilled workers, open to socialists Led violent strikes
Reaction of employers
Banning union meetings
Firing union organizers
Signing yellow dog contracts: workers agree not to unionize
Refusing to bargain collectively
Great Railroad Strike of 1877: reason
B & O Railroad announced 10% wage cut during a depression, imposed double headers (2 engines, twice as many cars, accident risk).
Great Railroad Strike of 1877: actual strike
Workers organized strikes and clashed with local militia. Violence spread through cities like Pittsburgh, Chicago, and St. Louis. State governors requested assistance from the govt. Pres Rutherford B Hayes sent in federal troops to restore order. Pittsburgh soldiers fired on rioters. 20,000 rioters set fire to railroad property, $5 mil in damage. More troops sent in.
Outcome of Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Eugene V Debs opposed the railway violence and proposed a new industrial union for railway workers called the American Railway Union
Haymarket Riot
1866
Knights of Labor union workers mounted a demonstration for an 8 hour workday. Police broke up a fight between workers and scabs at Chicago’s McCormick Reaper Factory and caused casualties among workers. Union leaders called for protest rally at Chicago’s Haymarket Square. Anarchists joined the strikers. Someone threw a bomb into the police, killing an officer. Gunfire killed people on both sides. Four anarchists hanged for conspiracy to commit murder.
Scabs
A worker called in by an employer to replace striking laborers
Homestead Strike
Summer 1892
Carnegie’s partner Henry Frick tried to cut wages at Carnegie Steel. The union at the Carnegie plant in Homestead, PA called a strike. Frick called in the Pinkertons, private strike breakers. Shootout between Pinkerton guards and workers left several dead. Strikers eventually crossed the picket line.
Pullman Strike: reason
George Pullman invented luxury sleeping cars. He built a town for his workers in Chicago. In the Panic of 1893, Pullman laid off workers and cut wages by 25%. Rent and food prices in town stayed the same.
Pullman Strike: Strike and Aftermath
Pullman workers turned to the American Railway Union under Eugene V Debs. 260,000 workers joined strike. It disrupted mail delivery. Railroad owners sought government help, and it was ordered that all union activity regarding railway traffic was illegal. In the years ahead, factory owners repeatedly looked to the govt for court orders against unions.
