Trade union and labour rights - industrial growth, federal government Flashcards
What is the Gilded Age?
The period from 1870-1890 of rapid economic growth, particularly in the north and west.
Railways, mining, iron, steel and the financial sector grew.
High wages attracted European immigrants.
Many of these immigrants did not benefit and lived in poverty.
How were labour rights affected in industrial growth and economic change?
Economy growth increased demand for workers, but employees gained a stronger position than in economic downturn, where the fear of unemployment did not gain them rights.
A growing economy may have allowed unions to increase pressure on employers for recognition and pay, but in later periods, improved working conditions lessened interest.
What are the positives for labour rights in the 1880s?
The number of industrial workers grew from 885,000 to 3.2 million.
This growth led to greater demand for unions and led to the formation of the KOL, AFL and industrial workers of the world,
While progress was slow, the sheer number of workers increased pressure on employers to recognise unions and some concessions were made.
What are the negatives for labour rights in the 1880s?
Skilled workers, who already belonged to their own craft unions, saw the huge growth in unskilled labour as a threat and so disallowed them membership.
Even when unskilled tried to form their own unions, the division in the labour force meant employers could resist demands and so unions didn’t gain recognition.
What are the positives for labour rights in the 1920s?
The growth for demand in consumer goods in this decade led to high rates of employment and a growth in real wages.
Low unemployment forced employers to recognise unions or introduce ‘welfare capitalism’.
This offered workers perks such as pensions and insurance in return for no-strike agreements.
What are the negatives of labour rights in the 1920s?
On the surface welfare capitalism looked like progress, but in reality meant workers had limited their independence.
Unions still had no legal rights and so failed to gain recognition from many employers.
What are the positives of labour rights in the 1950s?
The economic position of workers grew strongly.
The average income by the end of the decade was 35% higher than the start.
75% of workers owned a car and 87% owned at least 1 TV.
What are the negatives of labour rights in the 1950s?
The number of blue collar workers declined.
Union membership in these industries dropped by 50%.
White collar workers increased in number in services and government sector, and some were forced to sign non-union agreements.
The number of women in work grew, who often didn’t join unions.
How did the great depression help rights?
While high levels of unemployment made workers vulnerable, the legislation introduced as part of the New Deal to help get people back into work, greatly impacted union rights.
However, this was more government action trying to deal with high unemployment and employer-employee relations.
Why did labour rights decrease after the gilded age?
The fall in demand meant that fewer workers were needed and so employers could lower wages, due to readily available workforce.
Workers were unable to combat this as unions lacked power.
When unions did, the violence that ensued further weakened unions.
What is the economic change post WW2?
New technology and increased automation saw blue collar workers decline, union membership fell by 50%, weakening bargaining power.
White collar increased, who often signed non-union agreements.
This was further reinforced by the growth of women workers, who often didn’t join the male-dominated unions.
How did economic changes in the 1970s impact rights?
Unemployment rose and real wages fell, especially for unskilled.
Increased high-tech industries, with white-collar who joined unions less.
High-tech industries were often relocated outside major cities, so workforce was more dispersed and harder to unionise.
Highly paid skilled workers, given incentive packages, less joined unions.
What is laissez-faire?
A belief that the government should not interfere in the economy and that businesses and owners should be allowed to manage themselves.
This favoured employers, as they could form large corporations, and build up large industrial enterprises.
They could exploit their employees and deny them a voice to complain.
What is the Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890?
An attempt to restrict monopolies by which large companies were able to control a trade.
This was the only exception to the pattern of government action in support of workers in the 19th century.
What is the Pullman strike 1894?
The attorney general issued an injunction which stopped anyone interfering with the movement of mail.
President Cleveland sent 2000 federal troops to break the strike, though claiming it was only for the movement of mail.
Troops fired and killed 4 protesters - government willing to kill own people.
