Brief summary of Labor conditions leading to the need for unions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also the beginning of pro-labor legislation.

1. Unit 3B: The Rise of Labor
Rise of Labor

2. Guiding Question
Why did we see the rise of labor unions during
the gilded age—and how did the formation of the
labor union impact Gilded Age society?

3. What effect did the new
big businesses and their
wealthy owners have on
American society?

4. The distribution of wealth in America became
very uneven:
1/8 of the population owned 7/8 of the wealth.

5. What does
that look
like?
For every $100
• the wealthy gets
$87.50
• everyone else
gets about $1.79
Distribution of Wealth

6. How was this
possible?

7. Laissez-Faire Economics
• French term – “leave alone”
• Major element of a capitalistic economy – the separation of the
government and the economy in a nation
• So government should not attempt to regulate business practices.
• The “free marketplace” will naturally regulate economic successes
and failures.

8. What was it like to be a factory worker?

9. Harsh Working Conditions
• Workers fined or fired for being late or talking
• Deafening noise
• Poor lighting and ventilation
• Unsafe
• Frequent fires and accidents

10. As a result of these conditions
• 500,000 workers were completely disabled each
year
• 35,000 killed each year
• No corporate accountability for worker safety. No
workers’ compensation laws or insurance.
• You get hurt, you get fired.

11. Sweatshops
• A shop usually in upper floors of a building
• Crowded and hot
• Often sewing garments
• Workers paid by number of items produced (piece-work)
• No breaks or toilet facilities

12. Child Labor
• No child labor laws existed.
• Children as young as 6 could work in a factory.
• Most children permanently left school at age 12 to
work.
• Factory owners wanted children because they
could pay them less.
• Families needed the money children earned.
• Many were maimed or killed.

13. Child
Labor

14. Child
Labor

15. How did society respond to these problems?

16. Labor
Unions
• Groups of workers with
similar jobs that join
together to fight for:
• safer working
conditions
• 8-hour work day
• higher pay

17. Two Methods Labor Unions Used
Collective Bargaining:
•One or two union
members are chosen
as spokesmen for the
workers.
•Union reps negotiate
with owners and
managers on behalf
of the workers.
Strike:
•A union tactic in
which workers refuse
to work until their
demands are met by
management

18. Strikers on a Picket Line

19. Why would strikes be an
effective tactic to use against
factory owners and managers?

20. What can factory owners and
managers do if they don’t want
to give into the workers’
demands?

21. Scabs
Management can
hire non-union
workers to take
the place of
striking workers

22. How did factory
owners and managers
respond to unions?

23. How
Management
Responded
•Forbade union meetings
•Fired union organizers
•Forced employees to
sign a contract pledging
not to join a union
•Refused to recognize
unions and collectively
bargain

24. How will the labor movement respond to big business?

25. VIOLENCE

26. Congress finally
takes action to limit
“Big Business”

27. Interstate
Commerce
Act
• 1887
• Federal law to regulate
trade between the
states.
• Stopped railroads from
charging unfair rates to
farmers and making
secret deals with some
large clients (like oil
companies).

28. Sherman
Anti-Trust
Act
• 1890
• “Every . . . combination . . .
in restraint of trade is
declared to be illegal.”
• Was intended to stop
monopolies and to promote
fair competition in the
business market.
• But later the courts used the
law to prohibit labor union
strikes (because strikes were
“restraining free trade.”

29. A different kind of labor
union forms

30. The Wobblies • Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
• Founded in 1905 by Eugene V. Debs who
became a socialist while in prison
• A radical union that used violence during
strikes
• Goal was the world-wide destruction of
capitalism by labor forces

31. The Wobblies (IWW)

32. Socialism
• An political philosophy which proposes:
• Wealth should be equally distributed to
everyone;
• Production of goods based on cooperation, not
competition
• Society as a whole, not just a few private
individuals should have control of a nation’s
wealth