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Union and Labour Rights in 1865 (The position of unions and labour…
Union and Labour Rights in 1865
What did they fight for?
The right of unions to exist and be legally recognised
The right to negotiate pay and working conditions
The establishment of systems for mediation
The right of workers to withdraw labour without punishment
The position of unions and labour
Workers' rights depended upon what they could negotiate with employers
Workers could be exploited and had no protection
Unions represented skilled workers in craft industries, whereas workers in new industries like steel had no protection
Workers could be laid off (sacked easily)
Few safety precautions
Those injured at work received little support
Unions in the late nineteenth century
Growth in
industrialisation
led to a growth in unions
Industrialisation
saw the emergence of the
Knights of Labor (KOL)
and the
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
KOL
had 700,000 members in 1886 through successful strike action but this fell of due to the violent
Haymarket Affair
and social divisions among the workforce
The position of workers were undermined with the availability of African American labour after
slavery ended
as they were paid less
The position of workers was further undermined by the arrival of European immigrants and the
1892 Homestead Strike
and the
1894 Pullman Strike
.
By WW1, little was achieved. Unions represented just
20%
of the non-agricultural workforce and were divided by ethnicity, skill and gender. Union membership was at
10 million by 1910
Labour Rights During Economic Growth in the Gilded Age
As America
industrialised
during the Gilded Age, workers won some concessions.
There was increased demand for unions, particularly among unskilled workers whose numbers increased with mass production and heavy machinery
Gaining rights were slow, but membership grew to
500,000 by 1900
Crafts unions saw the developments as a threat to their position and did not allow unskilled workers to join their unions. This created a
divided labour movement
. Unskilled workers were unable to gain recognition or rights
Strikes and Violence
Pullman Strike 1894
Nationwide railroad strike
Faced by economic depression, the Pullman company
cut wages by 1/4
and made
1/3 of the workforce redundant
The government supported the employers, creating an
injunction
which stopped anyone interfering with mail movement.
President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to break the strike, then the Supreme Court legalised the use of injunctions which made the strike illegal.
The Supreme Court issued the
Omnibus Indictment Act
which prevented strikers and workers trying to persuade others to strike
Molly Maguires 1873
Striking miners assaulted railroad cars and mines
Led to a reluctance of workers to join unions
Haymarket Affair 1886
Started at the McCormick Harvester Plant in Chicago.
Police
killed 4 protestors
. The protestors then responded by
throwing a bomb
at police,
killing 7
Trouble blamed on German immigrant
August Spies
making white Americans more suspicious of immigrants
Destroyed reputation of the
KOL
Homestead Steel Strike 1892
Lasted
143 days
, ending with a battle between strikers and the
Pinkerton Detective Agency
, employed by Industrialist Henry Frick
Frick was stabbed and shot but survived and led to the collapse of the strike which saw a decline in membership numbers
He then made sure to bankrupt the unions for all of their money, meaning they couldn't support their laid off workers
Other employers became suspicious of granting unions rights