Labor Unions

IWW

(Industrial Workers of the World) A labor organization for unskilled workers, formed by a group of radical unionists and socialists in 1905. (Mother Jones, Eugene V Debs)

Homestead Strike, 1892

1892 strike against Carnegie's steelworks in Homestead, Pennsylvania

Great Railroad Strike, 1877

A large number of railroad workers went on strike because of wage cuts. After a month of strikes, President Hayes sent troops to stop the strike (example of how government always sided with employers over workers in the Gilded Age).

Pullman Strike, 1894

A staged walkout strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts. The strike was led by socialist Eugene Debs but not supported by the American Federation of Labor. Eventually President Grover Cleveland intervened because it was interfering with mail delivery and federal troops forced an end to the strike. The strike highlighted both divisions within labor and the government's continuing willingness to use armed force to combat work stoppages.

Anthracite Coal Strike, 1902

A strike organized by the United Mine Workers of America that took place in Pennsylvania. Notable for Roosevelt's forcing of the coal corporations to cooperate with the strikers.

AFL

American Federation of Labor. A union of skilled workers from one or more trades which focused on collective bargaining (negotiation between labor and management) to reach written agreements on wages hours and working conditions

Haymarket Square Riot, 1886

bomb is thrown at a squad of policemen attempting to break up a labor rally.. blamed for the riot which decrease their popularity.

Taft-Hartley Act, 1947

curbs power of unions (unions are abusing power and endanger defense industry, infiltrated by communists, coerced to hire only union workers)

Wagner Act, 1935

established National Labor Relations Board; protected the rights of most workers in the private sector to organize labor unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands.

Knights of Labor created, 1869

one of the most important American labor organizations of the 19th century, demanded an end to child and convict labor, equal pay for women, a progressive income tax, and the cooperative employer-employee ownership of mines and factories

CLO, 1930s

split from AFL, more inclusive union (reuintes later)