| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

The State of the Union

Page history last edited by Mr. Hengsterman 4 years, 10 months ago

 

 

Image result for labor cartoon 1880 to 1920

The Tournament of Today  

 

 

Conditions

The average industrial worker D.I.E.S

 

Most workers no longer were their own bosses. Instead, they were paid for time on the job.  Job and worker/boss relationship becomes more impersonal and detached

 

In the year 1900, Andrew Carnegie, owner of Carnegie Steel Corporation, earned $23 million dollars. At the turn of the century, when the average worker earned $957 for engineers (the aristocrats of the railroad)

 

Railroad work was one of the most dangerous jobs in America; 2,000 railroad workers were being killed each year, and 30,000 injured

 

Collective Action
Labor unions had a difficult time achieving their goals of higher pay, shorter hours, and improved working conditions. Factory owners were strongly against the formation of unions. 

 

Commonwealth vs Hunt (1842)

 

Tools for Unions

 

Notable Labor Unions: Knights of Labor (1869) and American Federation of Labor (1886)

 

Conflicts of Note

 

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

 

Haymarket Riot (1886)

 

The Homestead Steel Strike (1892)

 

 

Consequences

How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875 to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved?

 

SUCCESSES IN IMPROVING POSITION OF WORKERS 1875-1900

Workers' determination to fight back did at times make the employers "think twice" -- after the RR strike of 1877 for example, employers were slower to slash wages.

 

Congress did (to a very small extent) limit some immigration (Chinese, paupers, contract labor) - a demand of organized labor.

More workers were getting the pre Civil War demand of 10 hour days .

 

Some states gave unions legal recognition & passed health & safety laws to protect workers.

 

Some companies (the Baltimore & Ohio RR, for example) provided pension plans --Pittsburgh Steel pioneered profit sharing.

 

The AFL did survive the depression of the 1890's - by 1901 it had over 1 million members - almost 1/3 of all skilled workers.

 

 

 


 

 

 

FAILURES TO IMPROVE POSITION OF WORKERS 1875-1900

Most unions collapsed

 

Most strikes were crushed & achieved few goals -- Great RR Strike, Homestead, Pullman etc.

 

Many skilled/craft jobs were replaced with lower paying jobs due to new technology & reorganization of business.

 

Less than 10% of industrial workers were unionized by 1900. • Massive immigration made it easy to replace workers.

 

 

 

 

 

Regents Graphics

 

https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/apc/ap09_us_history_q4.pdf

 

 

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.