gilded age Flashcards
growth of skilled unions: william h sylvis
- called convention of workers’ leaders (1866) & created national labour union
achievements of national labour union
- national agreement for strike
- set up per capita tax for strike funds
- urged close shop where possible
limitations of national labour union
- short-lived as iron founders strike (1866-67) failed which weakened unions (scabs replaced workers)
- william h sylvis died 1869 = union collapsed
achievements of knights of labour (uriah smith stephens)
- leadership (especially under terence v. powderly) began influencing local/national elections
- membership reached 700,000 by 1886
- successful strike (wabash railroad strike 1886) led to increased membership 20k to 700k
- women/AAs in union
- achieved worker solidarity
limitations of knights of labour (uriah smith stephens)
- influence decreased
- violence of haymarket affair (1886) destroyed reparation
- membership fell to 100,000 (1890s)
- internal divisions led to members joining IWW or AFL
achievements of american federation of labour - AFL (replaced KOL)
- some of america’s most influential businessmen worked with samuel gomper’s to establish machinery for giving workers right to mediation/conciliation (employers accepted federation)
- 2+ million members by 1914
- encouraged labourers to vote for politicians who supported workers’ rights
- only remaining national federation of trade unions/significant in labour relations up to 1992
- rejected discrimination by race
limitation of AFL
only represented small percentage of workers
achievements of industrial workers of the world (IWW) - founded 1905
-100,000 members by 1923
- united many unskilled workers
- brought together many professions (eg. lumbermen, fruit pickers, miners)
limitations of IWW
- divided
- reputation for voilence/sabotage
- by 1924/25 membership had declined significantly
- attempts to control nevada gold mine (1907) led to lockout of members & federal troops reopened mines with non-union members
how did the 1880s-1939 ‘slump in economy’ (1873 wall street crash) have a positive impact on workers
positive effect on unions as increase in unemployment & poorer wages agitated many workers
how much did wages rise by
60%
how many strikes 1881-1905
37,000 strikes
what did trade unions exist as in 1865
craft unions for skilled workers only in closed shop system = unskilled workers exempt & exploited by employers
what did industrialisation mean
increase in unskilled labourers = exploited/badly paid
how many unskilled women made up workforce in 1890
35%
how much of workforce in 1880s was unskilled labour
1/3
what did employers use to hire unskilled labourers
‘contract system’ = resulted in poorer wages
what were wages like in gilded age
–> use examples
= very low
- in late 1870s, bricklayers earned ~$3 per day whereas, unskilled labourers earned $1.30
- average factory wage in 1900 was ~20 cents per hour
what did employers have no obligation to do
recognise unions
what heavily limited TU rights
strike action
result of haymarket affair 1886
- created intense racial divisions within workforce between skilled/unskilled labourers
- arrival of immigration exacerbated this
- limited progress of TU rights (lack of solidarity) & labour rights (workers against each other)
result of homestead strike 1892
- negotiations failed = showed power of employers
- workers used violence
- led to employers resisting TU further & all steel plants in pennsylvania became non-unionised
result of pullman strike 1894
- example of employers exploiting power due to ‘laissez-faire’
- pullman suddenly cut wages
- president cleveland sent in federal troops
impact of immigration on TU/labour rights
= willing to work in deprived conditions for low pay/long hours
- campaign to improve this being slowed down
- individual violent strikes (eg. molly maguires 1893 = led to workers refusing to join unions & made TUs undesirable)
