Labor Unions in the Gilded Age Labor Unions

Labor Unions in the Gilded Age

Labor Unions in the Gilded Age 1. National Labor Union • Founded in 1866 by William Sylvis (iron worker) • Linked existing local unions. • Wouldn’t admit African American workers. • Persuaded Congress to legalize 8 -hour workday for government workers (1868) • 640, 000 members at its peak. 2. Colored National Labor Union • Led by Isaac Myers • Founded for black workers • Emphasized cooperation between management & labor, as well as political reform • Disbanded in 1870 s—members then join Knights of Labor

3. Noble Order of Knights of Labor • Founded in 1869 by Uriah Stephens • Officially open to all workers regardless of race, gender, degree of skill • Supported 8 -hour workdays & “equal pay for equal work” for men & women • Sought arbitration first, used strikes only as last resort • 700, 000 members at its peak (1886) • Excluded Chinese & Japanese workers 4. American Federation of Labor • Founded by Sam Gompers in 1886 • Open only to skilled workers (craft unionism) • Focused on collective bargaining , but also used strikes

5. American Railway Union • Led by Eugene Debs • Open to all laborers in the railroad industry • 150, 000 members at its peak 6. Industrial Workers of the World (“Wobblies”) • Organized in 1905 and led by William “Big Bill” Haywood • Open to miners, lumberers, cannery workers, and dock workers (unskilled workers) • Turned to communism to achieve better conditions for workers • Gave dignity and sense of unity to unskilled workers

Urbanization Definition: Growth of cities, shift from rural to urban

Causes 1. 2. Econ problems for farmers Immigration

Effects �Migration (Rural Cities) �Ethnic Islands (Little Italy, Chinatown, etc) �Urban problems

Urban Problems 1. PROBLEM Housing • • SOLUTION Be a little careful, please! The hall is dark and you might stumble over the children pitching tenement housing (multi pennies back Airthere. shafts. Not that it would hurt them; kicks and cuffs are their daily diet. They -family, row house) have little else. Here where the hall turns and dives into utter darkness is a step, and Jacob Riis, How the another, another. A flight of stairs. You can Other Half Lives feel your way, if you cannot see it. Close? Yes! What would you have? All the fresh air that ever enters these stairs comes from the halldoor that is forever slamming… But the saloon, whose open door you passed in the hall, is always there. The smell of it has followed you up. Here is a door. Listen! That short hacking cough, that tiny, helpless wail--what do they mean? …Oh! a sadly familiar story--before the day is at an end. The child is dying with measles. With half a chance it might have lived; but it had none. That dark bedroom killed it.