U.S. History / Unit 5: Industrialization, Immigration and the Gilded Age
5.3 Workers and Labor Unions
Notes
Factory work was long, dangerous and poorly paid.
- Many worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. Child labor was common.
- Workers formed labor unions to use collective bargaining (negotiating as a group) and strikes.
| Union | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Knights of Labor | open to most workers, including women and Black workers; declined after Haymarket |
| American Federation of Labor (AFL) | led by Samuel Gompers; skilled workers; focused on wages, hours, conditions |
- Haymarket Riot (1886), Chicago: a bomb killed police at a labor rally, turning much of the public against unions.
- Homestead Strike (1892): violent clash at a Carnegie steel plant; the union was broken.
- Pullman Strike (1894): a national railroad strike ended when President Cleveland sent federal troops.
- Owners used lockouts, blacklists and replacement workers. Government usually sided with business in this era.
Practice
Workers negotiating with their employer as a group for higher wages is called:
Unions gave workers more power than they had bargaining one at a time.
How did the AFL differ from the Knights of Labor?
Gompers's AFL focused on "bread and butter" issues for skilled trades.
In most major strikes of the late 1800s, such as the Pullman Strike, the federal government:
Federal troops broke the Pullman Strike, and courts issued injunctions against strikers.
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