Reforming the Workplace

Mr. Williams10th Grade U.S. History

•What problems were associated with industrialization? For example in the workplace, government, urbanization, etc.

Manufacturing Grows• By 1920, 10 million farm-related

jobs compared to 30 million jobs not related to agriculture• Average wage in 1900 was

somewhere between $400 to $500 per year

• By 1900, one in six children ages 10 to 15 held a job outside the home•Workers worked 12 to 16 hours a

day, six days a week, in unsafe conditions• No paid vacation, no sick leave, no

compensation for workplace injuries

Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire

• New York , 1911

•More than 140 women (mostly age 15 or 16) and men died in the fire after doors would not open up after being locked to prevent theft in the factory

• Investigators found similar hazards in workplaces across New York

• State laws passed to require dramatic new fire safety measures, factory inspections, and sanitation improvements• State became a model for workplace

safety nationwide

Unions Organize

•Boycotts, Negotiations, Strikes•About 1500 different strikes over wage cuts in 1886 alone

Knights of Labor• Founded in Philadelphia 1869• Unskilled workers, women, African

Americans and even employers• 8 hour workday, end of child labor,

and equal pay for equal work

American Federation of Labor• Formed in 1886 by their leader

Samuel Gompers• Tried to stay out of politics• “Bread and Butter” Issues: Wages,

working hours, and working conditions• By 1900 had over 500,000 members

• In 1904, AFL had 1.7 million members of skilled workers• By 1920, membership grew up to

4 million ILGWU organized a strike of 20,000 and led to shorter workweeks and higher wages

• Pullman Strike: 1893, Pullman company laid off a third of its employees and severely cut wages of the rest•When Union set out on a strike,

Federal troops moved in and every worker who was involved was fired or blacklisted

• Industrial Workers of the World organized unskilled workers • “The working class and the employing

class have nothing in common”• All workers were admitted• 1912: Textile mill strike in Lawrence,

Mass. Of over 10,000 men and women • After 63 days, Owners gave in and gave

strikers all of their demands

Eugene V. Debs• Union Leader who organized

Pullman Strike• Also supporter of Marxism-Class

struggle between workers and owners• Belief that workers would

eventually revolt and gain control of factories and overthrow govt.