Significant Labor Unions & Strikes of the 19th & early 20th Century

The following was written for workers at the Hitchman Coal and Coke Company in 1908.

I am employed by and work for the Hitchman Coal and Coke Company with the express understanding that I am not a member of the United Mine Workers of America and will not become so while an employee of the Hitchman Coal and Coke Company, and that the Hitchman Coal and Coke Company is run non-union and agrees with me that it will run non-union while I am in its employ.

If at any time while I am employed by the Hitchman Coal and Coke Company I want to become connected with the United Mine Workers of America, or any affiliated organization, I agree to withdraw from the employment of said company and agree that while I am in the employ of that company I will not make any effort amongst its employees to bring about the unionizing of that mine against the company’s wishes. I have either read the above, or heard same read.

Source: How Schools Are Teaching About Labor, AFL-CIO, page 139

Tactics used by Business & Laborers

• Yellow dog contract/iron clad oath: a contract signed by employees promising never to join a union. Workers could be fired for violating these oaths.

• Closed shop: a workplace where only union members can be employed.• Open shop: a workplace where workers have the option of joining a union.• Union shop: a workplace where workers must join a union after they are hired.• Strike: an action taken by a trade union or group of workers to stop work until their

demands are met by their employers.• Lockout: the closing of a factory or business by an employer during a labor dispute in

order to force employees to change their demands.• Boycott: a refusal to buy, use, attend, or deal with a product, activity, or business,

usually as a means of protest.• Blacklist: a list of persons or groups affiliated with unions that business should not

hire; the list was circulated from business to business.• Scab: derogatory term referring to a strike breaker; someone hired to replace striking

workers.• Collective bargaining: the process of determining the terms and conditions of work

by means of a formal agreement between an employer and a labor union. The contract produced is legally binding on the employer and union and spells out in detail the terms and conditions under which employees are to work.

Year Average Annual Union Membership

Number of workers, ten years and over,

excluding agricultural workers

Union membership as a percentage of the

total number of workers outside

agriculture

1870 300,000 * 6,075,000 4.9%

1880 200,000 * 8,807,000 2.3%

1890 372,000 * 13,380,000 2.7%1900 868,000 18,161,000 4.8%1910 2,140,000 25,779,000 8.3%1920 5,048,000 30,985,000 16.3%

* Figures for 1870, 1880, and 1890 are estimates

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1960, pages 72, 98

)

The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor

• Leaders: Uriah Stephens (founder) & Terrence Powderly & Marry Harris Jones

• Founded in 1869• Mainly a white male organization until 1879

(Powderly)• “One Big Union:” Skilled & Unskilled (including

women & AA after 1883, strong Irish participation)• Idealistic Goals: Equal Pay, 8-hour work day, Child

Labor (under 14), Safety and Sanitary Codes, federal income tax, govt. ownership of railroads and telegraphs, anti-Chinese

• By 1886, over 700,000 members (including over 60,000 AA)

• Great Upheaval (series of violent labor confrontations, including 1,500 strikes & 500th workers, most well-known: Haymarket Riot) in 1886 led to demise

American Federation of Labor

• Samuel Gompers• Formed in 1886, grew rapidly

from 1900 to 1914• Skilled workers (excluded

unskilled workers and minorities such as women, blacks, immigrants

• Goals: “Bread & Butter” Issues such as 8-hour work day & higher wages

International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union

• Established in 1900 in NYC• Unionized women (especially in

sewing shops)• Advocated for wage increases &

shorter workdays & recognition of the union by employers

• Staged the Uprising of 20,000 in 1909– Rose from 400 to 65,000 after

garment walk-off strikes

International Workers of the World• Founded in 1905 in Chicago• Wobblies• Leaders: Eugene Debs, Mother Jones, Elizabeth Flynn,

William “Big Bill” Haywood– “Fellow workers, this is the Continental Congress of

the working class. We are here to confederate the workers of this country into a working-class movement that shall have for its purpose the emancipation of the working class from the slave bondage of capitalism (Haywood, 1905 speech)

• Included Unskilled Workers• Anti negotiating w/ Business Owners • Similar goals as other unions, except used different tactics

such as boycotts & industrial sabotage• Govt. retaliation & disagreements of union would weaken

the union (collapsed during WWI)

Significant Labor Strikes in 19th Century

• Great Railroad Strike of 1877– B & O RR & other companies cut wages second year in

a row– Involved over 100,000 workers around the US– Spread into 14 states– Hayes sending of troops into WV fueled the strike– Approx. 100 deaths– First major strike in US History– Inspired support for the Greenback-Labor Party

• Haymarket Riot of 1886– 40,000 workers joined a strike against McCormick

Harvesting Machine Company for 8-hour workday– Confrontations between police and strikers– Anarchists brought a bomb:

• 40 to 60 wounded• 15-16 dead (including 8 police)

– Public blame on labor unions such as KofL

Significant Labor Strikes in 19th Century, cont.

• Homestead Strike of 1892– Carnegie Steel Company vs. Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AA)– AA went on strike to protest pay cuts in Homestead, PA– Violent clash between strikers and hired guards resulted in 16 deaths & over 100 wounded– PA governor brought in 8,000 state militia and scabs to replace striking employees

• Pullman Strike of 1894– Pay cuts (by 1/3) & refusal to lower rents or prices in company towns of Chicago– Eugene Debs & American Railway Union (ARU)– Rail traffic (including mail delivery) was brought to a halt in Midwest– Pres. Cleveland ordered federal troops to put end of the strike & continue mail delivery

• “If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card will be delivered”

– Cost 34 lives, Debs serves 6 mon. prison sentence, and the ARU is destoryed

Significant Labor Strikes in early 20th Century, cont.

-Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902-15,000 United Mine Workers union went on strike for higher wages

-Teddy threatened to take over mines with US Army if communication would not take place

-Arbitrator decision: shorter hours & higher pay and no recognition of the union-First time that the federal govt. intervened in a labor dispute as a neutral arbitrator

-Dansbury Hatters Strike of 1902-United Hatters of North America went on strike & supported a boycott (backed by the AFL) which led to decrease in profits (Business Owner: Dietrich Loewe would sue for damages)-Loewe vs. Lawlor (1908): ruled that trade unions had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by interfering with interstate commerce