Why are monopolies bad?

• Reduce consumer choice

• Increase product price

• Decrease product quality

• Decrease worker’s wages

Workers of the Nation Unite

Unions, Strikes, and Death at the Turn of the Century

Exploitation of Workers

• Factory life consisted of:– Long hours (12/day, 6

days/week)– Hazardous conditions– Low wages

Low wages forced many women and children to work to support family.

The Birth of Labor Unions

• Labor Unions emerged because workers felt, at the very least, they deserved fair wages and safe conditions.

• Labor unions soon divided into two groups

1. Skilled Unions

• The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was the most popular skilled worker union. Elitist.

• Skilled worker- any worker whose job required some special skill, knowledge, or ability to do it.

• Lead by Samuel Gompers….this guy

2. Industrial Unions

• Industrial Unions included skilled and unskilled workers.

• Some people felt unions would be stronger if they included all workers

• Eugene V. Debs was the most famous supporter of industrial unions…this guy

STRIKES

• When workers would stop working.

• Strikes were often the most effective means by which labor unions took action to improve conditions.

• Some strikes lead to riots, violence, and even death.

• The Haymarket Affair (1896) was a particularly violent strike which actually lead to a decline in popularity of unions.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

• Factory in NYC• Fire broke out in upper floors and

spread quickly due to hazardous conditions

• Workers (many of them women) were locked inside. 145 killed.

Effects of the fire

• Caused a huge uproar across the nation

• Lead NY to establish:– Stricter fire codes– 54 hour work week for women and minors– A prohibition on Sunday work– Abolition of labor by children under 14 years