The Labor Movement In The 1930's

During the late 1800’s America became involved in a large labor movement that would shape history. As America was becoming more industrialized, the need for workers increased overnight. “The workplace was changing as machines became common and the demand for unskilled workers brought new groups into the workforce including immigrants, women, and children” (Aboukhadijeh). The desperation from both employees and employers brought awareness to working conditions. Employees desired better working conditions, increased wages, and decreased working hours. Communicating with employers proved to be futile and fueled union movements. Union members would go on strike to force companies to meet their demands. Sometimes it would work and when it didn’t, companies would lock out employees and bring in new workers to do the job. These actions led to violent protests, riots, and arrests. The Pinkertons were hired as security by companies during these trying times. “Toward the end of the 19th century, the agency became more involved in labor disputes, always on the side of management” (Crawford). The Pinkertons were labeled as villains by workers as blood was shed during these conflicts.

2. The Bessemer process greatly affected the worker by providing more jobs, but at a lower wage, lower benefits, and higher hours, a negative effect.

The main reason of the rise of labor unions was the quick industrialization of the US economy. During the post-Civil War period, the US economy became extremely industrialized. This meant that more and more people were working in factories owned by large companies rather than working in small shops for themselves or for small businesses. In addition, large numbers of immigrants were coming to the US. They created a huge pool of labor that made labor prices go down and the quality of working conditions.

Labor union were crucial in the late 1800’s when the workers were working long hours, doing hard work, without any extra pay. Job security (could be fired at any given time) and safety precautions did not exist in this era, jobs in this day was typically a threat to the workers due to the bad working conditions. When the union was formed in 1866 it was not easy, but if the workers understood how it would benefit them it would have been a greater successes. Due to lack of education, the communication between the union and the works was broken. Some of the religious beliefs created a hardship on getting the union passed. One of the unions called the AFL (American Federation of Labor) was created in 1881 that would try to fight for workers’ rights.

The life of a migrant worker in the 1930s were very depressing one. The Great Depression cause many workers to move from place to place for jobs. Most of these migrant workers are alone with no friends or family and unable to trust people. Some Just like George and Lennie from the book Of Mice Of Men travel together. Of Mice and Men is a story about two men the The Great Depression

The movement in organized labor from 1875 to 1900 to improve the position of workers was unsuccessful because of the inherent weaknesses of unions and the failures of their strikes, the negative public attitudes toward organized labor, widespread government corruption, and the tendency of government to side with big business. After the Civil there was a push to industrialize quickly, and the rushed industrialization was at the expense of the workers as it led to bigger profits for big business and atrocious working conditions for them; conditions that included long working hours, extremely low wages, and the exploitation of children and immigrants.

The Labor Movement’s number one concern is to address problems associated with social inequality. The labor movement was created in order to fight for the rights of labor workers. The goal was to have better wages, safe working conditions, and reasonable working hours. Unions were formed in order to achieve this. However, this was always enough. Workers reached a point where they came together and participated in strikes which the main goal was to have their employers listen to them and come to an agreement.

There are two important individuals, who were concerned with issues about socialism in 1920s. On of them was Albert Schaffle, who asked two important questions: “How resources, which are in deficit, will be distributed?” and “Is individual freedom can be existed under socialism?”. Whereas Gustav Cassel asked: “Can we reach the highest level of wealth in socialism?” These 3 were main issues about socialism.

Born of the populist movement, the progressive era was a period in the United States during the late 1890’s to early 1920’s. What began as a social reform effort developed into a full on political movement. The “Progressive’s”, as they were called, sought to purify the government of corruption, push for modernization, and pushed the legislative agenda to focus more on healthier families, better education, female suffrage, labor issues and finally, prohibition. The progressives thought that the issues of poverty, racism and classism could best be addressed by providing citizens with greater access to educational opportunities, safer living environments, and even better working conditions. They also sought to “Americanize” the Native American’s and immigrants communities in an effort to unite the country.

The labor movement in the United States began due to the need of the common interest of workers to protect themselves from their employers. Those who worked in the industrial sector, organized labor unions were formed to fight for better wages, reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for the employees. Understanding the history of the labor movement in the United States from the Industrial Revolution will allow for a better understanding of the purpose of the labor movement. Incorporating how the following theories: The Mainstream Economics School, The Human Resource Management School, The Industrial Relations School, and The Critical Industrial Relations School the labor issues in the early periods will allow future organizations to address issues in a more precise manner.

Imagine your parents died at work when you were a young child, and your family was in poverty. This happened all of the time in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s because of the lack of rights for workers. It was the job of many early labor unions of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s make working conditions for workers better. Early labor unions such as the Knights of Columbus, the American Federation of Labor, and the National Labor Union were all successful in creating rights for workers and making working conditions better. There are many ways that labor unions have affected modern day society.

In the period immediately following World War I, American workers struggled to earn a living as prices rose and wages stagnated, forcing them to seek union support. Labor unions endeavored to represent the working class against their employers and corporations, who refused to increase wages or improve working conditions. In order to combat the capitalist’s immense political clout, unions made their voice heard through strikes. After the war, capitalists linked unions to the mounting communist threat, stressing that strikes undermined capitalism and threatened a republican form of government. As a result, government sided with capital against labor unions and the struggle of the American workers, who had no voice against corporations. This struggle can be exemplified in a correspondence between union leader, Samuel Gompers and bishop William Quayle, published in “The Twenties in Contemporary Commentary: Labor & Capital”. The letters demonstrate that in the 1920’s, labor unions were necessary as a means to overcome capitalist greed and enhanced the ideals of democracy by empowering the working class.

Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).

During this period, there was a widespread of social activism and political reform throughout the United States, that lasted from the 1890s to the 1920s. During that time, Theodore Roosevelt served his term as president. The Era was dominated by social reform issues relating to working conditions, woman, cities, and the government. The progressive moment started because the progressives believed the government should be more involved in restoring the problems in society. They believed it was important to protect the welfare of Americans by environmental reforms.

The early 1900s was a time of many movements, from the cities to the rural farms; people were uniting for various causes. One of the most widespread was the labor movement, which affected people far and wide. Conditions in the nation’s workplaces were notoriously poor, but New York City fostered the worst. Factories had started out in the city’s tenements, which were extremely cramped, poorly ventilated, and thoroughly unsanitary. With the advent of skyscrapers, factories were moved out of the tenements and into slightly larger buildings, which still had terrible conditions. Workers were forced to work long hours (around 12 hours long) six hours a day, often for extremely low pay. The pay was also extremely lower for women, who made up a