Un-American Industrial Worker Research Paper

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.

But, even though Pullman didn’t make any changes, the strike influenced that way the public viewed worker’s rights and the role of management and mediation of labor unions. Before government intervention, the public’s opinion about supporting the strike was split. The western and southern part of America generally supported the strike while the east generally opposed it (H.W.). But people began to question the amount of control of the government after President Cleveland sent in troops to shut down the strikes. 30 died and 57 were injured (Lawrence). Using military forces to union bust was a milestone in American history. Besides the Homestead strike two years earlier, the Pullman strike was first to be shut down violently by the military (Levitt). After these event, public opinion changed. The majority did not support the government and Pullman, and when Pullman died in 1897, people were said to have desecrated his body

During the Progressive Era of the Gilded Age, many laborers were being mistreated by the companies that they worked for. Because of this, workers started forming labor unions or organized association of workers, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Many of these labor unions failed, while few of them achieved their goals and still exist today. Many factors contributed to the failure of these labor unions. The labor unions were given a bad image, the reason for this was the media, and they did this by publishing articles depicting the unions as violent, communist groups. The government supported big business during this time, since the government had a lot of power; this was a huge setback in the labor unions’ battles.

Despite being able to cause a small improvement in workers’ pay and hours, labor unions ultimately died out by the 1900s due to their methods. Unable to truly focus on the plight of skilled workers, most labor unions instead focused on that of unskilled workers, pushing aside the skilled workers. (Doc D). The actions of labor unions ended up being counterproductive, forcing companies to wage war against the labor unions. These stricter contracts such as that of Western Union Telegraph Company, forced workers to affiliate themselves against labor unions. (Doc E) One important thing to note is that the workers’ rights advocates were never able to coincide on one factor. As evidenced in an illustration in 1887, labor unions had to compete with other movements such as socialism, anarchism, and other labor unions. (Doc F). Because of this, the media, although recognizing the labor union movement, began viewing the labor unions as dangerous entities. Although the initial strikes such as the Wabash strike were successful, the ones that followed proved detrimental to the movement, and caused the steady decline of the labor unions. Because some of the strikes were dangerous, many strikes resulted in the deaths of those involved, such as the Homestead Crisis, and Pinkerton (Doc G). Combined with events such as the Wildcat strike, Haymarket strike, the Pullman Strike, the public began to associate a negative

I am not deep, but I am very wide-Throughout the period 1865 to 1992, the government was both a help and hindrance to the trade union movement. Roosevelt’s New Deal represented a brief turning point in the Federal government’s attitude towards labour rights, prior to which its laissez-faire approach to the economy had significantly favoured employers by granting them more power to abuse the rights of labourers. The New Deal of 1933 was set out with the intention of fostering better relations between the employers and the workforce, as well as helping establish new

For example, in regards to Vanderbilt’s monopoly in railroads and infrastructure, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was created to monitor and oversee railroad transactions in order to investigate corruption. The Sherman Antitrust Act was also passed in attempt to regulate corporation by outlawing trusts operating in restriction of trade among the states. However, these acts and regulatory actions were rarely enforced and “robber barons” like Vanderbilt continued to monopolize their respective industries. Monopolists had enough influence to turn laws in place meant to protect laborers, such as the Sherman Antitrust Act, against laborers. For example, after the Pullman Strike, employers used the Sherman Antitrust Act against laborers, stating that labor unions were restricting the companies’ trade.

Monopolies caused most factories to be ran by the same people, which led to poor working conditions across the United States. Business men, like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, were determined to obtain the most money perceivable, while blatantly mistreating their workers. Miserable factory workers were fed up with the antagonizing work hours for little pay; consequently, they started to create unions to fight against these harsh working conditions. Frequently, members of these unions would protest, and demand higher wages- they were often ignored or fired. Railroad strike of 1877, homestead strike

NLRA was considered to be the law that affected the relationship among the federal government and private enterprise; this measure considerably increased the government’s powers to arbitrate in labor relations. Prior to this law, employers had the emancipation to chastise, spy on, question for no reason and fire union members. Work stoppages commenced in the mid 1930’s (Gould, 1986), which included striking by factory and industrial occupational workers. By the time the strikes came to a halt, America had a more conservative Congress. This Congress led to balance the power between employers and unions. While the Wagner Act addressed only unfair labor practices by employers, it was added to the enactment of

In the following years, the American Federation of Labor became very influential. The AFL did not attempt to overhaul the basic economic system but instead pressed for a better position within the existing system. Although the founders of the AFL were strongly against strikes, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), created by Eugene Debs, openly called for class aggression. Debs led the Pullman Strike, a nationwide railroad strike that pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, which had laid off many union workers, and had reduced wages up to 30% for those workers that remained. Within four days, 125,000 workers on twenty-nine railroads went on strike. This strike and boycott provoked the federal government to intervene. They arrested Debs on conspiracy to obstruct the mail, as well as for disobeying an order directed to him by the Supreme Court to stop the obstruction of railways and to dissolve the boycott. Continued complaints of the laborers in the unions led to strikes and law suits filed not only by the labor unions, but also by the employers, who intended to prohibit strikes and other adverse actions by members of the labor

Labor union is an organized association of workers, in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. During the industrial revolution in Europe there was a rise in new workers without representation in the workplace. In the 19th century the industrial revolution spread to the United States from Europe, this resulted in the economy shifting to manufacturing from agriculture as an economic importance. American societies were increasing in population as well as experiencing industrial growth. This industrialization brought conflict between businesses and the labor force since mechanized production was replacing household

In 1894 workers participated in a widespread strike and boycott against the Pullman Palace Car Company, a U.S. company that made and ran passenger railroad cars. For a time, the Pullman Strike essentially stopped the railroads from running in much of the western part of the country. An antitrust law—a law intended to curb concentrations of power that interfere with trade and reduce economic competition—was ultimately used to end this

The labor movement focuses on the history of organized labor and the creation of unions for the rights that the working class have today and are still fighting for. The growth and struggle of workers through strikes and boycotts have brought about a lot of change throughout a century but it is still an issue of social change in the U.S. Organizing unions, fighting for the right to representation, struggling against bias and discrimination etc. have affected both men and women from a range of ages and this movement shows that when groups of workers that is very diversified fight for the same cause no matter of gender, age, or race that they can make changes. This movement challenged the markets because there would be no benefits for companies and factories to fire them all and still have the ability to produce a

Let’s be clear on an important issue. Who is responsible for my life and life-style? Should I expect someone who has gone through all the adversity and pain to make a business successful and give the benefits to someone who invested nothing in it? This goes beyond the “my brother’s keeper” theory. This sentiment makes me seem anti-labor union. Any thriving and caring business will function in i’s best interest. A business that wants to continue operating has to look at the components that are vitally essential to its survival. Businesses and labor union are battling on the workers components. The issues such as insurance, overtime, leave; pay raises and other benefits are key issues that are often fought over.

Divisions within trade unions were evidently an obstacle for Labour rights; however there were various other factors which could be said to have played greater roles than the divisions. It is clear that State & Federal Authorities, big business and employers and the perception of trade unions at the time also contributed to the obstacles trade unions faced to achieve Labour rights. One obstacle that was perhaps less significant than the divisions but played a part nonetheless was the perception of “organised” labour at the end of the 19th Century. American society viewed trade unions as violent and aggressive. This was due to the poor reputation they had created for themselves. A major turning point which caused this reactionary