Organized Labour

Organized Labor

Homestead

Haymarket

Pullman

-The Pullman Palace Car Company cut wages as demand for new passenger cars plummeted and the company's revenue dropped. -A delegation of workers complained that wages had been cut but not rents at their company housing or other costs in the company town. -The company owner, George Pullman, refused to lower rents or go to arbitration.

-Worker struck the Carnegie Steel Company at Homestead, Pa. to protest a proposed wage cut-After an armed battle between the workers and the detectives, the governor called out the state militia-The plant opened, nonunion workers stayed on the job, and the strike was broken. -The Homestead strike led to a serious weakening of unionism in the steel industry until the 1930s

-Demands for an eight-hour working day increased among workers-A crowd of 1,500 began to gather at Haymarket Square-When the police come to break it up, a bomb exploded and the police opened fire on the crowd-The incident was frequently used by the adversaries of organized labor to discredit the waning Knights of Labor movement.

Strikes

American Federation of Labor

Knights of Labor

Labor Unions

Leader:Samuel Gompers

Leader:Terence V. Powderly

-improved work environment for laborers -wanted shorter hours, better pay, more jobs, and less dangerous conditions-included all wage earners or former wage earners-excluded bankers, doctors, lawyers,stockbrokers, professional gamblers, and liquor dealers

-Reasonable Hours-Safer Workplace-Appropriate Wages-End Child Labor-included Skilled, Unskilled Workers, Men, Women, Blacks-excluded bankers, doctors, lawyers, stockholders, and liquor manufacturers