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4058297
The rise of organised labour, 1877 -90
Description
Includes unions, railroad strike, Labour knights, Haymarket bomb and the AFL
No tags specified
homework
american history
organised labour
history
a-level
Mind Map by
Joseph Chappell
, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by
Joseph Chappell
almost 9 years ago
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Resource summary
The rise of organised labour, 1877 -90
Early Unions
1877: Union membership falls to 50,000
Before 1877
1873: Economic depression makes millions unemployed
1866: National Labor Union formed with 60,000 workers and 77 delegates
Focused on securing 8-hour-day
1872: Union membership peaks at 300,000
Unions are sporadic and local Small craft unions
Unions struggled to get the right to exist and be recognised by business owners
National railroad Strike, 1877
Key events
B&O Railroad company cut pay
Workers to strike
Other railroad workers and sypathisers from different industries join in
The striking workers mass to attack railroad yards.
This was worst in Pittsburgh
5,000 workers fought 650 police troops and destroyed 500 cars, 104 locomotives and 39 buildings.
The military came to support the police and 25 people died as they opened fire on the crowd
The military restored but the damage was done.
Outcomes
Desire for stronger unions
The prevention of businesses labour suppression
A shocked America and a terrified middle/upper class
$10 million worth of damage done
Felt they were in a power struggle against business and governemnt
The issue of this being that it was the fourth in as many years
Key people
S.D. Cashman
August 1877: released a call to arms encouraging the people to rise up against big bussinesses
The owners of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad company
Knights of Labour
Life cycle
Formed in 1869
Growth
1885: Wabash Railroad (part of the Southwest System) try to break a local union.
Knights sympathy strike freezing the whole Southwest System and forcing Wabush to negotiate.
By 1866: 750,000 members
Decline
By 1885: 10,000 members.
No united support meant most actions resulted in failure.
Haymarket bomb outrage was blamed on the Knights, destroying them
The organisation became all but extinct by 1882
Goals
8-hour-days
Child labour restrictions
Initiative and referendum
Cooperative labour-management relations
Democratic enterprises
All races, genders, ethnicities and occupatons.
Haymarket Bomb Outrage
May 1886: McCormick Harvester Works
Battle between strikers vs strike breakers and police
Several died and more were injured when police fired on the crowd
Black International (formed 1881) anarchists call meeting in Haymarket Square.
Though the meeting was peaceful, upon its conclusion one anarchist threw a bomb which killed a policeman and injured 60 people of whom 6 died.
The public turned on the anarchists resulting in the execution of seven members in 1887
Police retaliation ended in them firing into the crowd wounding hundreds, some fatally.
As a result of the event, the 1886 8-hour movement failed and all but 15,000 people lost their labour gains.
Existing organised labour was destroyed
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Samuel Gompers founded AFL and was voted its first president (1896-1924)
1892: over 250,000 members
Founded in 1885, the AFL was central to the labour movement after the fall of the Knights of Labor.
1892: over 250,000 members
Policy: secure recognition and agreements with employers through collective bargaining and hard strikes.
Aimed for higher wages and shorter hours
Focused on higher wages and shorter workdays.
Non-interference policy with member unions
Was a federation of semi-independent craft associations
Only skilled white men
Taxed member unions to raise a strike fund and maintain a secretariat
Paid for a network of state federations which acted as central points for the member unions under the AFL
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