TRADE UNION and LABOUR RIGHTS 1865-1992
- Created by: emilyatkin89
- Created on: 03-05-17 10:52
1865-1914 ‘Your huddled masses’ –
What was the extent of union and labour rights?
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1865- Union and labour rights were limited to what workers could negotiate with their employers in their own workplace.
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Unions were small and contained only skilled workers- CLOSED SHOP (work place dominated by one union and where all workers were obliged to be in that union)-
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Employers were under no legal obligation to accept them
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1860 and 1900, as US industrialisation grew, the number of workers grew from 885,000 to 3.2 million
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Craft unions existed to opposed employers attempts to reduce wages and to provide sickness benefits to workers
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Work force became divided between skilled workers and unskilled/ semiskilled workers
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This side of the workforce had no representation or protection so were often exploited by employers
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William H. Sylvis- union leader who was the first to promote the idea of working-class solidarity
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NATIONAL LABOUR UNION- attempted to form a single association that would cross craft lines and draw mass membership- campaigned for an 8 hour day, currency and banking reform, the ending of convict labour, a federal labour department and immigration restrictions
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NLU was short lived- between 1866 and 1867, a strike by the IRON FOUNDERS failed. Weakened the position, by 1868, they had 300,000 members across the US
What was the impact of industrialisation on the position of workers?
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By the 1880s, traditional skills were disappearing and both men and women workers were becoming increasingly unskilled and underpaid
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1890-35% of the workforce were women
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1880s- 1/3 of workers in the railroad and steel industries were common labourers
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Unskilled workers were moving from city to city, state to state
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1870s- bricklayers earned $3.00 per day and unskilled workers were paid less
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Millions of workers had few rights
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Safety precautions led to high accident rates
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Railway workers- safety problems – 1889 2,000 rail workers were killed
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Employers were resistant to introduce health and safety standards on the grounds of cost
Trade unions before 1914
KNIGHTS OF LABOUR (KOL)
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1869
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Uriah Smith Stephens
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Achieved initial success
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Had a growth in membership after NLU disbanded
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1879 Terence V. Powderly became leader
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Intention to unite skilled and unskilled labour, and remove barriers of race and origin imposed by existing associations
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Women were welcome
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Demanded 8 hour day, equal pay for women and abolition of child labourer
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Powderly rejected strikes as a means of achieving its ends
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1881 membership grew to 20,000
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KOL membership rose to 700,000 in 1886- included 10,000 women and 50,000 African American
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Slump in the economy- 1900s
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After the HAYMARKET AFFAIR everything failed
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By 1890s, membership dwindled
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Unions broke away from the KOL and moved to the AFL
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOUR (AFL)
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Effectively replaced the KOL
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Founded in 1886
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First successful national labour federations seeking to link all unions
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Leader: Samuel Gompers
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Supported the use of strikes
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Marcus A. Hanna (coal enterprises) and J.P Morgan (banker) supported and were willing to work with Gompers- willing to give workers mediation and conciliation
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By 1914, the federation…
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