History Of Labor In America Essay, Research Paper

The Industrial Revolution was dawning in the United States. At

Lowell, Massachusetts, the construction of a big cotton mill began in

1821. It was the first of several that would be built there in the

next 10 years. The machinery to spin and weave cotton into cloth

would be driven by water power. All that the factory owners needed was

a dependable supply of labor to tend the machines. As most jobs in

cotton factories required neither great strength nor special skills,

the owners thought women could do the work as well as or better than

men. In addition, they were more compliant. The New England region

was home to many young, single farm girls who might be recruited. But

would stern New England farmers allow their daughters to work in

factories? The great majority of them would not. They believed that

sooner or later factory workers would be exploited and would sink into

hopeless poverty. Economic “laws” would force them to work harder and

harder for less and less pay. How, then, were the factory owners able

to recruit farm girls as laborers? They did it by building decent

houses in which the girls could live. These houses were supervised by

older women who made sure that the girls lived by strict moral

standards. The girls were encouraged to go to church, to read, to

write and to attend lectures. They saved part of their earnings to

help their families at home or to use when they got married. The

young factory workers did not earn high wages; the average pay was

about $3.50 a week. But in those times, a half-dozen eggs cost five

cents and a whole chicken cost 15 cents. The hours worked in the

factories were long. Generally, the girls worked 11 to 13 hours a

day, six days a week. But most people in the 1830s worked from dawn

until dusk, and farm girls were used to getting up early and working

until bedtime at nine o’clock. The factory owners at Lowell believed

that machines would bring progress as well as profit. Workers and

capitalists would both benefit from the wealth created by mass

production. For a while, the factory system at Lowell worked very

well. The population of the town grew from 200 in 1820 to 30,000 in

1845. But conditions in Lowell’s factories had already started to

change. Faced with growing competition, factory owners began to

decrease wages in order to lower the cost–and the price–of finished

products. They increased the number of machines that each girl had

to operate. In addition, they began to overcrowd the houses in which

the girls lived. Sometimes eight girls had to share one room. In

1836, 1,500 factory girls went on strike to protest wage cuts. (The

girls called their action a “turn out.”) But it was useless.

Desperately poor immigrants were beginning to arrive in the United

States from Europe. To earn a living, they were willing to accept low

wages and poor working conditions. Before long, immigrant women

replaced the “Yankee” (American) farm girls. To many people, it was

apparent that justice for wage earners would not come easily. Labor

in America faced a long, uphill struggle to win fair treatment. In

that struggle, more and more workers would turn to labor unions to

help their cause. They would endure violence, cruelty and bitter

defeats. But eventually they would achieve a standard of living

unknown to workers at any other time in history. In colonial America,

most manufacturing was done by hand in the home. Some was done in

workshops attached to the home. As towns grew into cities, the demand

for manufactured goods increased. Some workshop owners began hiring

helpers to increase production. Relations between the employer and

helper were generally harmonious. They worked side by side, had the

same interests and held similar political views. The factory system

that began around 1800 brought great changes. The employer no longer

worked beside his employees. He became an executive and a merchant who

rarely saw his workers. He was concerned less with their welfare than

with the cost of their labor. Many workers were angry about the

changes brought by the factory system. In the past, they had taken

great pride in their handicraft skills; now machines did practically

all the work, and they were reduced to the status of common laborers.

In bad times they could lose their jobs. Then they might be replaced

by workers who would accept lower wages. To skilled craft workers,

the Industrial Revolution meant degradation rather than progress.

As the factory system grew, many workers began to form labor

unions to protect their interests. The first union to hold regular

meetings and collect dues was organized by Philadelphia shoemakers in

1792. Soon after, carpenters and leather workers in Boston and

printers in New York also organized unions. Labor’s tactics in those

early times were simple. Members of a union would agree on the wages

they thought were fair. They pledged to stop working for employers

who would not pay that amount. They also sought to compel employers

to hire only union members. Employers found the courts to be an

effective weapon to protect their interests. In 1806, eight

Philadelphia shoemakers were brought to trial after leading an

unsuccessful strike. The court ruled that any organizing of workers

to raise wages was an illegal act. Unions were “conspiracies” against

employers and the community. In later cases, courts ruled that almost

any action taken by unions to increase wages might be criminal. These

decisions destroyed the effectiveness of the nation’s early labor

unions. Not until 1842 was the way opened again for workers to

organize. That year several union shoemakers in Boston were brought

to trial. They were charged with refusing to work with non-union

shoemakers. A municipal court judge found the men guilty of

conspiracy. But an appeal to a higher court resulted in a victory for

labor unions generally. Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled that it was

not unlawful for workers to engage peacefully in union activity. It

was their right to organize, he said. Shaw’s decision was widely

accepted. For many years following this decision, unions did not have

to fear conspiracy charges. In the next two decades, unions campaigned

for a 10-hour working day and against child labor. A number of state

legislatures responded favorably. In 1851, for example, New Jersey

passed a law calling for a 10-hour working day in all factories. It

also forbade the employment of children under 10 years old.

Meanwhile trade unions were joining together in cities to form

federations. A number of skilled trades organized national unions to

try to improve their wages and working conditions. The effort to

increase wages brought about hundreds of strikes during the 1850s.

None was as extensive, however, as a strike of New England shoemakers

in 1860. The strike started in Lynn, Massachusetts, when factory

workers were refused a three-dollar increase in their weekly pay. It

soon spread to Maine and New Hampshire. Altogether, about 20,000

workers took part in the strike. It ended in a victory for the

shoemakers. Similar victories were soon won by other trade unions.

These successes led to big increases in union membership. Yet most

American workers were generally better off than workers in Europe and

had more hope of improving their lives. For this reason, the majority

did not join labor unions. In the years following the Civil War

(1861-1865), the United States was transformed by the enormous growth

of industry. Once the United States was mainly a nation of small

farms. By 1900, it was a nation of growing cities, of coal and steel,

of engines and fast communications. Though living standards generally

rose, millions of industrial workers lived in crowded, unsanitary

slums. Their conditions became desperate in times of business

depressions. Then it was not unusual for workers to go on strike and

battle their employers. Between 1865 and 1900, industrial violence

occurred on numerous occasions. Probably the most violent

confrontation between labor and employers was the Great Railway

Strike of 1877. The nation had been in the grip of a severe depression

for four years. During that time, the railroads had decreased the

wages of railway workers by 20 percent. Many trainmen complained that

they could not support their families adequately. There was little

that the trainmen could do about the wage decreases. At that time,

unions were weak and workers feared going on strike; there were too

many unemployed men who might take their jobs. Yet some workers

secretly formed a Trainmen’s Union to oppose the railroads. Then, in

1877, four big railroads announced that they were going to decrease

wages another 10 percent. In addition, the Pennsylvania line ordered

freight train conductors to handle twice as many cars as before. On

July 16, a strike began on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in West

Virginia. The strike quickly spread to other lines. On July 19,

Pennsylvania Railroad workers at Pittsburgh refused to let freight

trains move. (The strikers let passenger trains move freely because

they carried United States mail.) The next day the governor sent

statemilitiamen to oust the strikers from the freight yard. But these

men were from Pittsburgh. They had many friends and relatives among

the strikers. Soon they were mingling with the crowd of men, women

and children at the freight yard. The next day 600 militiamen

arrived from Philadelphia. They were ordered to clear the tracks at

the freight yard. The soldiers advanced toward the crowd and shooting

erupted. In the aftermath, 20 people in the crowd lay dead. Many more

were wounded. News of the killings triggered rioting and fires in the

Pittsburgh railyards. President Rutherford Hayes ordered federal

troops to Pittsburgh to end mob violence. When they arrived, the

fighting had already ended. In the smoking ruins, they found the

wrecks of more than 2,000 railroad cars. Dozens of buildings lay in

ashes. Many strikers were sent to jail and others lost their jobs. A

large part of the public was shocked by the violence in Pittsburgh

and other cities. Some people were convinced that miners, railroad

workers and other laborers were common criminals. Legislatures in many

states passed new conspiracy laws aimed at suppressing labor. But the

Great Railway Strike of 1877 helped the workers in some ways. A few

railroads took back the wage cuts they had ordered. More important

was the support given to the strike by miners, iron workers and

others. It gave labor an awareness of its strength and solidarity.

The Railway Strike led many workers to join a growing national labor

organization. It had a grand name–the Noble and Holy Order of the

Knights of Labor. It was founded in 1869 by a small group of

Philadelphia clothing workers. Their union had been unable to organize

effectively. The reason,they believed, was that its members were too

well-known. Employers fired them and then put their names on a

“blacklist.” Other employers would not hire anyone whose name appeared

on the list. The garment workers came to two conclusions: Secrecy was

needed to protect union members against employer spies. Labor

organizations would fail if they were divided into separate craft

unions. Instead, labor should be organized in one big union of both

skilled and unskilled workers. Membership in the Knights of Labor was

open to wage earners over 18 years of age regardless of race, sex or

skill. New members had to take an oath of secrecy. They swore that

they would never reveal the name of the order or the names of its

members. The program of the Knights of Labor called for: an eight-hour

working day, laws establishing a minimum weekly wage, the use of

arbitration rather than strikes to settle disputes, laws to protect

the health and safety of industrial workers, equal pay for equal work,

an end to child labor under 14 years of age and government ownership

of railroads, telegraphs and telephones. It was impossible for the

Knights to operate in complete secrecy. Rumors of their activities

reached the press. Newspaper stories usually exaggerated the strength

of the order. Under pressure from public opinion, the Knights began to

operate openly. But they were still forbidden to reveal the name of

any member to an employer. Membership in the Knights increased slowly.

By 1884, the order had only 52,000 members. But that year workers led

by Knights of Labor organizers went on strike against two big railroad

companies. Both strikes ended in complete victories for the Knights.

Now workers everywhere rushed to join the order. Within two years

membership in the Knights rose to 150,000. Newspapers warned their

readers about the power of the Knights. One of them said, “Their

leaders can shut most of the mills and factories, and disable the

railroads.” Many people associated the order with dangerous radicals.

Later railroad strikes by the Knights met with defeat. The order was

not nearly as powerful as it had seemed. Workers began to leave it in

great numbers. Within 10 years of its greatest victories, the Knights

of Labor collapsed. As the Knights declined, a new labor organization

began to challenge it for supremacy. This was the American Federation

of Labor (AFL). It was formed in 1886 by Samuel Gompers, a leader of

the Cigarmakers’ Union. Gompers believed that craft unions of skilled

workers were the best kind. Unskilled workers were easily replaced

when they went on strike. Craft workers could not be replaced easily.

Gompers had no use for the Knights of Labor, which combined all

workers in one big union. The American Federation of Labor began with

a core of six craft unions. They were cigarmakers, carpenters,

printers, iron molders, steel molders and glassmakers. The new

organization was not an immediate success. For 10 years, the AFL and

the Knights battled each other. They invaded each other’s territory,

encouraged revolts and welcomed each other’s members into their own

ranks. They even supplied strikebreakers against each other. But the

tide was running against the Knights. The AFL, led by Gompers, grew

steadily in size and power. By 1904, it had 1.75 million members and

was the nation’s dominant labor organization. At this time, many

workers in Europe were joining revolutionary labor movements which

advocated the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of a new

socialist economic system. Most American workers, however, followed

the lead of Gompers, with his highly pragmatic approach to problems of

labor. They strove to organize strong unions so that they could

demand a greater share in the wealth that they helped to produce.

They were not interested in destroying the economic structure of the

country but in making it work more effectively for their benefit.

Gompers believed that unions should be primarily concerned with the

day-to-day welfare of their members and should not become involved in

politics. He also was convinced that socialism would not succeed in

the United States but that practical demands for higher wages and

fewer working hours could achieve the goal of a better life for

working people. This was known as “bread and butter” unionism.

There was one outstanding exception to the pragmatic “bread and

butter” approach to unionism which characterized most of American

labor. This was the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a

revolutionary labor union launched in Chicago in 1905 under the

leadership of Eugene V. Debs. The IWW the overthrow of capitalism

through strikes, boycotts and sabotage. Particularly strong among

textile workers, dock workers, migratory farmers and lumberjacks, the

union reached its peak membership of 100,000 in 1912. The IWW had

practically disappeared by 1918, because of federal prosecutions and

a national sentiment against radicalism which began in 1917. In the

early years of the 20th century, a powerful reform movement called

Progressivism swept the country. Its leaders were college professors,

ministers, journalists, physicians and social workers. Their goal was

to improve conditions for all Americans. They wanted to make the

political system more egalitarian. They also wanted to make the

nation’s economic system more democratic. Those who owned the

nation’s resources, they said, should share some of their wealth with

the less fortunate. The movement appealed to farmers, small

businessmen, women and laborers. It cut across political party and

regional lines. The Progressive Movement had the support of three

United States presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and

Woodrow Wilson. The Progressives were concerned about labor’s

problems. They were alarmed by the growing use of court rulings to

halt strikes. In 1890, for example, Congress passed the Sherman

Anti-trust Act. Its purpose was to punish big business corporations

that combined to prevent competition. Yet more and more it was being

used as a weapon against unions. The Progressives were unhappy about

the use of federal troops and state militia against strikers. They

were outraged by inhuman conditions in factories and mines. The

Progressives and the AFL pressured state governments for laws to

protect wage earners. Almost all states passed laws forbidding the

employment of children under 14 years old. Thirty-seven states

forbade children under 16 years old to work between 7p.m. and 6a.m.

Nineteen states established the eight-hour day for children under 16

in factories and stores. The Progressives were also concerned with

the hours worked by women in industry. Forty-one states wrote new or

improved laws to protect women workers. Most limited the work day to

nine hours, or the work week to 54 hours. One of the greatest

concerns of the Progressives was the problem of industrial accidents.

They wanted workers to be paid for accidents regardless of cause. The

cost of insurance to cover accidents, they said, should be paid by

employers. By 1917, 13 states had passed workers’ compensation laws.

Many states passed laws to improve safety regulations. The alliance

of Progressives and the AFL also campaigned for federal laws to aid

labor. In response, Congress passed laws to protect children,

railroad workers and seamen. It established a Department of Labor in

the president’s Cabinet. Most important of all, Congress passed the

Clayton Act of 1914. Its purpose was to halt the use of antitrust

laws and court injunctions against unions. During World War I,

organized labor made great advances. The federal government created

the War Labor Board to settle disputes by arbitration. Generally the

Board was favorable to wage increases, the eight-hour day and

collective bargaining. This led to a big increase in union membership.

In January 1917, the AFL had 2,370,000 members. By January 1919, it

had 3,260,000 members. As the 1920s began, organized labor seemed

stronger than ever. It was successful in getting Congress to pass

laws that restricted immigration to the United States. Unions believed

that a scarcity of labor would keep wages high. But events that took

place in Europe were already threatening labor’s gains. In 1917, a

communist revolution overthrew the government of Russia. Communists

also attempted revolutions in Germany, Hungary and Finland. Immigrants

entering the United States at this time were primarily from southern

and eastern Europe. Many of them, in response to the economic

hardship and social inequality which they found in America’s

industrial cities, were attracted to the utopian promises of

socialist, communist and other radical political groups which

advocated a drastic change in American society. There was widespread

fear–almost hysteria–among more established Americans that a

revolution might break out in the United States. In response to this

fear, the federal government launched a series of raids which resulted

in the arrest and sometimes the deportation of aliens who were

members of socialist, anarchist or communist organizations. About 500

aliens, including Russian-born anarchist “Red Emma” Goldman, were

deported during this period. A number of them, like Goldman, rejected

Bolshevism as they experienced it in the Soviet Union and later

returned to the United States. Meanwhile, workers were striking for

higher wages all over the United States. Many Americans believed that

these strikes were led by communists and anarchists. During the

Progressive era, the public had sympathized with labor. Now the

public became hostile to it. Employers encouraged anti-union

movements, or created company unions that they sought to control.

Courts found legal openings in the Clayton Act and issued rulings

against union activity. The courts also found ways to use the Sherman

Anti-trust Act against unions. Opposed by public opinion, business

and the courts, union membership fell. The number of AFL members

dropped to 2,770,000 by 1929. This decline took place even though the

number of workers in industry rose by almost seven million. For most

Americans, the 1920s were prosperous years. But in October 1929, the

New York stock market “crashed,” and the value of stocks went way

down. The crash, part of a worldwide economic decline, led to the

worst economic depression in the nation’s history. People lost their

jobs, their farms and their businesses. By 1932, 13 million men and

women were unemployed. This was one out of every four in the work

force. Many more workers had only part-time jobs. In the cities,

jobless men stood on long lines for a handout of bread and soup. Many

of them lived in shanties near garbage dumps. Men and boys roamed the

country, hoping to find work. In the past, depressions had usually

hurt unions. Unemployment meant a sharp drop in workers’ dues. Then

unions became almost powerless to prevent decreases in wages or long

working hours. But in the Great Depression of the 1930s, unions

actually benefited. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat,

promised Americans a “New Deal.” He pledged to help the “forgotten

man”–the worker who had lost his job, or the farmer who had lost his

land. Under Roosevelt, Congress passed laws to revive business and

create jobs. To help labor, Congress passed the Wagner Act. It

guaranteed workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively.

The law created a powerful National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The

Board could order elections in which workers voted for the union they

wanted to represent them. (Workers could vote against joining any

union, if they wished.) The NLRB could also order a stop to unfair

practices used by employers against unions. Union leaders hailed

the Wagner Act. It provided a great opportunity to increase union

membership. But the drive was delayed at first by a dispute within

the American Federation of Labor. The AFL was made up mainly of

skilled workers organized into craft unions. But millions of unskilled

workers were in giant industries like steel, autos, rubber and

textiles. Some labor leaders believed that a single union should

represent all the workers, skilled and unskilled. One big industrial

union would be much stronger than a dozen different craft unions,

they said. Most leaders of the AFL were opposed to the idea of

industrial unions. They made no effort to organize them. Finally

Lewis and other union leaders broke away from the AFL. They formed a

new labor organization that became the Congress of Industrial

Organizations (CIO). One of the first targets of the CIO was the

auto industry. Workers at the General Motors factories in Flint,

Michigan, eagerly joined the CIO’s United Automobile Workers (UAW)

union. They demanded that the company recognize the UAW. But officers

of General Motors refused to meet with union representatives. This

was a violation of the Wagner Act. In January 1937, the UAW called a

strike against the company. The tactics used by the auto workers

took the company by surprise. The workers refused to leave the

factories. Instead, they put away their tools and sat down. They did

this to prevent strikebreakers from taking their jobs. At night the

men slept on the seats of new cars. Food was passed to them through

windows by their families. General Motors tried to force the workers

out. The company shut off the heat in the factories. It was winter,

but the workers stayed. Police tried to break into one of the

factories. The strikers drove them back by throwing soda bottles,

coffee mugs and iron bolts. Then the police charged with tear gas

bombs. This time the workers drove them back by turning fire hoses on

them. Finally General Motors went to court and got a ruling against

the strikers. The workers were ordered to leave the GM factories by

February 3. The National Guard (militiamen) was alerted to enforce the

order. Everyone expected a big battle on February 3, but it didn’t

happen. Governor Frank Murphy refused to order an attack on the

strikers. Instead, he ordered General Motors officers to hold peace

talks with the UAW. President Roosevelt also asked for a peaceful end

to the strike. A week later General Motors recognized the union and

agreed to bargain with it. The UAW and the CIO had won a major

victory. Within two years, the CIO organized 3,750,000 industrial

workers. The AFL met the challenge of the CIO with an organizing

drive of its own. By the end of 1937, the AFL had 3,400,000 members.

During the 1930s, Congress enacted other reforms that benefited

labor: The Social Security Act of 1935 created a system of

government-sponsored unemployment insurance and old-age pensions.

The Fair Labor Standards Act regulated wages and hours. Minimum wages

were established to help workers maintain a decent standard of

living. Hours were shortened to give them more time for leisure. The

law also forbade the labor of children under 16 in most occupations.

Unemployment in the United States remained high until the United

States entered World War II in 1941. Then, defense industries boomed,

and millions of men entered the armed forces. By 1943, unemployment

ended and industry was faced with a shortage of labor. During the

Great Depression, women were urged not to take jobs. Now they were

encouraged to go to work. Before long, one out of four workers in

defense industries was a woman. During World War II, labor

cooperated with government and industry. Its spirit was expressed by

John L. Lewis, president of the CIO. “When the nation is attacked,”

he said, “every American must rally to its defense.” When peace

came, a wave of strikes for higher wages swept the nation. Employers

became alarmed. They said that the Wagner Act had given labor too

much power. A majority in the United States Congress agreed with

them. In 1947, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act. It contained a

number of provisions to limit organized labor. One of them outlawed

the “closed shop” agreement which required employers to hire only

union members. It also permitted the states to pass “right to work”

laws. These laws forbade agreements that required workers to join a

union after they were hired. Labor leaders bitterly denounced the

Taft-Hartley Act. They said it was meant to destroy unions. Despite

their fears, membership in unions continued to grow. By 1952, it had

increased to 17 million. Leaders of the AFL and the CIO merged their

organizations in 1955. The combined organization became the AFL-CIO.

In recent years there has been a steady decline in the percentage of

workers who belong to labor unions. In 1945, 35 percent of the work

force were union members. In 1988, less than 17 percent of the labor

force–or 17 million workers–were unionized. There are several

reasons for this, including: The decline of heavy industry (once a

stronghold of unionism) and the increase of advanced-technology

industries. Automation and other technological changes that have

displaced many blue-collar workers. Foreign competition, which has

depressed some United States industries and increased unemployment.

The transition to a “post-industrial” economy in the United States.

Ever increasing numbers of workers are employed in service-providing

businesses, such as hotels, restaurants and retail stores. Despite

the decline in members, organized labor in the United States remains

strong and conditions of America’s labor force have steadily

improved. The length of the work day has been shortened. Many

agreements between employers and wage earners now call for less than

40 hours of work a week. Most agreements have generous “fringe”

benefits. These include insurance, pensions and health care plans. As

the number of union members has decreased as a percentage of the

total work force, unions have responded by broadening their organizing

efforts to include employees of federal, state and local governments

as well as other professionals. Organizers have also waged long

campaigns to unionize and win better conditions for such diverse

groups as public school teachers and seasonal farm workers. By the

early 1990s, the work force was changing. First. the pool of workers

was no longer expanding as rapidly as in the past. And, second, the

composition of the labor force was different, consisting of a larger

percentage of minorities and women than before. Employers are

adapting to this work force diversity in several ways. Some sponsor

education and training programs for potential recruits. Many, in an

attempt to attract and accommodate women workers, provide on-site

child care, and flexible hours. Others make special arrangements so

they can hire more handicapped workers. Overall, there is growing

sentiment that the government should help create jobs through public

works programs, job training programs, and other options.