Labor Movement

Knights of Labor founded

Oct 31, 1869

The Knights of Labor was a labor organization of the 1880s. One of their goals was to have an 8 hour work day. Their main goals was for workers to be organized.

Haymaker Riot

Oct 31, 1886

11 dead, 50 injured in Haymarket Riot, fueling anti-union sentiment. The riot started as a labor protest until someone threw a bomb.

Samuel Gompers founds the American Federation of Labor

Oct 31, 1886

Samuel Gompers was a diehard capitalist and saw no need for a radical restructuring of America. The American Federation of Labor was a group of skilled workers like the masons union, the hatmakers union or Gompers's own cigarmakers union.

Strike by Pullman

Nov 1, 1894

Rail road workers that worked for a man named George Pullman went on strike due to the unsafe working conditions and the poor pay. Strike was ended by the courts because it was illegal.

International Ladies Garment Workers Union founded

Nov 1, 1900

Former industrial union in the United States and Canada that represented workers in the women’s clothing industry. The eleven Jewish men who founded the union represented seven local unions from East Coast cities with heavy Jewish immigrant populations.

Strike by ILGWU wins

Nov 2, 1910

After the strike of the ILGWU ended the workers got higher pay and shorter work days. This made a huge difference for the workers for they could afford to live their lives.

Fire in the Triangle Shirtwait Company

Nov 3, 1911

It was one of the most deadliest industrial disasters in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. The fire got so bad that people started to jump out of the 10th and higher stroies to get out of the building.

Hundreds of Strikes

Nov 3, 1919

All around the U.S there were a lot of strikes for workers to get better pay or better hours. This cuased some fear of revolution for a great amount of people were on strike.

President

Nov 3, 1919

John Lews becomes president of the United mine workers. He won by leading a successful strike.

Norris La Guardia Act

Nov 3, 1932

This helped the people on strike for the court couldnt interfere with the strikes. This meant that people on strike couldnt be arrested for going on strike becuase of this act.

Wagner Act

Nov 3, 1935

The Wagner Act is the most important piece of labor legislation enacted in U.S. history. This gave basic rights to private sector employees to organize into trade unions.

AFL

Nov 3, 1938

Is a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States.