-
Knights of Labor
The largest labor organization in the United States. Promoted social and cultural uplift for working people, as well as less harsher worker condition. -
American Federation of Labor
-
Haymarket Riot
Began as a peaceful protest to advocate for an 8-hour day, ended in a bomb being thrown, 11 deaths, and 7 people sentenced to death. -
Homestead Strike
With steel prices lowered, Carnegie's main man, Frick, lowered the wages of the workers. The workers went on strike and when they saw a small militia coming to settle the strike by force, they attacked. Protesters fought for almost a whole day and in the end the state militia settled the whole dispute. -
Department of Labor/Children’s Bureau
The Children’s Bureau was initially part of the Department of Commerce, but was transferred to the Department of Labor in 1913. Its purpose was to protect the welfare of all children, no matter their class standing. -
Congress of Industrial Organizations
Federation of industrial unions that organized workers in the United States and Canada. Under the Taft-Hartley Act, leaders of the unions were not allowed to be communists. -
Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act)
This act strongly increased the power of unions making them legal, and giving them powers such as the right to protest in order to maintain proper working conditions and wages as well as other fundamental rights of workers. -
Sitdown Strike at Goodyear Tire Factory
Workers advocating for better for better working conditions and pay used the sit-down technique to protest so they could not be easily replaced by temporary “scab” workers. -
Period: to
Sitdown Strike at General Motors
Workers at a General Motors assembly plant went on strike after two brothers were fired. The workers of the plant unionized and went on strike, occupying the GM plant and refusing to leave. The strike was resolved when General Motors agreed to recognize the United Automotive Workers Union as the exclusive representative of the GM employees. -
Memorial Day Massacre
During the “Little Steel Strike”, the Chicago Police Department shot and killed 10 demonstrators. The group formed as a sign of unification of smaller steel plants against U.S. Steel. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
Established labor standards such as a minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards. -
Merger of the AFL and CIO
These two groups had very different structures and approaches to labor unions. They only merged after years of disagreement because they wanted to become a more powerful organization. -
Occupational and Safety and Health Act
This act, commonly known as OSHA, gave the government the ability to regulate the working conditions. Previously, there were few regulations limiting what workers were exposed to, but this bill required employers to consider worker safety.