-
Period: to
National Labor Union 1866-1873
• The First National Labor Union in the U.S.
• Sought to create union for more niche occupations.
• Favored arbitration, the use of a referee to solve a dispute, rather than strikes. -
Period: to
Knights of Labor 1880-1949
• Largest Labor organization in the 1880's • Demanded the Eight-Hour-Work-Day • Ballooned at close to 800,000 Members before collapsing -
The Very First Labor Day Sept. 5, 1882 .
• Peter J. McGuire, a carpenter and labor union leader, was the first to imagine labor day.
• He felt that American Laborers deserved their own holiday.
• When proposing the idea to New York's Central Labor Union, Peter wanted to celebrate it between Independence Day and Thanksgiving -
Homestead Strike June 30, 1892
• Homestead Steel or the Homestead Massacre was a lockout and strike that resulted in a battle between strikers and security on July 6.
• The dispute was held between the Association of Iron and Steel Workers and the Carnegie Steel Company.
• The ordeal resulted in about 12 deaths and 23 injuries and setback progress in the unionization of steelworkers. -
Pullman Strike May 11, 1894
•It was a national railroad strike organized by the American Railway Union.
• Workers lived in model communities and experienced wage cuts and layoffs without price adjustments for rent and utilities.
• With the organization of the ARU a boycott against all trains involved 250,000 workers in over 25 states. -
General Motors Sit Down Strike
• Workers essentially had no rights and were heavily discouraged from creating a union.
• In response workers had a sit down strike in the factory which prompted the police to attack.
• Women ran into the crowd of strikers which put a swift end to the incident in the worker's favor. -
General Motors Sit Down Strike 1930
• Workers essentially had no rights and were heavily discouraged from creating a union.
• In response workers had a sit down strike in the factory which prompted the police to attack.
• Women ran into the crowd of strikers which put a swift end to the incident in the worker's favor. -
Textile Workers Strike (1934)
• The largest strike in U.S. History at the time.
• Involved 400,000 textile workers from New England, the Mid-Atlantic, to the U.S. Southern states.
• Lasted twenty-two days -
The Wagner Act (The National Labor Relations act of 1935 July 6)
• Guaranteed the right to organize trade unions
• Allowed for collective bargaining
Take collective action such as strikes -
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, June 25
• Banned Child Labor
• Set the hourly wage at 25 cents
• Made the maximum work week 44 hours -
The Steel Strike of 1959
• The United Steelworkers of America were on strike against major steel-making companies in the U.S.
• Companies were demanding that Union give up a clause that compromised job security
• The strike influenced president Eisenhower and the Union kept the contact clause and rose minimum wages but foreign steel importation rose as a result.
