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Industrial Revolution
The process of the industrial revolution began for Britain in the 18th century. The industrial revolution can be described as the process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. This relates to the labor movement because people would create unions to protect there jobs. Once the industrial revolution began, machines began to replace people in the work force so they needed the unions to help protect their jobs. -
Chinese immigration
During the mid-1800's, a significant number of Asian immigrants settled in the United States. Lured by news of the California gold rush, some 25,000 Chinese had migrated there by the early 1850's. This relates to the labor movement because the immigrants who were moving here did not know the language so they were easily controlled by the businesses/factories they worked for. -
The Great Famine
The Great Famine or the Great Hunger was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852.This directly correlates to the labor movement because a lot of these people migrated to the US looking for jobs and when they got jobs they were treated unfairly and worked in bad conditions because they didn’t speak the language very well. -
Haymarket Square Riot
The Haymarket square riot started out as a peaceful protest and turned to a riot when someone threw a bomb into the crowd which cause law enforcement to open fire. The protest was organized by labor radicals. Although it was made in effort to improve working conditions it was viewed as a setback for the labor movement. -
The Anthracite Coal Strike
The Anthracite Strike of 1902 was an effort by the United Mine Workers to get higher waves, shorter hours, and recognition of their union. This strike began in the spring, wentnon through all of summer and into fall. This relates to the labor movement because it was made in effort to raise recognition, gain safer working conditions, and high pay. -
Bread and Roses (Lawrence Textile) Strike
Prompted by a two-hour pay cut corresponding to a new law shortening the workweek, this strike spread rapidly through the town, growing to more than twenty thousand workers and was begun by immigrant women. This strike relates to the labor movement because the pay cut the was made in correspondence to the new law was the difference between eating a meal or going hungry for many people. Thousands of workers went on strike for a common cause: to improve work for everyone. -
The Ludlow Massacre
The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado. It relates to the labor movement because the miners were protesting to improve their rights and conditions as workers. The miners went on strike against John Rockefeller because at the time he controlled the iron and fuel company as well as the town that surrounded it. -
World War I
As the war effort ramped up, many moderate labor unions, or trade and worker organizations, played a role in this boom. It was not a bad time to be part of a moderate union that advocated against child labor and for improved working conditions and wages. -
The Wagner Act
The Wagner Act gave workers the right to form unions and protected striking. This bill relates to the labor movement because unions were a big part of the movement. Unions got together to protect workers rights and this bill allowed the people to form unions. -
The Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act established an eventual maximum 40 weekly work hours, a minimum wage of 40 cents an hour by 1945, and prohibiting most child labor. It relates to the labor movement because it put an end to most child labor. In the past children (as well as adults) had to work in harsh condtions and got paid very little money. Most employers would hire children over other people because they were much smaller than adults and could fit in hard to reach places. -
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure (Landrum-Griffin) Act
The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 is a US labor law that regulates labor unions' internal affairs and their officials' relationships with employers. The act requires unions to hold secret elections for local union offices on a regular basis and provides for review by the United States Department of Labor of union members' claims of improper election activity. This relates to the labor movement because it aided the decline of popularity in unions.
