Labor Union strikes were the most prominent form of worker insurrection against employers. During the period of 1875-1900, many labor unions participated in strikes, however many of them failed to achieve their goals. The biggest reason that farmers and workers went on strike was clearly stated by a machinist before the Senate Committee on Labor and Capital. Because machines were taking jobs away, workers would lose their livelihood, and most likely their only source of income. In the year of 1877, employees working for the four largest railroads went on strike due to the fact that their employers cut their wages by 10 percent; this was known as the Great Rail Road Strike.
About 4000 members of the power union voted to strike, in a move to increase their wages that were set by the Duquesne Light Company. The city’s power supply was reduced to 45 per cent when Duquesne Light Company employees failed to report for work. The Union President George Mueller was sentenced to one year in jail because he inspired the strike. The labor leaders of Pittsburgh supported Mueller’s. George Mueller’s arrest caused eight thousand steel and electrical workers in the Pittsburgh district to strike in protest.
These are most important reasons h resulted in the TUC calling a general strike in 1926. An important reasonch year due to the awful and dangerous working conditions.This infuriated the miner unions and as a result a general strike was planned for May which had the TUC's full support Political reasons: Dawes Plan dramatically reduced the amount of money Britain made exporting coal. In 1925 when the plan was put into action Germany were enabled to pay off their outstanding debts from WWI by exporting “free coal” to other EU nations as a way to pay off their debt. As a result the British mining industry was hit heavily financially and wage reductions were reduced which angered the mine
The recession hit close to home for the Tories, effecting the middle class not just the working class of the industrial north. Businesses were also drastically affected, with high investment rates no one was investing resulting in 48,000
As illustrated in Out of this Furnace, proper operation of the blast furnaces was an impending life or death matter. Unfortunately, for the characters of Kracha’s best friend, Dubik, and Mike, their livelihood depended on the factory and the factory ultimately ended their life as well. “Dubik died two days after a blast furnace explosion blind and unconscious,” (pg.53). The explosion was later deemed an “accident”; however, Kracha explained, “In a larger sense, it was the result of greed, and part of the education of the American steel industry” (pg. 54).
Harding handled similarly to how Roosevelt, and set the strikers back to work. The Railway Industry Board reduced worker wages by 12%, which would, of course, cause unrest amongst the workers. Strikes would occur, but Harding found that he was unable to dissipate the unrest as he did with the coal strike. In 1918, the court case of Hammer v. Dagenhart illegalized the use of child labor. Harding took it upon himself to make sure that these laws were being followed.
The American Federation of Labor was so against the thought of including non craft laborers into unions that they publicly declared the IWW was far too radical, and even went so far as to say they were un-American. The IWW was not strictly for non craft laborers either, after all, one of the founding principles of the IWW was union and worker solidarity. The IWW included many members of a coal miners union, officials of which attended the first meeting that ended with the creation of the IWW. Their efforts to band together all laborers, craft or otherwise, showed the clear gap between the IWW and all other unions of that
Work conditions were horrible for the few people who happened to have jobs in the 1930’s. They worked long hours for very little pay and they were treated badly by their bosses. The Fair Labor Standards Act helped workers by establishing a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and a standard work week of fourty four hours for businesses engaged in interstate commerce. The Fair Labor Standards Act placed regulations and limits on how long a person could work and also ensured that a person would be paid a certain amount of money. Even though work places now were under regulation, many workers still had little or no contribution to rules, or determining whats right or wrong.
1. That the American spirit is always moving and pushing onward and you should search manifest destiny. 2. None, they kept them dumb enough to do what the government asked and get paid for it 3.Luddites were a major problem during the industrial era. it's the group of people that did not like the change and stood in the way of mills becoming industrialized.
The rise of labor organizations resulted from the growth of industry in the 1920s and the devastating effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s (Labor Unions Rise, 2011). Unions had been present since the 1800 but they were not officially acknowledged by the government. The first organized union was the United Automobile Workers of America in 1935 by the automobile workers. Unemployment was high and employers took advantage of the employees during desperate like times of the Great Depression. Workers were paid low wages, were forced to perform in unsafe working conditions, and lack of job security caused the workers to form unions.