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.
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.
The strength of the economy encouraged Americans to take out more loans and buy more stocks, making them susceptible to future changes in the economy. The freedom caused financial markets to crash globally which helped power the Great Depression. Another example of lack of government intervention was the robber barons, a term referring to the wealthy and powerful businessmen in the 18th century. They were also known as “pure capitalists”, because they believed in an economic system that involved minimal interference from the government. Those working for robber barons were beaten and threatened, and the working conditions were terrible.
Nike is not the only Western retailer to face criticism over how foreign workers work in poor conditions because these companies want big profits. When a factory collapsed in Bangladesh and killing more than 1000 workers, labor activists blamed American and European retailers because they wanted cheap production and do not care about safe working conditions. Even U.S. workers are suffering because they had their biggest pay drop on record, even though corporate profits have soared.
Who were the winners and losers in the roaring 1920’s? Between 1922 and 1929 the annual Gross National Product of the USA increased by 40%. The average income per head increased by 27%. By the beginning of the 1920’s the United States of America was already the world’s largest industrial power. Highlights of the boom included; Consumer boom – growth of personal possessions (Woolworths, hire purchase, commercial travellers).
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Corporate America took a hard blow to the chin when the reality of bad accounting practices, fraud, embezzling, and other criminal activities took center stage on every media outlet worldwide around the turn of the millennium. American’s began to see firsthand exactly what types of people were running some of the largest organizations in the country and how greed and power could ruin lives. Along with these eye opening realizations, our elected officials were forced to create a way of holding Corporate America accountable for their accounting and business practices and to ensure that the criminal activity that brought down several of the nation’s largest organizations, costing taxpayers millions of dollars
Many Americans did not trust these new business ideas and the “Sherman antitrust act” came into play. Small business owners and farmers felt like they were being pushed around and treated unfairly by these corporations. The next issue that people had with business was the new labor laws. People were working outrageous hours, in unsafe areas, and on top of that getting paid vey low wages. The working citizens expressed their need for the government to interject into the issues and
One of the big issues in these two eras was conflicting definitions of “freedom.” Although people had freedom to make money in the Gilded Era, only a small minority of robber barons could do so. In the Progressive Era, White immigrants and women had more rights and freedom to help improve their own working and living conditions. This ultimately made America better, more democratic, forward and progressive. The ideas of Social Darwinism, the Gospel of Wealth, and Horatio Alger success formula made the Gilded Era. Government played a minor role and cities did not offer public relief.
The Homestead Strike The Homestead Strike was held at Carnegie Steel Mill, and was famous for the struggles between the Labor Unions, and the Business owners around the late 1800s. Many of these struggles turned very violent, which caused many to get hurt. The Labor Unions (Organization of workers) were wanting higher pay, shorter work hours, and upgrade safety conditions for the members. Many Business owners think that Union is an act of trying to take charge of the business owners right to run their company as they please. The owners also don't like the fact that the Union Leaders can call a 'Strike' when the workers feel threatened with their job.
Because of this, they endured more and more prejudice. Old traditional industries The traditional industries failed to respond to the new mass-production methods of the 1920s, unlike the Ford company that was making a good profit and could pay impressive wages. Also, following a reduction in the powers of Labor Unions (Trade Unions), the workers were not in a position to be able to claim better wages and working conditions in the old industries. * Coal - Coal prices fell and thousands had to be made redundant because the industry was producing too much coal and not enough people and countries wanted to buy it. * Ship building - Another major industry that had to make thousands redundant due to a reduction in the demand for new ships.