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.
Totten was disgruntaled for various reasons including being treated unfairly, over worked and under paid. However, the main concern was due to a co worker being killed as a result of the train crash: and his family only received eighteeen dollars a month compensation for the death of their family member a long term employee of the Pullman Company. Their break finally came later in 1925, when Asa Philip Randolph helped form the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. This was the first serious effort to form a labor union for the employees of the Pullman Company, which was a major employer of African Americans. Asa Philip Randolph, a black journalist and educated socialist and railway car porter, Ashley Totten formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Following the Civil War, labor became a necessity and the rising cost of living provided a crucial incentive to unionization. From 1875 to 1925, the nation experienced several labor upheavals because of labor issues and the rise of big unions. While the Knights of Labor were not very successful at improving the interests of workers due to their idealistic and more radical strategies, the American Federation of Labor was more successful because of their peaceful and pragmatic stance. The Knights of Labor was founded in Philadelphia in 1969 by Uriah H. Stevens, but was structured as a secret society for ten years. The transition of the Knights from a secret organization to a major labor union started when Terence Powderly was elected in 1879 and became public in 1881.
Wages only improved to pre-war levels after 1928 Despite glorification through propaganda, Internal labour passports Stalin - much harsher conditions - ban on strikes, internal passports, wage differentials and piece rates, tough discipline and forced labour. 12 hour working day in WW2 AGAINST Opportunities for women Bolsheviks - 8 hour working day + introduction of social insurance Kruschev ended forced labour Stalin - Stakhanovites - work hard, better working conditions, also Creches - 50% of Leningrad women by 1937 1874 - trade unions illegal Strikes - 1878-9 St.P cotton mills, then in 1896 around 30,000 refused to work Dramatic rise in number of strikes at end of Stolypin - in 1910 232 strikes in the empire, 2032 in 1912 and over 3000 in first half of 1914 EG Lena Goldfields in 1912 when 500 injured/170 killed by troops In the 1930’s, some improvement of factory conditions eg creches. Mini-judgement: More improvement, but at a price. Under the communists, thy were geared more for industrialization. Under the communists, there was more harsh impact upon working conditions.
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.
* Homestead strike 1892 (143 days, Association of Iron and Steel Works VS Carnegie steel company, violence occurred, state army called in, bankrupt union, Carnegie steel remained non-unionised, AA membership fell) * Pullman Strike (1894) (American Railway Union VS Pullman palace car company, railway brought to standstill, federal troops and supreme court used injunctions, strike still limited) * 500,000 union members by 1910 * Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (30 new laws, mim wage, low hours, better work conditions) * Clayton Anti trust act 1914 (limited court injunctions to strikes) 1915-1945 * Factory production increased by 35% wages increased 20% * National War Labour Board (talked to unions in return they didn’t strike, only effective during war) * During war union membership rose
Unionized Organizations-The United States Postal Service HRM/531 March 14, 2012 Machelle Thompson Unionized Organizations-The United States Postal Service The history of organized labor, according to Cascio (2010), is rooted in the 19th century Industrial Revolution. Low wages and poor working conditions led to inevitable collective fight of worker to improve conditions and improve pay. Since the initiation of unions as organizations as representatives for bargaining with companies for employee rights and benefits, union membership decreased from 35% of the workforce in 1945 to 12.1% in 2007 (Cascio, 2010). However, Cascio (2010) also states, “several economic and demographic forces favor a resurgence of unions” (p. 509). This resurgence includes the union membership in the USPS.
Debs ran as a presidential candidate for the socialist party in five different presidential elections. The socialist party had a platform that demanded state ownership of means of production and distribution of wealth by the government. Debs believed in nationalization of all natural resources, industries, and banks. He felt that the government had the right to control all property and collect any revenues that were produced. Debs, like Carnegie, also advocated distribution of the wealth but in a more aggressive approach.
(Holley, W. H., Jennings, K.M., & Wolters, R.S. (2009) ) Almost 70 years later, the AFL merged with the congress of industrial organizations to form the AFL-CIO, an organization that still exists today. (http://money.howstuffworks.com/labor-union.htm) Let’s discussed some important parts of the labor unions laws that help understand the legal part of the union activities. In 1935, Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to “encourage a healthy relationship between private-sector workers and their employers” The act also created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as the organization to enforce the NLRA, that accomplish the following three significant objectives: 1. Allowed workers to have elections to decide if they want to be
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.