Early Labor Unions
This was an early national union that started in 1866 and advocated for an eight-hour workday and equal rights for women and African Americans.
What is the National Labor Union (NLU)?
Besides low pay and dangerous conditions, workers often faced this problem related to the length of their workday.
What are long hours (10, 12, or 14 hours a day)?
This was the primary desire that led people to want to produce more goods in less time.
What is to make more money?
This valuable fuel was found in vast deposits in the Pennsylvania coal region in the late 1800s.
What is anthracite coal?
This is a "club for workers" that allows them to have a stronger voice to ask for better treatment from their bosses.
What is a labor union?
Popular in the 1870s and 1880s, this inclusive union welcomed skilled and unskilled workers, men, women, and even African Americans.
What are the Knights of Labor?
This sad reality saw children forced to work in harsh factory and mine conditions.
What is child labor?
The development of new machinery, like the water frame and spinning jenny, directly transformed this process.
What is the manufacturing process?
Besides their long hours and low pay, immigrant miners in the Pennsylvania coal region often faced this additional challenge.
What is discrimination (or being paid less than American-born counterparts)?
When workers feel desperate and secretly try to slow down production or damage equipment, this tactic is called this.
What is sabotage?
Founded in 1886, this union primarily focused on skilled workers and used direct actions like strikes to achieve better wages and working conditions.
What is the American Federation of Labor (AFL)?
This tactic involves bosses closing down the workplace to try and starve workers back to their jobs under old conditions.
What is a lockout?
The invention of the steam engine by James Watt led to its use in factories and transportation, resulting in this.
What is faster production and travel?
This peaceful demonstration by striking miners in 1897 tragically ended with 19 deaths and dozens wounded when deputies opened fire.
What is the Lattimer Massacre?
This term describes workers asking people not to buy products from a company that isn't treating its workers fairly.
What is a boycott?
Many early labor unions, despite advocating for worker rights, often excluded this group of American workers.
Who were African American workers?
When workers went on strike, bosses would sometimes hire these new workers to take their place, making the strike less effective.
Who are "scabs"?
The need for many workers in factories led to an increased use of these two demographic groups.
Who are women and children?
The trial of Sheriff James F. Martin and his deputies for the Lattimer Massacre resulted in this controversial outcome.
What was their acquittal (not being convicted)?
This concept describes the overall societal shift from agrarian societies to industrial ones, marked by new machinery and factory systems.
What is the Industrial Revolution?
This tactic involves workers refusing to work until their demands, such as better pay or safer conditions, are met.
What is a strike?
Beyond lockouts and scabs, this extreme tactic was sometimes used by bosses against striking workers, and also by desperate workers against bosses.
What is violence?
Poor living and working conditions eventually became unbearable, leading to the rise of these three movements.
What are labor movements, abolitionist movements, and women's rights movements?
This tragic 1911 factory fire, where locked doors and a broken hose contributed to many deaths, led to significant changes in city laws regarding fire prevention.
What is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire?
The Lattimer Massacre brought national attention to the plight of these workers, often facing discrimination and even worse conditions than others.
Who are immigrant workers?