The Labor Movement

Members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers on the picket line in 1915.
     Photograph. Cornell Chronicle. August 28, 2017. Accessed May 20, 2018.
     https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2017/08/
     union-made-exhibit-showcases-labor-fashion-history. ​

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In the early 19th century, the United States experienced an Industrial Revolution, and following it, a second one, known as the Technological Revolution. As technology boomed,  unregulated businesses developed that could exploit their workers by paying minimal wages and making them work long hours. In addition, workers lived and worked in appalling conditions which drastically affected their health and life spans. There were no health inspections, and safety was not a primary concern of the employers. Even though many workers suffered accidents, upon turning to their employers, they found themselves to be replaceable. Frustrated with these conditions, Labor Unions, such as the American Federation of Labor, formed during this time period and worked hard to create change primarily through collective bargaining and strikes. Some strikes were peaceful, such as the Pennsylvania miners strike in 1868, when twenty thousand striked, without the presence of a union. The strike was called off and a union finally formed: the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association, but they were not able to achieve wages substantial enough to account for the miners’ cost of living. Other workers, frustrated with these peaceful attempts, took a more violent approach. The most notable of these groups was a band of Irish immigrants in Pennsylvania, known as the Molly Maguires, who physically attacked and killed strikebreakers and mine owners. Most strikes, even if started with no violent intentions, often ended in violence and even casualties from both sides. As word spread of these occurrences, middle and upper class Americans developed fear and resentment toward unskilled workers and labor unions, which made it more difficult for the workers to achieve better rights.(1)

Because of these negative sentiments, the most influential incidences in the movement were industrial accidents. Because of the lack of health regulations, some factories, mines, and plants suffered tragic accidents with high casualties and terrible injuries to the survivors. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the most devastating industrial accidents included the Pemberton Mill Collapse, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the Gillespie Plant Explosion, and the Great Molasses Flood. All of these accidents were a result of the employers’ failure to anticipate the hazard and their unwillingness to establish precautions. The magnitude of these accidents was usually enough to shock Americans into creating some change in working conditions. The casualties and destruction influenced some other employers to take preventative measure to avoid a similar catastrophe. The culmination of past accidents and the work of labor unions eventually led to legislation guaranteeing workers certain inalienable rights and protections.

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Source:

(1) Gloria Skurzynski, Sweat and Blood: A History of U.S. Labor Unions,

    (Minneapolis, Minn.: Twenty-First Century Books, 2009).

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