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Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor
"Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor" was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. It was established in 1869. It reached 28,000 members in 1880, then to 100,000 in 1885. It was dealing with charges of violence and failure, eventualy members just dropped out and it excicded till 1949 when the last of its members dropped out. -
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Founded in 1881 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation and was reelected every year except one until his death. AFL unions were important in industrial cities. They formed a central labor office to coordinate the actions of different AFL unions. Most strikes were assertions of jurisdiction. -
Labor Day
As originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday". The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. -
Hay Market Square Riots
A bomb was exploded during a Union Labor Rally in the Haymarket Square, in Chicago. The Knights of Labor labor union were campaigning for the 8-hour work day and Chicago workers went on strike. he individual who actually threw the bomb into the police squadron was never identified. 7 police officers died that day. -
How the other half lives.
Published in 1889 it described bad conditions of New York slums. The book included many harsh tenament pictures and the book became very successful. It also idscribed how the systems of tenament housing had failed due to the negection from rich people. -
The Homestead strike
Workers at the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers struck the Carnegie Steel Company at Homestead, Pa. to protest a proposed wage cut. It was major event in the history of Pittsburgh. The workers struck because Carnegie had cut their pay several times, the last cut was so bad that it was at the point where they could not live on their pay. -
The Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was the first national strike in United States history. It involved over 150,000 people and twenty seven states and would paralyze the nations railway system. The entire rail labor of the nation would walk away from their jobs. -
The Jungle
This was based on undercover work done in 1904.
Sinclair wanted the public to know what was going on and get America to get rid of wage slavery. The piece was written in harsh tone poverty, unpleasent living and working conditions. -
"The bitter cry of children"
It exposed harsh conditions of young boys working in mines for hours upon hours croutched over chutes. It was very dangerouse and some dieing and many became injured. Also the author asked a boy if he knew God. He eplied as "God? No i dont know God he must work in the other mine." Shocking yes but most told him that they were not educated at all; some tired for night school but working all those hours did not help at all. -
Triangle Shirt Factory Fire
The building was located at the corner of Washington Square East in lower Manhattan March 11, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory stands as one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The cause is not known, but theories include that a cigarette butt was thrown into one of the scrap bins, or there was a spark from a machine or faulty electrical wiring. Some made it to the roof of the next door building, where they were later rescued. -
Steel Strike
AFL went on strike against the US Steel Corporation. Eventually workers at other companies joined the strike. Because this labor unrest eventually involved more than 350,000 workers. During World War I, the situation briefly improved. -
Congress of Industrial Organizaion
It was proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932. It was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada. Many CIO leaders refused to obey some requirements, and later found it unconstitutional. The CIO also merged with the American Federation of Labor to form the AFL-CIO in 1955. -
National labor relations act
Also known as the Wagner Act, it passed through Congress in the summer of 1935 and became one of the most important legacies. The act also established the National Labor Relations Board. Often described as the "heart" of the act. -
GM sit down-strike
When sales slowed or inventory increased for any reason, the slowest workers were the first onesd that were released.As workers pushed themselves harder and harder to increase their pay checks, the leaders of the industry reduced the pay. The harder and faster you
worked, the more pay you received. Eventualy they stopped working and just came to work to relax and sleep! -
Fair Labor Standards Act
It is a federal law that establishes the ideas of fair labor in private business as well as federal, state and local government. FLSA also provides laws to protect children from child labor. Children are protected under FLSA and the child labor requirements. Children 14 and 15 years old are restricted by the types of jobs t, the time of day they may work and the amount of hours they may work. -
Pure food and drug act
It is a set of laws passed by Congress in 1938 giving authority to the U.S. FDA to inspect the safety of food, drugs, and cosmetics. The introduction of this act was influenced by the death of more than 100 patients due to a sulfanilamide medication. It replaced the earlier Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. -
The Coal Strike
Competition drove coal operators to cut prices so bad that many went into bankruptcy. Many producers slashed wages drastically to survive. From the workers' perspective, this was bad enough. During the Great Depression, however, wages needed to be kept high in order to stimulate demand. So because of all the cuts they went on strike. -
NYC transit strike
It was the first strike against the TA. The strike led to the passage of the Taylor Law, which redefined the rights and limitations of unions for public employees in NY. The strike effectively ended all service on the subway and buses in the city. -
MLB Stike
The 232-day strike, which lasted from August 12, 1994, to April 2, 1995, led to the cancellation of between 931 and 948 games overall including:the entire 1994 postseason and World Series. Major League Baseball became the first professional sport to lose its entire postseason due to a labor dispute. The players lost $4 million a week in salaries while the owners suffered a total loss of $72 million.
