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The economic effects of the transcontinental railroad
Effect of trade unions in the economy
The role of unions in the economy
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In the 20th century, the labor unions destroyed the free market by restraining business for the wealthy with regulations such as businesses closing down, rioters destroying good, and embargoing businesses. This prevented businesses from being successful. In document C., a tribune describes a situation in Chicago that occurred in 1894, during the time that the union started to change the free market. Rioters destroyed many freight cars that were loaded with costly track property. Everything went to waste because the Union led strikers to sweep many yards in fire, instead of allowing businesses to put the goods to use. Document D describes a situation of the American Railway Union's boycott that blockaded the trains, they completely shut
During the Railroad Strike of 1877, when large crowds in Baltimore attempted to attack militia breaking up the strike, President Hayes got word of the uprising and personally sent his troops to quell it (DOC B). Many witnesses of the strike used Yellow Journalism to make it seem as if Communists were causing the strike through the use of political cartoons in newspapers, such as “Always killing the goose that lays the golden egg” (DOC C), where the strike was purposefully invalidated to break up the labor movement. Nevertheless, the largeness of the uprising made strikes become more widely-known, causing employers to be slower to slash wages in fear of a bigger
During this era, businesses supplied large amounts of employment for citizens which created power for these businesses. They had the power to provide bad working conditions, lower wages, and fire their employees without any justification (Doc 1). George E. McNeill, a labor leader, states how “whim is law” and one can not object to it. The government took a laissez-faire approach and refused to regulate economic factors. This allowed robber barons and business tycoons to gain more authority of each industry through the means of horizontal and vertical integration. It wasn’t until later in the time period that the government passed a few acts to regulate these companies, such as the ICC and the Sherman Antitrust Act. One of the main successful industries was
The Transportation Revolution in the 1800s, sparked up industrialization and the building of railroads that stimulated every other industry causing an economic boom known as the Gilded Age. From the outside, America seemed like the place to go to make all your dreams come true. But in reality, in was an era of serious social problems mainly caused by an economy with a free market policy, low tariffs, low taxes, less spending, and a hands-off government. This type of economy would eventually lead to the development of monopolies. These monopolies would then, in turn, lead to worker uprisings ‒caused by the suppression of unions created mostly by unskilled workers‒ that would contribute to the rapid rise and downfall of America. An example of this suppression is the Homestead Strike of 1892; due to hostility created by the unions, the employer fired all the workers, and rehired them on the basis that there would not be any more unions. After the workers started working again, the conditions were still unbearable, so the workers shut down the facility. The police got involved, the workers were pushed back, and the facility was reopened union free.
They concentrated on higher wages, shorter hours, and personal issues of workers. The American Federation of Labor’s main weapon was walkouts and boycotts to get industries to succeed to better conditions and higher wages. By the early 1900’s, its membership was up to ½ million workers. Through the years since The Great Depression, labor unions were responsible for several benefits for employees. Workers have safer conditions, higher paying jobs to choose from, and better benefits negotiated for them by their collective bargaining unit.
The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the first national strike in American history and it came about during a period of unrest with labor unions and controversy regarding the role of government in business.5 The strike officially started when employees organized and went to their supervisors to ask for a lowered rent and were refused.5 The strike had many different causes. For example, workers wanted higher wages and fewer working hours, but the companies would not give it to them; and the workers wanted better, more affordable living quarters, but the companies would not offer that to them either. These different causes created an interesting and controversial end to the Pullman strike. Because of this, questions were raised about the strike that are still important today. Was striking a proper means of getting what the workers wanted? Were there better means of petitioning their grievances? Was government intervention constitutional? All these questions were raised by the Pullman Strike.
After the great depression, unions were legalized in order to be the voice for the workers for whom they represented to their employers. Once this legalization became evident through federal statute, set the stage for what was to become the Fair Labor Standards Act. Having just survived a depression, the United States was hoping to avoid any future economic downturns, the government would accomplish this with paying higher wages that the employer could afford and employees could provide for their families.
Throughout the history of the United States of America the continuation of misfortunes for the workforce has aggravated people to their apex, eventually leading to the development of labor unions.
Smith, William J., "Labor's Wrongs - and Rights", The Commonweal, 13, March 1959, 618 - 620, 618 -- 620.
The organized labor was unsuccessful because many of the workers went on strike or were killed and didn’t get what they wanted. On July 7, 1892 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there were ten people reported dead and more that had no official notification of death (Document G). These people died because they participated in the Homestead Strike. Even after this gruesome strike Homestead did not give into their demands and remained a nonunion for a while after. This proves that even though they held a strike against the factory, the workers conditions did not improve at all and many people died making the Homestead Strike unsuccessful. On July 18, 1877 there was an editorial about the Railroad Strike of 1877. It stated that “The strike is apparently hopeless, and must be regarded as nothing more than a rash and spiteful demonstration of resentment by men too ignorant… to understand their own interests.” (Document B). This document proves that the Railroad Strike was not making a dent in the workers conditions. The strikers are the workers and because they are on strike they are not working which means no income. They do all this and they get nothing out of the strike, again proving that the labor union was unsuccessful. Since many of the organized strikes turned out not to do anything, in some cases death, the labor union failed to improve the workers conditions.
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
Poverty had worsened with the swelling of migrants. “Within the narrow limits of one-half square mil were crowded together thirty-five thousand people, living tier upon tier, huddled together until the very heavens seemed to be shut out (H).” However, “They would institute all necessary measures to stamp out unnecessary disease and to prevent unnecessary death (H).” Americans responded with reform of the boss system. “... the manager of the street railway went to the boss, and the street department became reasonable...And now for ten years there has been a district movement among the American people (I).” Journalism impacted the progress of reform in corrupt business such as the factory inspector. “While the Smoke Inspector will claim his work has made a change, it is probably the moral suasion of the newspaper agitation that has been the direct cause of the measure of reform…
Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).
The first was the conflict between “railroad kings” and workers. Railroads were the first industry to have workers operating in “an impersonal, bureaucratically controlled environment, and they were among the first to achieve collective bargaining and grievance channels through their national unions, the railway brotherhoods” (Porter 37). However, with the centralization of large railway lines, wage cuts often occurred, leading to worker strikes and violence when companies called in the military to break up the demonstrations; once again revealing the political influence that railroad owners had. Examples of violent labor conflicts include the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the Gould Southwestern Strike of 1886, and the Pullman Strike of 1894 (“The Public Be Damned”). As a result of the labor unrest, the public pushed for governmental intervention in limiting these massive corporations. Politicians eventually listened to the public, leading to legislation, such as the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act (and eventually, other legislation), that attempted to protect consumer and worker interests by breaking up these massive companies (Micklethwait and Wooldridge 73). Thus, labor unrest was one cause of the repeated issues faced by owners throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries because it caused the public to pressure
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) has been impacted by several events throughout history. Some of these events had a positive influence on the union while others proved to be detrimental, not only to the AFL but to all unions and organized labor. Events such as the Haymarket riot, as well as the Homestead and Pullman strikes brought negative media attention and unfavorable views of organized labor while shedding light on the plight of the American working class. However, it is because of events such as these that federal legislation was passed, in order to provide American workers with the right to unionize. Furthermore, legislation offered legal protections against unsafe working environments and employer tactics that were intentioned
CBA  Collective Bargaining Agreements A collective bargaining agreement collectively sets the terms on which an employer offers individual work contracts to each of its employees in the bargaining unit. A bargaining agreement, also herein referred to as a labour agreement, is a legally enforceable written commitment, which states the rights and duties of all parties involved. The labour agreement should be made in good faith and is intended to be observed and not violated. The National Labour Relations Act obligates employers and unions to bargain in good faith concerning terms and conditions of employment, including hours and wages. Like any normal contract, competent parties must enter into a labour agreement.