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The role of unions today
Essays on factors affecting labour unions
The role of labor unions
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The 1919 steel strike was an attempt to organize the United States steel industry after World War One. The strike lasted about five months, and was unsuccessful. It began on September 21, 1919, and collapsed on January 8, 1920. It was started by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, or the AA. The AA had formed in 1876. It was a union of iron and steel workers which was very committed to creating unionism, but advancements in technology had decreased the amount of skilled workers in the industries. The main cause of the strike was when the American Federation of Labor (AFL) started to hire unskilled workers into the steel industry. The skilled jobs that the AA worked in were starting to fade away. The AA was not pleased,
The strike affected much of the country, and it had great influence on public opinion on the rights of workers. It showed how the roles of management and the roles of government handled this situation. The Pullman Strike of 1894 and its aftermath had a huge effect on the course of the labor movement in the United States. The use of federal troops and the labor injunction sent a message to U.S. workers that would not change until the new deal of the 1930s. George Pullman was no longer look at as the great enlightened employer who took care of his workers, but a greedy intolerant man. After the strike he was worried that people would rob him so when he was buried he had it lined in concrete so no one could. The Pullman strike ultimately was unsuccessful at the time. Workers were sent to jail and many couldn’t find any jobs after. Although, it was successful in several ways. The federal government was involved for the first time in history because of a strike, and because they all took a stand for their human rights it impacted the future and how workers are treated
At the negotiations, AA leaders requested a wage increase. Frick countered with a proposal for a significant decrease and threatened to stop recognizing the union if it did not agree to the new terms, as Carnegie had authorized him to do. On June 29, 1892, the day before the end of the current contract, Frick locked out the Homestead workers. In protest, AA began a major organized strike, preventing the steel works from hiring replacement laborers and reopening. Carnegie and Frick requested assistance from local authorities, but they were ineffective in dispersing the
How were revolutionary industrial unionists in Winnipeg influenced to strike in 1919? All Canadians have heard of the Winnipeg General Strike, and many have studied its influences. Coming immediately after the First World War, yet coming before the Great Depression hit, many wonder why Winnipeg workers took up arms when they did? In truth, the strikers were primarily industrial unionists who wanted a revolution. The strikers were aiming for a major difference in the government. Now, to the non-Canadian, Canada has always seemed perfectly calm and neutral. Many would go as far as wondering how Canada could ever have any problems. Therefore, hardly anybody knows of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, let alone what caused the strike. Simply put, revolutionary industrial unionists within Canada were influenced to strike by Canada’s involvement in the First World War, the quick and incredible success of Russia’s revolution in 1917, and inflation within the country.
The strike was generally non-violent. The majority of the strikers were reformist, ("revolutionary socialism", which believes that there must be a revolution to fundamentally change a society.) not radical. They wanted to amend the system, not destroy it and build a new one.
“Industrial unions dominated the landscape of the late nineteen century U.S. labor movement.” They gathered all level workers together without discrimination of gender, race, or nationality. They declared the eight-hour workday for the first time when normal work time should be 12. Low wage of workers caused the “Great Strike of 1877”, which began with railroad workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. After the “Great Strike”, industrial union started to
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 organization of IWW was the first of many strikes brought up by Zinn. The IWW’s strike may have been one of the biggest and most fearful strikes of the time period. The strike started in February 1919 in Seattle, WA. The walkout of nearly 100,000 workers brought the city to a substantial halt for five days. The strike was quiet and orderly, citizens handled it quite well. The strikers organized milk
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.
against their employers, employees were able to go on strike and prove a point. Some
The Coal Strike of 1902 occurred as a result of many problems that were faced by miners. At the time of the coal strike there were 150,000 miners working in the mines (Grossman) Due to the depression of 1893, miners had their wages cut and were living in poverty (Grossman). Many miners were dissatisfied and looked to the United Mine Workers for support in raising their standard of living. This proved difficult since employers refused to recognize labor unions for fear of giving them significant control over the industry. In most instances of employee demands before 1902, employers would use government troops or hire immigrants to take the jobs of the strikers (David Kennedy).
The Winnipeg General Strike The year of 1919 has been one of the most influential years of strikes
On May 9th 1934 a organized labor strike started in San Francisco that would snowball into a city crippling strike. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) declared a strike for all longshoremen on the west coast, until they received better wages, a union-administered hiring hall, and union membership as a prerequisite for employed longshoremen. The Strike of 1934 lasted for three months, stopping maritime trade in the ports of the Western United States, from San Diego to Seattle. The clash was between the Industrial Association (IA), composed of big business and employers wanting to break the strike, and the ILA, along with other unions that dealt with maritime trades. The Strike of 1934 displayed the power the organized labor had, and how the mistreatment of labor can shut down an entire city and coast.
After the Civil War, many ideologies developed into the United States of America. Some of these ideologies included the free labor ideology and the producerist ideology. Free labor endorsed the belief that by removing slavery, or any other kind of barrier, everyone had an equal chance to try to get wealth (Farless). The producerist ideology tried to stay to the customary view of society and it stressed the importance of viewing the community instead of an individual (Farless). With these two ideologies, they had an impact on labor. By believing in the producerist ideology, people would be staying with tradition, and that leaves no change for our world. Many laborers wanted change, which led to problems for the laborers.
Causes of the General Strike In this essay I will discuss the reasons for the start of the general strike, the long and short term causes. In the 1920's Britain was having a hard time on the industrial front. It had begun with the miners, the coal industry wasn't fairing to well and was declining rapidly and had been since 1918. This was because during the first world war the mines were run by the government and the conditions of the mines were good but also the wages were standardised which the miners had no problems with as the were very acceptable.
The Trade Union Congress called the General Strike on the understanding that they would then take over the negotiations from the