1.The robber barons were Andrew Carnegie JP Morgan and John D. Rockefeller. These individuals were known as robber barons because they were eliminating competition by high pricing and overcharging while managing their monopoly. 2. Trunk lines were four major railroad networks that emerged after the civil war which connected eastern sea ports to western rivers as well as great lakes. The federal government loaned $65 million to western railroads and donated millions of acres.
They were open to varied groups accepting workers of all skill levels and agricultural employees,both, women and men. But they didn’t accepted immigrant and black workers. They were known for generating many strikes which for the same reason, made them eventually fail by their numbers declined substantially.
The labor union titled Noble and Holy Order of Knights of Labor, or Knights of Labor, was
They demanded less hours, higher wages, workplace safety and unions. In the summer of 1909 the majority of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory workers walked off of the job. Blanck and Harris hired private police forces and prostitutes to beat the strikers and had them arrested for fighting back. The public looked at them as disturbers of the peace, lazy immigrants who didn’t understand how lucky they were to have a job. Other workers in factories left their jobs as well, leading to Blanck and Harris organizing all of the other shirtwaist factories, leading them against the workers in what essentially became a long game of “chicken”.
Before the structured labor society that we live in today, America was a very different working world; one plagued with injustice and grievances from workers across the job sectors. Two organizations, the Knights of Labor and later the American Federation of Labor acted as activists for reform and demanded better standards for working, living, and life for workers. Their strategies and success in achieving their goals were as different as the organizations themselves. Coming from a time of segregation and social divide, the Knights of Labor stood out as one of the most accepting labor unions of the age, which largely accounted for their membership to reach almost 800,000 members during its peak. All workers in a trade were included, regardless of their skill level.
The National Labor Union (NLU), the Knights of Labor, and then the American Federation of Labor (AFL) all strived for a better workers’ condition. Specifically, Samuel Gompers, the founder of AFL, demanded “a reduction of the hours of labor,” “adequate wages,” etc. (Doc G) The labor unions took actions against the relentless business owners: the Railroad Strike, the Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike were examples that attempted to ameliorate working conditions by refusing to work. Similarly, the southern and western farmers formed organizations that asked for legislations that would benefit them.
In developing countries there has always been a difference in how companies and the people that worked for them agree about working conditions and salaries. This brought about what we now call labor unions, which today and in earlier years negotiated working conditions and other issues concerning labor. The Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor were two of the unions formed during the time that labor issues were being debated. The Knights were considered to be secretive and more radical than the American Federation of Labor, which was considered to be a formal federation of labor unions.
Labor and the US Government from 1890-1945 A key aspect of this nation’s history lies in the ever-shifting relationship between its government and its common man, most specifically its labor workers. This relationship plays a crucial role in the understanding of the changes that took place in America between 1890 and 1945. The changing relationship between government and labor workers in the United States between 1890 and 1945 demonstrates a period of unrest and a transitional period in which the focus shifted towards the working class as a result of the greed and corruption of 19th century business elite , as can be seen in the labor strikes requiring government intervention of the late 19th century, the progressives of the early 20th century
The feeling, shown in Nast's illustration after the railroad strike of 1877, that amalgamations simply lead to more " communistic values" and general uniformity made it very arduous to genuinely get anything done. Samuel Gompers, progenitor of the American Federation of Labor, argued that the right to strike was absolutely obligatory if any reforms were going to be made and not even this right had been officially granted to the people by regime (Document I). Gompers made it very pellucid that not even the very substratum of organized labor had been established and so up until this point the advances that had been made, were virtually frivolous. In conclusion, from 1875-1900 very few advances were made through organized labor in achieving better working conditions for workers.
It becomes needless to say that an organization like this one would create fear in the hearts of the of all upper class people. They wanted to get the government to regulate labor, and get involved in big business. The creation of the Bureau of Labor was established in 1884 because of the Knights. With victories this this under there belts the membership of the Knights sky rocketed. The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor and its reputation in the early and mid-eighteen hundreds gave disentranced workers the ideas that they had a say in how they were treated and hand the right to make demands.
Employers wanted to be seen as humans, and not just a piece of machinery that can be replaced. Employers refused to give their workers suitable conditions to work in, and a higher pay wage. Employers demonstrated that their workers meant nothing to them, and that they could easily be replaced. Workers were forced to give up their old ways, and adapt to the cooperation’s new ways. This made workers depressed, and pushed them to make a change.
The AFL advocated for most of the same things as the Knights of Labor. The American Federation of Labor used strikes and boycotts against owners to try and get what they wanted. Two major strikes that occurred were the Pullman Strike and the Homestead Strike. Both strikes were very dangerous and had millions of dollars of damage. Some of the strikes and boycotts did work and wages were raised, however some backfired and many workers ended up losing their
It is a difficult task to challenge the social and economic policies of a country, especially one as patriotic as the United States during the post wartime Red scare era of the 1920 's. labor unions could account for this as they saw their membership fall from a high of 5 million in the 1920s to a mere 3.6 million by 1923(Rosenzweig 353). A combination of Supreme court decisions, Employer pressures and in many cases a lack of a strong leadership seen in previous individuals like Samuel Gompers contributed to this. Yet this trend surprisingly didn’t remain consistent as the great depression emerged around the 1930s. In fact they tripled there membership during the 1930s(Rosenzweig 429).They opened up, recruiting millions of women in their causes
Problems like these angered the workers and caused labor unions to form. Some labor unions included the American Federation of Labor (AFL), or the Knights of Labor (KoL), which were the first two industrial labor unions. The industrial unions did more physical rebellion such as strikes or walk-outs, but both the industrial unions and the farmer unions were formed due to the people’s
Misery: Challenging Gender Stereotype Misery is the most thematically satisfying of all Stephen King’s novels. The theme this paper will explore further is that of King’s disturbing interpretation of gender roles. Gender stereotypes are what is thought of as societal norms dictating types of behaviour based on whether a person is a male or female. In popular literature gender stereotypes often see women as good, pure and innocent, whereas men are seen as strong and at times the evil beings, most often being the villain.
