Evolution of Trade Unions in the 1870s-1880s - Essay Example

The Evolution of Trade Unions in the 1870s to 1880s Task The 1870s and 1880s were revolutionary times, and the American economy was expanding. This period was marked by industrial growth and population increase, as immigrants from south and Eastern Europe sought greener pastures in America. Technological advances enabled better transportation with the introduction of rails and general communication patterns as well as improved agricultural production. Key industrial players such as John Pierpont Morgan, Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller revolutionized how business practices were carried out paving way for financial innovations (Reynolds, 2009). This period was marked by economic growth, and there were many job opportunities for both skilled workers in the many industries that were being set up. Chicago and Philadelphia were a favorite with the immigrants, and during these times, there was an influx of unskilled workers in the regions hoping to get employment (Reynolds, 2009). However, the economy gains did not extend to the unskilled workers, and this was a rough time as there were no systems to cater to their needs. Laborers were exploited and survived on low wages and poor working conditions (Skurzynski, 2008). Most of them lived in slums and had to work for long hours in dangerous conditions and ended up having miserable lives in the United States. There were many unskilled workers looking for employment, and the industry managers took advantage of the large pool of workers. In the early 1870s, the idea of trade unions was not popular yet. Workers did realize there was a need to join them, but most memberships stayed below one percent of those employed. In this period, there had been no successful trade union and most of them collapsed even before they had made any major improvements. Most of them were known for their extreme antics to gain what they wanted, and they did not have a good status with employers and consumers. Some even went to the extent of crime, violence or even threatening and intimidating workers to join or employers to meet their demands (Skurzynski, 2008). By the end of the 1870s things began to look up. The civil war era was coming to an end, and the American economy was on its way to a revival. With the economy showing signs of recovery, there was hope for trade unionists to pick up the pieces and revive the laborers movement. The environment was conducive, and there was an influx of immigrants seeking employment in America who were willing to join the trade unions. With improved memberships, there were more voices to push their agenda, and this led to political ambitions. This saw the rise of the Workingmen’s party of the United States, which later changed its name to the Socialist Labor party due to its success and popularity among immigrants (Richard, 1998). The late 1870s through to 1880s is the period when trade unions began to thrive. Though it was a period characterized by failing unions due to opportunism and lack of cohesiveness, they found their foothold. By holding peaceful boycotts laborers were able to push for better wages. It was a start that had many obstacles, but it as a dawn of a new era, a progressive era and change was inevitable. Laborers were becoming increasingly aware of their rights and trade unions were their refuge. However, It was a trying time too since most trade unions were not popular. Trade unions in the 1870s and 1880s were mainly craft unions. These are unions where people with similar skills such as carpentry, construction and rail workers came together to form a union. These were representation of workers in a single occupation who found it much easier to demand for better wages as a united front (Skurzynski, 2008). A trade union’s main aim is to ensure fair working conditions for its members. It seeks to address members’ problems by negotiating with employers on their behalf. This was an era of change and widespread awareness that there was the need to come together and put up a strong face to push for better working conditions. Trade unions did not make many gains during this period, but they paved way for a revolution and a chance for the next generations to learn from their mistakes and make amends. Amends that would see them achieve better successes in fighting for workers rights. Trade unions had their share of successes. The American civil war had just come to an end, and the European migration had seen the rise of immigrants in the United States. This meant an increase of skilled and unskilled laborers, a breed of new cultures and an increase of membership in the trade unions. There was power in numbers as they could organize effective boycotts, strikes and walk outs in unison for their demands to be met. Boycotts proved to be much more effective because in a boycott, workers and the general public were not to use services of the company in question. This was a blow to these companies especially in an era where there was more emphasis on making profits instead of improving quality, quantity or even better working conditions for workers. Knights of Labor are one of the trade unions that were most vocal in the guild era. It is believed to have been founded by Uriah Stephens, James L Wright and some members of the Garments Cutter Association of Philadelphia in 1869 (VandeCreek, 2002). It started with a membership of about twenty eight thousand people and started as secret group that was opposed to white collar membership. They did not accept members who were lawyers, bankers or doctors. Controversially, it was the first national union that did not discriminate against women, and Lenora Barry, a woman, was its national organizer. The 1880s was a period that saw the discrimination of immigrants and women, and most native of America saw them as a threat. The large influx of immigrants meant a large pool of labor resources for the industries thus employers had a wide variety of workers to choose from, hence this meant that wages remained low. Terrence Powderly was the most significant leader of the Noble and holy Knights of Labor (VandeCreek, 2002). When he took over in 1873, the National Labor union had just collapsed, and there was the need for a union representation to fill the gap. The union sometimes negotiated with employers on behalf of its members. In a period when workers rights were not a priority due high competition and monopoly there was a lot of work to be done. Knights of Labor promoted republicanism, rejected socialism and radicalism. They were key players in demanding for an eight hour working day and the end of child and convict labor. Membership rose from around a hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand between 1885 and 1886 (VandeCreek, 2002). However, when union activities began to bear no fruits membership declined. Powderly opposed strikes as a method to push for workers grievances. He was outnumbered as not many shared in his school of thought. Though opposed to strikes, it became necessary to join in boycotts and strikes with time. Knights of Labor fuelled a lot of strikes that led to massacres. They were known for their inclusiveness since they had accommodated women and blacks, but had remained exclusive to people who they considered unproductive. They also discriminated against liquor workers for the same reason of being unproductive. The Knights of Labor ruled out the Chinese from the union and expelled them yet they were about a tenth of the population (VandeCreek, 2002). These led to tension between the Chinese immigrants and the white miners, which led to the Rock Springs Massacre in September 1885. The coal department had a policy where they paid Chinese workers less money than the white workers. This led to more and more Chinese being employed since the company could cut on costs. This fuelled racial tensions and the white workers who were members of the Knight of Labor rioted. The result was disastrous. They torched the Chinese homes and property and the altercations left about twenty eight Chinese dead and many injured. Though no concrete proof was there to connect the rioting workers to the union, it is highly believed they were members. The Knights strongly supported the Chinese Exclusion act of 1882 which banned Chinese immigrations into the United States for ten years, and the Contract Labor Law of 1885 (VandeCreek, 2002). The Knights were also involved in the Thibodaux massacre of 1877 in Louisiana. This was by far the greatest riot that resulted in public condemnation. About ten thousand members participated of whom a tenth was composed of whites (VandeCreek, 2002). The sugar cane workers had forwarded their demands to the Louisiana Sugarcane Planters Association, but they had been ignored. Their demands included a wages increase of a dollar and twenty five cents a day, biweekly payments of wages and money payments in place of poster tickets that they could only redeem at the companies outlets. Their demands were ignored, and this was the cause of the massacre (VandeCreek, 2002). Trade unions also made electoral gains and the reasoning behind venturing into politics was that it would be more effective to pass laws that protected the workers once they had the power. The influx of immigrants who were seeking jobs and working in poor conditions would have been easy to rally towards the elections. Members who were not content with the political focus of unions defected and joined the International Labor Union (Beik, 2005). Though they could still maintain their membership there was still animosity between the two factions, but this was just the beginning. The socialist ideology was not deterred, and they remained on track with the ballot minded revolution. The Socialist Labor party first ran its members for seats in New York I 1886, lost by a huge margin, but this did not deter their aspirations to use political power to fight for workers (VandeCreek, 2002). A host of problems derailed trade union growth in this period. Among the problems were government hostility, elitism, racism and discrimination of immigrants and women, hostility and condemnation by employers. As a result of the violence during strikes the general public also condemned trade union practices and did not support them. Racism caused a lot of tensions. Power was shifting from Republicans to Democrats, and there was a lot of hostility towards blacks and immigrants. In 1876 when Democrats took power, they changed laws that the republicans had set up and made them oppressive to the blacks (Beik, 2005). They aimed at creating a powerless black labor force by ensuring that they had no rights and low wages so that they would work extremely hard to keep paying their debts. They also cut all social budgets and lowered taxes and made rule in favor to the white population. Trade unions had been set a back by the new stringent laws, and there was the need to mobilize more people to drive their agenda. The democrats were willing to go to extreme lengths to stop the blacks from voting. Business owners did not at all support trade union memberships. Trade unions main aim was to push for increased wages and better living conditions, and this meant increased production costs for employers. Employers were not ready to spend more on unskilled workers. Striking workers had gone rogue uncoupling rails, torching switch houses and shooting at moving trains. This led to public outcry and bad press for the workers who later went back to work. Employers were ready to substitute cooperative workers for the uncooperative union ones, and this case is a clear example. This was a period marked by monopoly and high competition and business owners preferred working with non union members who posed less trouble for operations (Beik, 2005). Most of them did not want to cooperate with the trade unions to provide better working conditions. There was a large pool of human resources, and they were not willing to negotiate with the workers. Racial discrimination was rampant, and the age of slavery had not completely died out. It was survival for the fittest. Employers did not care where their employees lived. Waste disposal was not efficient, and there were many cases reported if people sinking in industrial waste in Philadelphia. The water supply was also highly contaminated especially at Delaware River and this led to cholera, tuberculosis, and typhoid outbreaks among the workers who lived in the mushrooming slums. Another problem that faced Trade unions is the lack of cohesion among the members. The collapse of Knights of Labor is highly attributed to internal conflicts. Membership declined every time strikes were unsuccessful, and this demoralized the union. The top leadership could not agree on how to go about strikes, walk outs and other forms of negotiations, and this always led to fall outs. It became increasingly difficult to stage effective strikes that all could agree upon, and this demoralized members who left the unions (Skurzynski, 2008). Trade unions were associated with anarchy and violence and employers took advantage by calling in government troops to deal with them. This derailed the unions’ agenda to improve working conditions, and there was not much progress being made. The many trade unions did not also support each other (Beik, 2005). Change of membership from one union to another was the order of the day once agenda were not addressed. In case of a strike, the other unions rarely joined in as a sign of cohesion. The strike breakers saw it as an opportunity to get the jobs of those who had gone on strike, and this defeated the purpose of the strikes. Elitism also hindered Trade unions activities. Most of these unions catered for the unskilled laborers who were earning minimal wages. Membership was not open to elite such as lawyers and doctors. There was clear segregation between those who were considered learned and those who only specialized in manual crafts (Beik, 2005). This was a tough gap to close since there was so much hostility between the two groups. The lawyers in turn could not advice the trade unionists on the best way to go about negotiations for the unionists were stubborn. The trade unions could have stood a better chance with the elite class support. Major milestones could have been achieved, but the hostilities between the two groups hindered the development of ties that could facilitate growth. The trade union movement came out weaker in gilded period. It had many failed strikes and most workers were more cautious before joining the unions. There was high public condemnation and employers preferred employing those who were not affiliated to trade unions. However, this did not deter the trade union movement because there was room for redemption, as it is later seen that the labor unions in later years satisfactorily protect workers from exploitation. References Beik, M. A. (2005). Labor Relations: Major Issues in American History. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. Reynolds, M. (2009). A History of Labor Unions from Colonial Times to 2009. Mises Daily. Retrieved on February 20, 2012 from: Richard, S. (1998). Labor and Urban Politics: Class Struggle and the Origins of Modern Liberalism in Chicago. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Skurzynski, G. (2008). Sweat and Blood: A History Of U.S. Labor Unions: Peoples History. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books. VandeCreek, D. (2002). 1878-1884: Immigration, Labor, and Politics. Illinois during the Gilded Age Digitization Project. Retrieved on February 20, 2012 from: Read More