The Labor Movement In The 1800's

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Labor unions are groups of people who come together to better the work conditions. The labor movement was a violent time period in American history.1 America also had one of the longest labor movements to exist. The 1800s is where people wanted to improve wages, work, environment, and benefits for workers. People started realizing that they were not receiving what they deserve from the owners of the company they were working for. Labor union organizations started to increase in the 19th century.2Many people initiated strikes because of wage cuts, new inventions of machinery, and depersonalization of the workers.3The conditions were neither fair nor right. They would not pay them nearly enough and they used child who should not be working…show more content…
If they did not work their families would starve and struggle to stay afloat. Children would work at mines, glass factories, textiles, agriculture, home industries, and as news boys, messengers, boot blacks and peddlers.5The mothers of the children mainly worked in sewing circle factories which were easily consumed by tons of foreigners because they worked for cheaper. So the main income for a family was dependent on the children getting a job. The parents were not going to complain about the conditions the children were subjected to because without them they would not be able to survive. Plus children are not going to fight against the company because they do not know that they are being treated unfairly. Most of the children that did work are from the ages six to twelve years old. Children at that age should not have to work but since it was already hard to get jobs it had to be done. Soon after the 1800s children were no longer allowed to work at factories because it was frowned upon by the society. Even though children could not strike, factories still had problems with those of legal age trying to better the conditions. It was considered unfair by the majority of people for them to work as hard and as long as they do to only get paid what little…show more content…
They conducted strikes that led to riots and disorder.7 A strike that happened in Baltimore Ohio railroad strike in 1877 was a series of riots spreading to Pittsburgh, Chicago, and St. Louis which caused fifty deaths over a time period of four days.8 One of the first major strikes was the Homestead strike after that was the Pullman strike which occurred in 1893 when a financial depression took place.9 The government tried to gain back control in this time but their attempt did not work. As the government the leaders of the unions failed to please the people by not letting violence happen which caused even more angered mobs ready to strike. It was like wild fire spreading all over no one wanted to give in to make everyone happy. However, labor union leaders were the back board for workers who did not have a voice of their own. Without them, things would have never

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