Labor Unions

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Labor Unions were started because of the poor treatment of workers, unsafe, unfair, and unsanitary working conditions that took place in the 19th century. At first it was difficult for these immigrants and unskilled workers to organize a labor union at all, and eventually led achieving some important things such as ending child labor, equal pay for men and women, stopping human body parts from being ground into you hamburger meat, and an 8 hour work day. Since Businesses at this time pretty much ran the country, it was difficult for labor unions to convince these business men to change their mind. However their persistence paid off, and we have the labor unions to thank for our safe and comfortable working conditions we still enjoy today. The improvement of the American economy in the 19th century was one of the vastest improvements then ever seen. With the assistance of technological advances, an abundance of natural resources, extreme growth in population, little to no government regulation, and strong entrepreneurial energy, the economy improved more rapidly than ever before. The improvement of transportation, agriculture, and technology, were also contributing factors to the U.S. becoming one of the strongest countries in the World as it is today. Big businesses and huge corporations began to dominate the economy, and quickly set a standard for American life. Men like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller were practically the poster children for owning big businesses in the 19th century. Rockefeller owned every facet of the oil industry, where Carnegie felt competition was beneficial to society, but still bought out every struggling company in the steel industry. “Rockefeller further solidified this control over the oil indus... ... middle of paper ... ...a of unionism, initiated the Foran Act of 1855,and a federal law pushing for the settlement of labor disputes. Thought they achieved many great things, the Haymarket Affair was what led to their downfall. During the Haymarket affair thousands of Chicago workers went on strike and eventually violence erupted between the police and crowd, after anarchist labor unrest was promoted,and police brutality took place, someone threw a bomb at the police. Word got out that one of the members of the Knights OF Labor named Lois Lingg was involved in the Haymarket Affair and declared he was proud to be an anarchist. This triggered a widespread hatred towards the Knights of Labor and all other Labor unions, eventually leading towards their downfall due to the fact that no matter how hard he tried; Terence Powderly could never dissociate the Knights of Labor with Anarchism.

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