US+Labor

//**In the beginning manufacturing and labor mainly consisted of farmers and skilled artisans, but in the nineteenth century artisans and farmers turned into factory workers.**//
 *  US L abor History **

Some Causes for the Shift in Labor
**- Improvement of transportation system which allowed regions to import foods from other areas of the country instead of producing food themselves** **- Poor farmland in the Northeast** **- New farming inventions (cotton gin) made farm work done by machine rather than laborers so these laborers had to look for work in the city, also the new cotton produced provided northerners with manufacturing jobs** **- Interchangeable parts invented by Eli Whitney made factory work more efficient** **- Beginning in the 1840's immigrants became the most important source of labor in America** **- Coal started to replace water as a source of energy for the factories** **- Other Inventions: Sewing Machine (Singer) and Vulcanized Rubber (Goodyear)** **- Stockholders began purchasing parts of production corporations**

Recruiting Systems:
**- In the mid-Atlantic states factory owners brought entire families to the mill to work (parents worked next to small children)** **- Lowell System (primarily in Massachusetts) involved recruiting young farmers' daughters to work** **- the women would work in factories until they saved enough of their wages, then they would go home and start families**

Conditions in Factories:
**- Better than conditions in England** **- Better when factories first open then how it would be in years to come** **- Hard for young children to work but they received some benefits at first because usually they were working alongside their parents** **- Work from sunrise to sunset**

Lowell Mills:
**- Clean boardinghouses, taken care of by factory owners** **- Factory owners would also feed and supervise the women** **- Decent wages based relative to other wages of the time** **- //Lowell Offering// - monthly magazine published by workers** **-Many women were lonely in the factories because they were forced to leave the familiarity of their homes** **-Basically the only labor option women had because they could not travel alone or employ themselves in any other career** **-The 1830s and 1840s were a competetive time for the mills so conditions worsened because factory owners wanted to maximize their production and make it more efficient** **- wages decreased** **Industrialization:** **- Bessemer: converted iron to steel** **- Bissell: discovered that petroleum could be used to power lamps** **- Otto: 4 stroke gas-powered engine used in automobiles** **- Ford: produced the first cars** **Scientific Management - also known as "Taylorism", subdividing tasks to speed up production, less dependence on one employee** **Assembly Line - developed by Henry Ford, cut production time and increased mass production** **JP Morgan - US Steel Corporation** **Horizontal Integration - combining of firms into one corporation** **Vertical Integration - taking over of all the businesses that a company relies on** **Labor Contract Law - employers could pay for the passage of workers in advance and take out the money from their wages**

Lack of job security for workers *Textile industy was largest employer for women Craft Unions - small groups of skilled workers

Molly Maguires - militant labor organization, used terrorist tactics, worked with Ancient Order of Hibernians

Railroad Strike of 1877 - eastern railroads announced 10 % wage cut, strikers destroyed equiptment and rioted, President Hayes sent troops to supress riots in West VA, state militia called out in Pittsburgh, first major national labor conflict

Noble Order of the Knights of Labor - for all those who "toiled", included women, excluded lawyers, bankers, liquor dealers, and gamblers, wanted 8 hr day, end to child labor, "cooperative system" where workers controlled large part of economy

American Federation of Labor - most important labor group, didn't want 1 big union like the Knights, preferred craft unions of skilled laborers, led by Gompers, didn't want women in the workforce but at the same time fought for equal wages for women so that they would not be used as strikebreakers against men

Haymarket Square Massacre - workers' strike, police came, someone threw bomb

Amalgated Association of Iron and Steel Workers - trade union associated w/ AFL, prominent in the Homestead factory which gradually decided to cut wages and stop negotiating w/ the union, union went on strike and Homestead called in Pinkerton Detective Agency to allow the company to hire nonunion workers as strikebreakers, National Guard then called in Pullman Strike - Pullman company cut wages, American Railway Union (Debs) refused to handle Pullman cars which helped strike,**