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Workingmen's Party
This Workingmen's Party only lasted a short period of time; however, it did create a new goal. At this time one of the main concerns about working was that people had to work for extremely long hours with not much break time. So, this parties goal was to decrease working hours to only 10 hours per day. Since people were working 6 day weeks, this idea would make a standard work week 60 hours. -
Lowell Mill Women
The Lowell Mill Women were the first to create a union of working women, who went on strikes, and worked their issues in politics -while women still couldn't vote. These women worked 13 hour days in factories with bad conditions. In 1834 their wages were cut and the strikes began. That failed, so they took it to the legislature. It seemed that they lost, but it proved that working women didn't have to put up with inequality, but instead they can join together and fight for what they deserve. -
First State Child Labor Law
American factories were using a ton of children to do the work, the conditions were not favorable so some states began to take action. In 1836, Massachusetts passed the first child labor law in the United States. It made it so children under 15 working in the factories must go to school at least 3 months out of the year. This was important, because a lot of children were just working all week every week throughout the year and getting no formal education. -
Massachusetts Limits Children Work Hours
Massachusetts passes law that limits children's working hours to 10 per day. Once Massachusetts passed this law, other states followed in suit. While these hour regulations weren't strictly enforced, these laws were a good start in making favorable regulations for the workers. -
American League of Colored Workers.
The American League of Colored workers was organized by Frederick Douglass, and its first president was Samuel Ward. This union was the first union for African Americans. Its goal was to make sure that black Americans had the access to create their own businesses and have a union behind them to make sure everything was okay. Frederick Douglass wanted to create this union, because a lot of black workers were having trouble joining the white unions. -
National Labor Union
The National Labor Union operated from 1866-1873. Its goal was to improve working conditions by means of legislative reform. This union was comprised of skilled and unskilled workers, farmers, and reformers. They all tried to pressure Congress into passing a law that would limit the workday to 8 hours. This law didn't end up passing, but like a lot of unions at this time, they achieved getting the reforms message across. -
United Mine Workers of America
The United Mine Workers of America was a union created for the miners. Miners at this time worked in terrible conditions- the hours long, wages low, and workplace dangerous. This union organized to improve those working conditions. This union became very big and powerful. It was able to get better hours, wages, working conditions, and right for the workers in the mining community. -
The Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a strike that happened on the American railroads. The railroad workers' boss, George Pullman, had increased hours, decreased pay, and cut jobs in response to the economic depression. These workers belonged to the American Railroad Union, and they were not happy. This protest began and then got violent, so violent that the President had to send US troops in to stop the violence. In response to this strike and riot, the Erdman Act was created to mediate railroad disputes.
