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Southwest Railroad Strike
Appprox. 200,000 workers went on strike who were involved with the Knights of Labor at the Union and Missouri Pacific railroads. These workers stopped working in a total of 5 states. The Strike was eventually a failure and suffered greatly from lack of commitment from other unions. -
IWW Founded
Many of the people who were involved in the IWW or Industrial Workers of the World were Western miners and other activists. Many consider them the most radical of all other organized labor groups.This affects the future of unions because it inspired many workers to stand up for their rights. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
This tragedy happened when a fire broke out on the top floor of a factory, the workers were trapped due to management locking the fire escape doors. After the event occured news spread and many workers sought better working conditions and wages. This greatly impacted the strength of the union supporters and pushed for workers rights. -
First State Minimum Wage Law
The first state, Massachusetts adopted the first minimum wage law. This law sets the groundwork for minimum payments to women and children and also leads the way for other states the next year. This helps the Unions by showing that they can make a difference and there is a reason to go on strike and demand better rights. -
Adamson Act
The Adamson Act established that railroad workers can only work for 8 hours a day on regular wages, after these 8 hours they must be paid additional wage for their overtime. The reason that congress passed this law was to prevent a nationwide strike from the conductors' union. This helped the unions because it inspired railroad workers who were not in a union to act for the same rights. -
Steel strike of 1919
After WW1 steel workers who were apoart of the AFL began a strike against working conditions and low wages. The strike grew to approximately 350,000 and eventually failed. The failure ensured that there were no unions in the steel industry for the next 15 years. -
Textile Workers Strike
The UTW union organized a walk consisting of 400,000 workers to protest against the unfair working conditions that they were enduring. The strike started on Labor day in 1934 and lasted about 20 days before the lack of support crippled the workers. This lead to no demands being met and destroying the moral of the workers. -
Wagner Act
The Wagner Act was the most important labour legislation in the 20th century, This act made it possible for Unions to easily add workers into the union. This in turn made it possible for these unions to go on strike about the working conditions. The act also started a national labor relations board. This board made sure that workers were represented fairly by the unions they were involved in. -
World War II
During the great depression there was little happiness, many families didnt have enough food or money to get any. The reason WW2 Saved the United states from the great depression was because of all the job openings. As the country switched to manufacturing guns and other necessities for war. in total about 16.1 million americans served in WW2, That means that the jobs those 16 million had, were given to other people who could not find jobs. This helped boost the economy to work correctly . -
Taft-Hartley Act
The Taft-Hartley Act was a revision to the Wager Act, It was vetoed by president Harry S Truman but was still passed. Ir relates to the Union Movement because of the laws it included to make closed shops illegal, forbids unions from funding political campaigns and forbids secondary boycotts. This act also made the leaders of unions give an oath that they were not communists. -
U.S. Postal Strike
A Strike beginning in NYC, postal workers demanded better wages and working conditions. The strike prevented mail and other deliveies from being made. After Nixon failed at using the National Guard to replace the workers, negotiations started. This was significant because it was a total vicctory for the union and they were granted the right to negotiate.
