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The Flour Riot of 1837 began when people of lower classes feared that wealthy merchants were hoarding food leading to an attack on warehouses. This event was the result of the Great Fire of 1835 which caused a large increase in food prices.

The riot resulted in 500-600 barrels of flour and a thousand bushels of flour, wheat, and grains being stolen or destroyed with over 40 people ending up arrested.

One of the first demonstrations of the line between the poor and rich working classes

The government in this situation didn't regulate inflation and cut pay making the workers unable to keep up with the costs of necessities

This riot strengthened the political clout of the merchant class allowing them to get a law passed to increase the NYC Watchman ranks by 192 officers.

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The Lowell Mill Girls organized and went on strike for better workers' rights and created the first union of working women in American history. The Lowell Mill Girls were typically between the ages of 15-30 and worked 13 hours a day. in 1834 the bosses of the girls decided to cut their wages, leading to a strike demanding that the wages be raised again. The bosses fought back and won, and again in 1836, a strike with the same goal had the same outcome.

In 1845, the Lowell Mill Girls began a huge petition campaign to create 10-hour workdays instead of 13

Women were insecure workers who felt they couldn't fight back like the men and it made it difficult for them to create change.

Got New Hampshire to become the first state to pass a 10-hour workday law, although it wasn't enforceable.

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Mary Harris Jones was a seamstress/schoolteacher who was married to George Jones and had four children. In 1867, her whole family died due to a yellow fever epidemic. then, she lost everything she owned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. She joined the Knights of Labor Union and in 1877 she began to focus on helping the working poor as their wages shrunk, hours increased, and workers had no insurance for unemployment, healthcare, or old age.

She led many strikes which led to the Haymarket Riot

Brought awareness to the poor working conditions at the time and is responsible for many of the 50 states revising their child labor laws.

She focused on helping miners and believed that men should be paid enough to support the women and families at home.

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Originally, the Knights of Labor was a secret organization to protect workers from employer retaliation. In 1879, the group announced themselves and the member population grew to the peak of 700,000 members after the railway strike in 1877 and became the dominant labor organization in the US at the time.

Began to reach their demise when some of the strikes they led became violent and the deadly outcome of the Haymarket Riot occurred.

A nationwide organization of workers across all jobs that opened their membership to people of color and women which was uncommon at the time.

Led to the establishment of the American Federation of Labor.

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The Haymarket Riot was a violent confrontation between police and labor protestors that ended up becoming a symbol of the international struggle for workers' rights.

Labor issues can oftentimes be used for political motivations to use as an advantage to bring the issues into their political agenda

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The AFL was an umbrella organization for unions that emerged from a dispute with the Knights of Labor. Samuel Gompers was the leader and he supported strikes but preferred to use peaceful methods of negotiations to get fair contracts for workers from their employers.

A craftsman's labor union for the skilled educated workers

The largest union organization in the United States in the 20th century

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Was the result of a dispute between Carnegie Steel and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers that turned violent at a steel plant. This resulted in 12 deaths and the involvement of Pinkerton detectives to break the strike.

Henry Clay Frick (chairman and chief exec. of Carnegie Steel) locked out most of his workers, cut their wages, put up a barbed-wire fence, and hired armed workers to surround the plant and seal off the town from the workers going on strike due to the pay cuts.

One of the deadliest labor-management conflicts in the nation’s history

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Was a widespread railroad strike and boycott that severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest of the United States. The workers' already low wages were lowered by 25% and workers walked off the job

All profits go to the owner and nothing goes to the workers so the poor workers' livelihood was taken from them

Continues to perpetuate that negative labor unions are not a safe and effective way to solve labor issues

Was the first time that an injunction was used to break a strike.

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Industrial Workers for the World was a gigantic labor social union that came about around WWI in Chicago. William Haywood’s leadership of the IWW gained the organization greater prominence as a revolutionary organization dedicated to controlling the means of production by the workers.

It was the cause for some of America's unproductivity because the workers stopped working to produce copper but they were fought by the government who prosecuted and convicted some of those leaders under the Sabotage and Espionage Acts.

The IWW opposed the AFL because of its lack of acceptance of capitalism and its refusal to include unskilled workers in craft unions

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The workers were trapped in the factory due to its terrible safety conditions which included locked doors, 4 elevators with only one being operational, narrow corridors, a locked stairwell and a stairwell that only opened inward, and a narrow stairwell that would take hours to climb up. The factory caught on fire and the women in the building either jumped out and died, or were burned to death. There were 146 deaths.

This caused things like fire escapes and other building safety regulations to be created and enforced

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Was the result of years of bitter labor disputes between the miners and coal companies of southern West Virginia. Workers mined using leased tools and were paid low wages in company currency which could only be used at company stores. The battle ended with 20-100 deaths and the workers surrendering.

Pinkerton detectives came out and there was a 3 day battle with planes and bombs being dropped on the workers.

The union wouldn’t reclaim the coalfields until the mid-1930s when workers’ rights to organize were put in the National Industrial Recovery Act.

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Officially called the National Labor Relations Act. Its main purpose was to establish the legal right of most workers to organize or join labor unions and bargain collectively with their employers.

people collectively have the right to organize their labor and fight for their interests

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Established minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments.

1938: minimum wage was established

1949: overtime pay was established

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The act modified the Wagner act and was amended to protect employees' rights from unfair practices by unions. Unions were prohibited from charging dues or initiation fees, and from causing an employer to pay for work not performed.

Outlawed closed shops and allowed workers to have the right to decline a job in the union

A right to work state: less funding and fewer members because people don't have to be part of the union or pay union dues

When the government wants you to do more, then you want more in return.

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Cesar Chavez organized the workers in Arizona and gave them the power to fight the struggle of farmworkers in the United States to improve their working and living conditions through organizing and negotiating contracts with their employers.

Founded the National Farm Workers Association (United Farm Workers of America)

Won important victories to raise pay and improve working conditions for farmworkers in the late 1960s and 1970s.

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Ronald Reagan fired 11,359 air-traffic controllers who were on strike in violation of his order for them to return to work. This ended up significantly slowing air travel for months. About 13,000 air-traffic controllers went on strike after trying to negotiate with the federal government to raise their pay and shorten their workweek failed.

Reagan called the strike illegal and threatened to fire any controller who had not returned to work within 48 hours, and did just that when everyone thought he was faking.

He declared a lifetime ban on the rehiring of the strikers by the Federal Aviation Administration