What is the history of the National Labor Union?.
Founded in 1866, this was the first union to allow skilled and unskilled workers to join in one union. It pursued a political as well as a workplace agenda. .
-Met initially in 1866 in Baltimore, Maryland with 77 delegates present. The National Labor Union sought to help other groups and was integral in the establishment of the eight-hour work day, restrictions on immigration, and the abolition of convict labor.
- Pushed for a National Department of Labor.
- Initially accepting of women's unions and of African Americans, but by 1872, their support of all that was all but gone. They caused formation of the National Colored Labor Union (NCLU).
- Their formation of the National Labor Reform Party was success at many initiatives, but sparked the formation of many trade unions.
- As the Depression of 1873 hit, the trade unions formed the core of two large unions "with Eugene Debs and Samuel Gompers at the forefront.
Who were the "Molly Maguires-?.
-A legendary group of Union Organizers from the Minors and Laborer's Union driven out by the anthacite mine owners. After a series of very violent acts around the mine field that were characteristic of the labor movement during that time, 24 members of the Molly Maguires were prosecuted, and later many of them were executed or thrown into prison. They were discovered after the infiltration of their group by a detective from the Pinkerton Detective Agency. This was done a lot by business owners of the era in an effort to challenge the labor movement.
What was the Pinkerton Detective Agency?.
It is the detective agency used by many business owners and governments in an effort to spy on labor unions during the 1800s.
What happened during the Railway Strke of 1877?.
-Occurred in 1877 in reaction to the treatment of the railway workers. As was common place in the rail industry-high dividends were being paid to stock holders, even as the companies were losing money.
