Labor Movements During The 19th Century

During the late 19th century to the 1930s, workers and managers fought each other for control of the work routine, wages, and hours in the American industry. Trade unions, craft unions, and strikes were many of the main forces at work during this time period when people were fighting for better working conditions. As the government was struggling to stay out of free labor, they also felt the need to impose as the laws in place may not be helping capitalism in America. The government, in response to both worker and employer complaints, did their part to pass laws that helped create a more fair work place, but not always making the decision the worker wanted. Workers constantly organized and formed strikes during this early period of American
They aimed their products to consumers in their small towns and areas as they did not have the means to transport it to other places in the country. Small things like retail shops, boutiques, and ethnic stores remained local. Railroads were the biggest industry in America in the late nineteenth century and heavily influenced the stock market. Railroads led to craft unionism among engineers as well as radical unionism among unskilled workers, therefore two kinds of labor organizations emerged. Railroads helped rise the factory system during the 1800s which led to industrial company’s arise over agricultural industry. Transportation greatly expanded markets in America while opening up bigger areas for production and consumption. Vertical integration became less and less with the usage of the railroad as companies were able to move products around more efficiently. Farming was also local until after WWI when overproduction occurred. This shift changed farming from small town production to larger industrial production of shipping products to other places. Not until Franklin Delano Roosevelt implemented the New Deal did farmers start regaining some monetary value back into their land. With the shift from local to mass distribution came shifts in major industry’s which led to shifts in workers. Ideas about what rights workers wanted had to change as they were no longer dealing with managers
By filing with the court, workers were able to fight for what they believed was right, as the government tried to decide which side was correct, and which decision of the case would make capitalism in America remain free. The government struggled with both sides of free labor and organized labor, as well as the boundary lines of capitalism in America. Adkins v. Children’s Hospital in 1923 provided minimum wages for women and minors but placed in jeopardy the minimum wage legislation of thirteen other states. This is an example of how workers fought the government, used the government, and worked with the government to get what they needed for a better work environment. Lochner v. New York fought for not having a maximum time for work per day, but rather, fought to be able to work as many hours as the wanted. Muller vs. Oregon in 1908 was a loss to women as they were ruled as at a disadvantage to work, or rather as inferior to men. These cases as well as many others demonstrate how workers did not agree with many laws in place; several people took up their complaints of the workplace with the government and changed history whether or not the decision they wanted was the one