Реферат: History Of The Labor Movement In Th

began to fire into the crowd and several more people were killed and

about two-hundred wounded. This incident set the eight -hour-day

movement back by a few years.

In the early parts of the 20th century, many struggles between

unions and corporations over hard work, unsafe and unhealthy

working conditions for very low wages were surfacing.

One confrontation, that in the end was stoped by a federal court

raised many questions about weather the government could simply

force union workers to return to work though an injunction. It was

the American Railroad Union that boycotted the handaling of

Pullman railroad cars and eventualy went on strike. Federal troops

were sent in to break up the strike and an injunction forced the wokers

back to work. This was becoming a common occurance which became

a legal weapon against union organizing and action.

A sign of better intervention showed during a strike of the United

Mine Workers. The two sides were asked to go to arbitration and

eventualy seteled the strike.

Moving foward to world war 1, the AFL by helping supply the

government with supplies gaind the support of political leaders.

But after the war however the labor movement suffered setbacks.

The postwar depression brought wages down and caused a major

decline in union membership, a loss of about a million members from

the years 1920 to 1923. Many employers made use of the work force`s

desparate state by making workers sign the “yellow dog contract” in

order to get a job. Because this contract prohibited them from joining

a union, membership dropped even further.

Finaly Roosevelt`s efferts to bring the county out of the depression

also helped the labor movement. The National Recovery Administation

included on its statute books the right of unions to exist and negotiate