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The Great Potato Famine
A disease struck much of the potato crop for years in a row. The decrease in agricultural production caused widespread hunger and disease. This caused much of the Irish population to immigrate to the United States. In 1850, there were more Irishmen in Boston than in Dublin. -
The Great Southwest Railroad Strike
200,000 workers from Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas gathered to protest the robber baron, Jay Gould. The workers cited nascent work conditions, unfair pay, and poor hours. Through the work of scare tactics and a lack of commitment, the strike eventually failed. -
The Pullman Strike
One day, thousands of workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company stood up for their position and left work, walking right out of the door. In months to come, thousands more joined in their cause. By the end of the strike, there were at lease 250,000 workers that were protesting for better hours. This strike was ended when President Grover Cleavland forced the strike to end -
LA Times Bombing
Through much of its publications at the time, the LA Times was known to be very anti-Union. Because of this, two workers with connections to the Iron Workers Union decided to take action into their own hands. They planted a bomb in the LA Times headquarters which killed 20 -
The Steel Strike of 1919
350,000 workers from the steel industry in Pittsburgh, PA left work to go on strike. This shut down nearly half of all steel production at the time. The strike eventually failed when the company owners turned the public against unions by making draws to communism. -
Norris LaGuardia Act
This act was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal". Up until this time, workers could be forced to sign "yellow-dog contracts" that stated that they could not join a union. With this act, employers could no longer prohibit their employees from joining labor unions. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
This is an act that was part of FDR's "New Deal". Through this act, American workers had a minimum wage for the first time in history. Also, this act put into effect child labor laws and a new 40-hour work week. -
World War II
Hitler became the leader of Germany, said that blonde with blue eyes was the best, and invaded Poland. Most of Europe got mad but the US stayed out of it until Japan (who was allied with Germany) decided to make a Hawaiian harbor go BOOM. We didn't like this so we went to Europe first to kick butt, then we went to Japan and made them go BOOM. End of story. -
The Smith-Connally Act
This act was envolked over a presidential veto and was one of the few anti-Union legislations. This act gave the government the power to take control of industries that are hit by strikes. It also prohibited unions from supporting presidential campaigns -
Unions discovered to have connections to Organized Crime
Through a large, in depth investiagtion by the FBI, 4 large unions were discovered to have connections to the mafia. This had a large impact on how people viewed unions in general. This also created a decrease in the desire to join unions. -
UPS Workers' Strike
185,000 UPS team members joined together to make their demands known. Through their determination and the public's support, all of their demands were met. As a result of the strike, UPS lost $600 million in sales.
