Unit 1: Industrialization, Immigration & The Progressive Movement

Learning Goal 12 – I will be able to:
-Cite examples of problems workers faced during the Progressive Era (children’s employment, long hours, low wages, injuries on the job, company towns, scrip)
-Explain the solutions that were attempted
-Summarize the response of the US Supreme Court to worker’s rights laws and how it affected union membership

8. 
   Reforming the Workplace
   
   1. 
      Improving Conditions for Children
      
      1. 
         1.75 million kids under 15 worked in factories, mines, mills, etc. in 1900
         
         1. 
            Boys – sold newspapers, shined shoes, Girls – cooked or cleaned, worked at home w/ mothers
            
      2. 
         1916-1919, Congress worked to pass child labor laws
         
         1. 
            Ruled unconstitutional b/c Supreme Court said it’s not the government’s job to regulate wages
            
         2. 
            If the wage at the factory is too low, you have the right to go to a different factory and try to work there – Problem = ALL factories paid low wages!
            
   2. 
      Improving the workplace
      
      1. 
         Workers paid low wages to work in dangerous factories and mines for long hours
         
         1. 
            Some parents needed kids to work and lied about the ages of their children
            
      2. 
         1912, Massachusetts passed first minimum wage law
         
      3. 
         Company towns
         
         1. 
            Some employers made their workers live in houses owned by the employer, and made them shop in stores the employer owned as well
            
         2. 
            Paid in scrip
            
            1. 
               Fake money only good in the company town
               
            2. 
               Not completely outlawed until the 1950s, though unpopular and began disappear before
               
   3. 
      Safety and Working Conditions
      
      1. 
         1900 – 35,000 people died in workplace accidents
         
      2. 
         1911, Triangle Shirtwaist Company – New York City
         
      3. 
         146 people died b/c factory owners locked exits
         
      4. 
         Worker’s Compensation – guaranteed portion of lost wages to workers
         
      5. 
         Laws passed limiting workday to 10 hours
         
         1. 
            Supreme Court ruled against laws limiting workdays to 10 hours
            
            1. 
               Ruled government does not have the right to limit the working contract into which people and employers enter
               
      6. 
         Unions and membership increased – if laws wouldn’t help, unions would!
         
      7. 
         Not perfect and didn’t solve all problems, but first time government passed laws to help workers
         

-2. Why was the 1902 Coal Miner’s strike so important?

-3. True False The Supreme Court’s ruling against laws to help workers increased union membership.

Learning Goal 12 – I will be able to:
-Cite examples of problems workers faced during the Progressive Era (children’s employment, long hours, low wages, injuries on the job, company towns, scrip)
-Explain the solutions that were attempted
-Summarize the response of the US Supreme Court to worker’s rights laws and how it affected union membership

Problems	Solutions

US Supreme Court __________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Learning Goal 13 – I will be able to: