History Chapter 3 Flashcards: Employers and Unions Quiz

Study Notes

Key Terms and Definitions

Deflation: A decrease in the money supply that lowers prices, increasing the purchasing power of money.
Industrial Union: An organization uniting laborers and craft workers within a specific industry to advocate for common interests.
Lockout: A tactic used by companies to prevent employees from entering work facilities as a way to resist union demands.
Arbitration: A method of resolving disputes by accepting a decision from an impartial third party.
Injunction: A legal order requiring a person to do or refrain from doing a specific act.
Closed Shop: An agreement where a company hires only union members, ensuring workplace unionization.

Union Challenges in the Late 1800s

Failure of Industrial Unions: Lacked specialized skills leading to easy replacement of workers; trade unions had stronger leverage due to skilled labor representation.
View of Employers on Unions: Employers regarded unions as conspiracy threats to property rights, with courts often siding with them due to a lack of legal acknowledgment of unions.

Tactics Against Union Formation

Company Strategies to Disband Unions:
- Workers required to pledge to not join any unions or sign anti-union contracts.
- Use of detectives to target union organizers.
- Vocal opposers to union organization faced termination and blacklisting.
- Implementation of lockouts, denying workers access to work facilities.
- Hiring replacement workers, known as strikebreakers, to undermine union efforts.

Dominant Labor Organization

American Federation of Labor (AFL): Primarily represented skilled workers, became the leading labor union in the late 1800s.

Gender Dynamics in Unions

Exclusion of Women: Most unions did not admit women due to wage disparities and societal assumptions that women had male financial support, perpetuating exclusionary practices that did not help overall wage bargaining power.

Economic Context

Impact of Deflation:
- Industrialism led to significant improvements in living standards, with average wages for workers increasing by 50%.
- Despite higher buying power due to falling prices, companies frequently cut wages, prompting workers to establish unions for better wages and conditions.

Summary of Lockouts

Lockouts as a Company Tool:
- Companies effectively used lockouts to impede union activity, with the financial strain of no wages bolstering their power.
- Workers could be replaced by those willing to sign contracts opposing union formation.
- Efforts to eliminate unions often succeeded due to the absence of legal protections for labor organizing, with courts viewing strikes as conspiracies against free trade.

Description

Explore key terms from History Chapter 3 Lesson 4 with these flashcards. Learn about important concepts such as deflation, industrial unions, and lockouts to enhance your understanding of economic impacts and labor relations. Perfect for revision or quick study.