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American labor, a tale littered with violence and strikes. From the beginning labor has had to fight for most of it gains. Labor had to fight for the right to organize, for safe working conditions and accident compensation. ... They had to fight for the yellow-dog contracts, injunctions, for abolition of child labor, for shorter hours and higher wages, and for immigration restriction and the closed shop. ... While businesses found powerful allies in public opinion, the police, and the courts, labor, and its long and bitter conflicts, as for the most part stood alone. Labor has lost more strikes than it has won, but faced with such difficult conflicts, it had enough victories to encourage the continued use of the strike as a weapon. ... The restriction broke the strike, and the soldiers almost broke the labor movement. ... This unhappy event brought into view the many forces that strengthen the position of labor all through these years. Mainly the improper use of the Antitrust Act and of the restrictions to control labor, and the tendency of government authorities to side with the capital rather than with labor. (Bornstein, 89)
Labor had won most of its basic rights by 1900. Labor gained the right to organize, the right to strike, and the right to bargain collectively.
Approximate Word count = 1002
Approximate Pages = 4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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