For a Google doc version of this lesson, click here. Note: You will need to make a copy of the Google doc to edit it.

Introduction

The pandemic has seen a number of changes in the workplace from remote working to the so-called Great Resignation to a labor shortage in many essential services. As a result, organized labor in the U.S. has gained more influence in negotiating wages and benefits than it has for the last few decades. Susan J. Schurman, who teaches labor studies at Rutgers University, told the Associated Press:

“For years, companies in most unionized industries have commanded an upper hand. During the slow, grinding economic recovery that followed the 2008-2009 Great Recession, they negotiated concessions and held down pay raises. Rising health care costs further diluted wages. By contrast, this recovery has produced an unexpected labor shortage and given many workers more bargaining power than they’ve had since the 1980s, when the Reagan administration set a tone of hostility toward unions, and manufacturers began moving many jobs overseas..."

Participants in this lesson will examine some of the factors contributing to today’s labor organizing and the challenges and successes thus far. They will also compare today's movements with earlier labor movements from 1875 to 1900, better known as the Gilded Age.

Teacher tip: The main activity lesson is designed for students who have been introduced to the Gilded Age. If you would like students to learn more about the current developments in unionization efforts in the U.S., use the warm-up activity and the extensions.

Warm up activity

Watch this PBS NewsHour video to learn about some of the working conditions Amazon employees in Bessemer, Alabama, have experienced and Amazon's response. Union organizers in Bessemer recently lost an election to form a union. Ask students : Why do you think it's so difficult to start a union? Why did these workers push for unionization? Why was Amazon management against the idea?

Main activity

1. Distribute Student Handout. Note: You will need to make a copy of the Google doc to edit it or fill out the answers.
2. As a class, read the article Labor shortage leaves union workers feeling more emboldened together and discuss questions provided. Explain to students that this period marks the first time in 30 or 40 years that the labor union movement is on the offensive in the U.S., making strides after decades of efforts to crush them. (15 minutes)
3. Assign students or pairs one of the three deep dives. Have students read the historical documents and the current article on union organizing in order to complete the chart provided . (15 minutes)
4. Organize students into mixed groups and allow them to share their findings . Completing the chart. (10 minutes)
5. Have students develop an argument (one to two sentences) that addresses the prompt, “To what extent are the organization efforts today similar or different from those in the Gilded Age?” (10 min)
   • If time allows, push students to write an argumentative paragraph using two pieces of text evidence to support their claim.

Extension activity

History of unions with a lens on race

Discuss different ways race has played a role in union development in U.S. history by considering the following excerpts:

Amazon faces biggest union push in its history (Associated Press, Feb. 2021):

“More than 70% of the population of Bessemer is Black. The retail union estimates that as many as 85% of the workers are Black, much higher than the 22% for overall warehouse workers nationwide, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data. Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, says the union’s success in Bessemer is partly due to the pandemic, with workers feeling betrayed by employers that didn’t do enough to protect them from the virus. And the Black Lives Matter movement, which has inspired people to demand to be treated with respect and dignity. Appelbaum says the union has heard from Amazon warehouse workers all over the country. “They want a voice in their workplace, too,” he says.”

African Americans and the American Labor Movement ( National Archives article by James Gilbert Cassedy, 1997) :

“The formation of American trade unions increased during the early Reconstruction period. Black and white workers shared a heightened interest in trade union organization, but because trade unions organized by white workers generally excluded blacks, black workers began to organize on their own. In December 1869, 214 delegates attended the Colored National Labor Union convention in Washington, D.C. ...The assembly sent a petition to Congress requesting direct intervention in the alleviation of the "condition of the colored workers of the southern States" by subdividing the public lands of the South into forty-acre farms and providing low-interest loans to black farmers… Congress evidently showed little interest in either petition… The decline in the relative position of African Americans vis à vis organized labor can also be seen in the railroad industry. During the Great Strike of 1877, for instance, rallies and marches in St. Louis, Louisville, and other cities brought together white and black workers in support of the common rights of workingmen. By 1894 Eugene Debs, leader of the American Railway Union in a strike against the Pullman Company, was unable to convince members of his union to accept black railroaders.

Sarah Mofford has taught English and history at the high school level for nine years in California and Texas. She aims to make exploratory and investigative lessons that allow students to discover new information and practice skills to connect current events to literature and events of the past.

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