• The Gilded Age was a period of horrific labor violence, as industrialists and workers literally fought over control of the workplace
• Workers organized the first large American labor unions during the Gilded Age
• Constant strikes and violence eventually caused the middle class to become fed up with both union and businessmen
• Key events: Railway Strike of 1877, Haymarket Riot of 1886, Homestead Strike of 1892, Pullman Strike of 1893