Labor had several major issues during this period. One of them was workplace safety. Many died due to working long hours in factories without any safeguards. There was no such thing as workman's compensation; workers were considered just another cog in the machine and if a worker was hurt, one simply went out and hired another one.

Another complaint workers had against management was low pay. There was no minimum wage during this era so workers had to take whatever management paid. Workers could also have their pay cut if the company was doing poorly. If workers complained or attempted to unionize, they could be replaced, often by foreign laborers who were brought in to break up strikes. Companies hired child laborers because they thought that children were able to work cheaply. Companies also paid women less for the same work as it was considered that women could never be the primary earner for a household.

While the nation's industrial capacity grew exponentially after the Civil War, the plight of the nation's factory workers during this period was quite pitiful. It led to worker unrest and even violent strikes in places such as Chicago and Homestead, Pennsylvania.

During the late 19th century, the main grievances of labor generally revolved around wages and working conditions.  In this era, the US economy was industrializing rapidly.  It was a time in which most workers were doing jobs that did not require much skill.  Because of this, the individual workers were not valued very highly by their bosses.  The firms would pay them low wages and they had to work in poor conditions.  If the workers complained too much about these things, they could easily be replaced because they were not highly skilled and because there were plenty of other people looking for jobs.

Because of this, labor unions formed.  They were mainly concerned with trying to win higher wages and better working conditions since those were the major grievances on the part of labor.