The Rise of Organized Labor

1
The Rise of Organized Labor

• Railroad strike 1877
• Haymarket Riot 1886
• Homestead Strike 1892
• Pullman railway-car strike 1894

2
1877 Railroad Strike

• Railroad workers were forced to take pay cuts so
  they went on strike
• Strikers burned rail yards, ripped up track, and
  destroyed property.
• Strikebreakers replaced striking workers.
• Federal troops were called in to restore order.

3
Haymarket Riot 1886

• Workers from the McCormick Harvester Company
  protested the killings of four strikers.
• A bomb killed a police officer and several others
  during a riot.
• Some Americans begin to associate labor unions
  with violence and disorder.

4
Homestead Strike 1892

• At Carnegies steel plant in Homestead, PA,
  workers went on strike because of wage cuts.
• The company brought in nonunion workers and hired
  300 armed guards to protect them. A battle
  breaks out and at least ten people are killed.
• State militia were sent to restore order
• The strike was a failure because the plant
  reopened with nonunion workers.

5
Pullman railway-car strike 1894

• Workers went on strike because of wage cuts.
• Pullman closed the plant. Strike disrupts rail
  traffic.
• Because of the strike, American Railway Union
  refused to handle Pullman cars.
• An injunction, or court order, is issued to stop
  the obstruction of the mail.
• Eugene V. Debs, the leader of the unions, went to
  jail because he refused to end the strike.
  Federal troops are called in to end the strike.