Great Railroad Strike Research Paper

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was known as the first major walkout in U.S. History that started during the Panic of 1873. The railroad company in a move they thought would slow the bleeding decided that they would make up their lost profits by cutting the workers’ pay by 10% and make them work longer hours. As a result, the employees decided to avoid coming to work and eventually set up a blockade at the entrance to not allow any of the others to come through. In support of this act, several other industries from around the country joined in on the incursion, which led to the president getting involved and sending out the Army to end the strike that only lasted three weeks. Although President Hayes was supportive of what the employees were trying to do he understood that it was more important to take care of the businesses. The Haymarket Square Riot was started after some laborers who were on strike from the McCormick Grain Reaper Co. attacked some of the replacement workers. The police were brought in to offer protection for these workers against the angry mob, which eventually
led to the gathering on May 4th in Haymarket Square. The protest was supposed to be peaceful and was until the crowd dwindled down to around three hundred. At this instance, someone threw a dynamite bomb at the police line, which led to them opening fire into the crowd, which ended with at least seven dead police officers and an unknown amount of protestors shot and killed. The Homestead Steel Strike of 1892 was initiated because business owners had grown tired of the unions and wanted to stop bargaining with the workers as it was becoming too expensive. Their solution to the problem was to lock out all of the skill workers on June 28th with the use of barbed wire around the plant and replace them with non-union laborers and machines. Henry Frick who was left in charge of the plant was expecting a swift retaliation and decided to hire detectives to protect the facility, but they were no match for the angry crowd, which led to the governor sending in 8000 National Guards to regain control. Although the strike was brought to an end, the battles between businesses and employees carried on for decades. Eugene Debs was an important man in the spring of 1894 because he joined the American Railway Union, which led to the Pullman strike of 1894.
This walkout was due to the unfairness that was being handed down by the Pullman Company. For example, they were lowering the wages of the employees, but not decreasing the rent on the homes that they were renting from the company. The company was depriving their workers of a decent living wage by cutting their income, yet was still able to provide an 8% dividend to the stockholders as well as have a surplus of twenty-five million dollars. Eugene saw this as a huge unjust and got as many people as he could include to strike, which eventually paralyzed the railroad until the government got involved. The strike continued on as much as it could until Debs was arrested for violating a court injunction. Without his leadership the movement
collapsed. The Knights of Labor founded in 1869 was the first major unions in the United States for garment workers that eventually went on to accept everyone except lawyers and saloonkeepers. They basically wanted fair treatment for the workers, which included public ownership of the railroads, an income tax, and equal pay for women workers, an 8 hour work day, and the abolition of child labor. By 1886 they had amassed a membership of more than a million members. The American Federation of Labor was founded in 1881 by Samuel Gompers, who was a cigar maker. This organization was put in place to assist with the activities of trade unions across the U.S. In the hopes that, workers would benefit more by implementing a standard 8 hour work day, safety in the workplace, and an increase in pay. The Pullman Strike of 1894 was brought on due to the company’s lack of respect for the workers. The Pullman Company was starting to show effects of the Panic of 1893 and decided that it was in their best interest to try and be profitable even if it meant depriving the employees. Pullman owned the town and most of their employees lived there, as a result the employees paid them rent. To accommodate the shareholders the company decided to cut the wages by 28%, which led to their workers with nothing left to live because the bulk of their income was going back to Pullman. Nonetheless the company didn’t seem to care because they had a surplus of twenty-five million dollars. With this in mind the workers decided to go on strike, which eventually affected over 27 states and territories until the government stepped in to put an end to it. The Industrial Workers of the World was formed in 1905 by “Big Bill” Haywood. The purpose of this organization was to try and gain more control over companies through a use of strikes in hopes that these corporations would give in to their demands. Due to the fact that they couldn’t get momentum behind them in the beginning they went on to have as many as 100000 workers by the 20th century. With good intentions in mind it was really hard to take on any business during this time because the government had a history of stepping in and defending the companies against the outside forces.