Labor Strikes Unions at Work The Labor Conflict

Labor Strikes Unions at Work

The Labor Conflict Turns Violent: the Haymarket Affair • Chicago, May 3, 1886: Union strikers locked out of Mc. Cormick Harvester Co. • Replaced with strikebreakers • Violence erupted between union, strikebreakers, & police • Striker died; Union called for meeting in Haymarket Square

“Arm Yourself and Appear in Full Force!” Many of the workers were German, like a lot of people in Chicago.

• May 4: Bomb thrown at Haymarket Square • 7 police killed • 60 people wounded • Police open fire on crowd • 100 people wounded • Chicago police arrest hundreds • Union leaders • Socialists • Anarchists • Union membership drops

Two Views of the Riot “Lady Justice Deals with Anarchist Agitator”, 1886 “Justice Hurling a Bomb”

Today there is a monument in Haymarket Square to the “Haymarket Martyrs”- the original statue, to honor the police, was destroyed in 1927, rebuilt, and moved

Homestead Strike, 1892 • Carnegie reduced wages at steel mills in Homestead, PA • Workers went on strike & were locked out • Replaced with nonunion labor & 300 armed guards • July 6: Violence broke out between strikers & guards, killing 12 people • PA militia escorted scab workers • Strike collapsed after 4 months The PA militia separating the strikers (left) from the nonunion workers

Pullman Strike, 1894 • Bad economy- Pullman Palace Car Company cut wages by $. 25 but did not cut rent in company housing; workers struck • Eugene V. Debs called for boycott of Pullman cars; rail traffic stopped • President Cleveland called out army to end strike; Debs arrested

In re: Debs • Debs arrested for contempt of court for refusing obey injunction to end Pullman Strike • Appeal reached Supreme Court • 9 -0 decision: U. S. government allowed to issue injunction via Commerce Clause of Constitution Debs speaking to the striking Pullman workers