The Rise of Organized Labor Railroad strike 1877

The Rise of Organized Labor ►Railroad strike 1877 ►Haymarket Riot 1886 ►Homestead Strike 1892 ►Pullman railway-car strike 1894

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.

Haymarket Riot 1886 ► Workers from the Mc. Cormick 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.

Homestead Strike 1892 ► At Carnegie’s 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.

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.