The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was the first strike that spread across multiple different states in the U.S. This strike finally ended 52 days later, after it was put down by unofficial militias, the National Guard, and federal troops.
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The exercise of state police power on behalf of the railways led union members to retaliate. As the violence spread, public opinion turned against the workers. The physical attacks by the Pinkerton agents scared thousands of workers into returning to work. The strike was officially called off on May 4.
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was the country's first major rail strike and witnessed the first general strike in the nation's history. The strikes and the violence it spawned briefly paralyzed the country's commerce and led governors in ten states to mobilize 60,000 militia members to reopen rail traffic.
The last time US railroads went on strike was in 1992. That strike lasted two days before Congress intervened. An extended rail shutdown has not happened for a century, partly because a law passed in 1926 that governs rail negotiations made it much harder for workers to strike.
On June 19th, 1867, a massive tunnel explosion killed one white worker and five Chinese workers. The last straw for the overworked, underpaid Chinese. On June 24th, three thousand Chinese workers spanning over thirty miles of tracks began a highly organized strike.
Last fall, many union railroad workers in the United States did not have paid sick days. Now, more than sixty percent of them do, Reuters reports. It has been a process of slow, piecemeal wins over many months—and a testament to the continued push of high-profile politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).
From Pittsburgh, the 1877 railroad strike—which was really a wave of strikes—spread westward to cities like Chicago and St.Louis. In these and some other cities, the railroad strike turned into a general strike as non-railroad workers joined in to protest poor pay and working conditions.
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began on July 17, 1877, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Workers for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad went on strike, because the company had reduced workers' wages twice over the previous year.
PUBLISHED: December 12, 2022 at 4:28 p.m. | UPDATED: December 12, 2022 at 4:29 p.m. The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 holds an infamous place in history as one of the largest nationwide work stoppages, and one of America's most violent labor strikes.
In June of 1922, this nationwide labor conflict saw over 400,000 railroad shopmen and maintenance workers locked in a bitter struggle against deep wage cuts sanctioned by the Railroad Labor Board. These railroad workers faced the grim possibility of losing their jobs to new hires willing to accept lower wages.