The strikes were largely a result of tumultuous postwar economic adjustments; with 10 million soldiers returning home, and the transfer of people from wartime sectors to traditional sectors, inflation was 8% in 1945, 14% in 1946, and 8% in 1947.
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The origin of the Railroad Strike occurred in Martinsburg, West Virginia, at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) station on July 16, 1877. It was caused by a 10 percent wage cut which resulted in the workers deciding no train leaves the station until the wage cut was eliminated.
With the end of the wartime no-strike pledge, workers across America expressed their frustration with wages and working conditions through a series of strikes that involved over 5 million people from the end of 1945 and into 1946.
What came to be known as The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. It was triggered after the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad cut wages for the third time in a year. The strikers would not allow trains to run until the cuts were revoked.
The size and scale of the 1877 strike rattled company executives and elected officials. Nearly two decades later, the American Railway Union—considered the first major railroad union—played a pivotal role in the 1894 Pullman Strike and marked a turning point in national labor organizing.
The 2022 United States railroad labor dispute was a labor dispute between freight railroads and workers in the United States. Rail companies and unions had tentatively agreed to a deal in September 2022, but it was rejected by a majority of the unions' rank-and-file members.
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.
For years, freight rail workers weren't allowed to call in sick the morning of their shift. They could, however, get approval weeks in advance to take paid personal days. CSX was the first to grant paid sick days to several of its unions and has now granted sick days to 61% of its 17,089 unionized employees.
Labor activism and the railways are inextricably linked in US history. In 1877, railroad workers were fighting for labor justice too. Years of pay cuts, weak labor protections, and ruthless exploitation by their employers led them to walk off their jobs in a series of strikes across the country.