What did the great railroad strike fight for?

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.



People Also Ask

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.

MORE DETAILS

Background. G.W.W. Hanger, R.M. Barton, and Chairman Ben W. Hooper of the Railroad Labor Board, which approved the wage cut for train maintenance workers that prompted the 1922 Railroad Shopmen's Strike.

MORE DETAILS

The railroad brotherhoods suffered a crushing defeat. Strikers went back to work, on management's terms, and others were blacklisted. During the Great Depression, the union movement would just begin to unite skilled and unskilled workers, something not done during the 1922 strike.

MORE DETAILS

A sweeping judicial injunction by Judge James Herbert Wilkerson effectively brought the strike to an end on September 1, 1922. At least ten people, most of them strikers or family members, were killed in connection with the strike.

MORE DETAILS

A prolonged rail strike could create all types of shortages, from gasoline to food to automobiles, and cause a spike in the prices of all types of consumer goods. It can screw up the commutes of tens of thousands of workers who take the train to work, slow the delivery of parts and force factories to shut down.

MORE DETAILS

The Great Southwest railroad strike of 1886 was a labor union strike involving more than 200,000 workers. Beginning on March 1, 1886, railroad workers in five states struck against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads, owned by Jay Gould. At least ten people were killed.

MORE DETAILS

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).

MORE DETAILS

The railroad opened the way for the settlement of the West, provided new economic opportunities, stimulated the development of town and communities, and generally tied the country together.

MORE DETAILS

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. Police were forced to take control after a crowd had gathered in support of the railroad workers.

MORE DETAILS

Bargaining and strikes The RLA permits strikes over major disputes only after the union has exhausted the RLA's negotiation and mediation procedures and bars almost all strikes over minor disputes. The RLA also authorizes the courts to enjoin strikes if the union has not exhausted those procedures.

MORE DETAILS

Pullman Strike, (May 11, 1894–c. July 20, 1894), in U.S. history, widespread railroad strike and boycott that severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest of the United States in June–July 1894. The federal government's response to the unrest marked the first time that an injunction was used to break a strike.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS