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.
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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.
Eugene V.Debs was the president of the American Railway Union (ARU), which represented about one-third of the Pullman workers and which had concluded a successful strike against the Great Northern Railway Company in April 1894.
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.
The strengthening of the police, state militia, and the United States Army to prepare for future conflicts became one of the most enduring legacies of the Great Strike. Within two weeks of the strike, Chicago authorities developed a plan to augment their police force and the Illinois militia.
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.
What is the main reason that the US government wanted to avoid large-scale railroad strikes after the Great Railroad Strike of 1877? Railroad strikes were a threat to economic prosperity and national security.
The Big Four unions included the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Order of Railway Conductors.
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.
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.
What is the rail strike about? Rail union leaders and carriers agreed to a tentative deal in September that included pay raises for members. But many union workers voted against the deal, in part because they have been pushing for paid sick days, which they currently do not receive.
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.