The Great Upheaval: Labor Relations During the GAPE

The Great Upheaval:The Great Upheaval:

Labor Relations During the GAPELabor Relations During the GAPE

4 Major Upheavals

The Haymarket bombing (May 1886) The Homestead Steel Strike (1892) The Pullman Strike (1894) The Colorado Miners and Smelters

Strikes (1903-1904)

Why are they important?Why are they important?

Why were workers striking?Why were workers striking? What were their demands?What were their demands? How did employers respond?How did employers respond? How did local, state, and federal How did local, state, and federal

government respond?government respond? What was the eventual outcome of What was the eventual outcome of

the strikes?the strikes? Why is this significant? (the outcome)Why is this significant? (the outcome)

Haymarket Bombing (1886)

In Chicago in May 1886, the eight-hour general strike and parade of May 1 merged with the McCormick reaper strike that had been dragging on for several weeks

On May 3, participants in both strikes congregated in front of Cyrus McCormick’s reaper works where, Chicago police (who already had a reputation of being brutal) beat up strikers and fired their weapons into the crowd


The International Working People’s Association a small German anarchist

group called a meeting to protest police brutality

It was to be held the following day, May 4 in the Haymarket Square

The IWPA circulated fliers that implored workers to arm themselves and appear in full force!


The Haymarket protest took place the following day, a chilly drizzly day, it was entirely peaceful

About 2,000 to 3,000 people turned out. Chicago’s mayor, Carter Harrison, showed up

Then on the evening of May 4 as the meeting was winding down—only about 300 people left—a bomb exploded in an alley just off the square, downing 50 policemen.


The remaining cops started firing into the crowd 1 officer died immediately from the bomb 7 other officers died later from injures caused by

the bomb 60 officers were injured by their comrades fire! The official number of dead protesters was never

ascertained, but we think that only about 7 or 8 protesters died that night about another 30 or 40 were wounded

Nobody knew where the bomb came from

Haymarket Bombing (1886) Haymarket marked the culmination of

mounting tension in Chicago Workers struggle against:

the Chicago police Pinkertons (explain) citizens who had been deputized

the McCormick strike, then the May Day parade, then Haymarket state militia armed with Gatling guns had

lined the roof tops during the parade

Haymarket Bombing (1886) After Haymarket, panic seized Chicago Chicago experienced its first “red scare”

and the police instituted 8 weeks of what one scholar has called “police terrorism.”

The police raided more than 50 meeting places of suspected anarchists, socialists, and other radical activities. Many suspects were taken into custody and beaten.

100 prominent citizens led by Marshall Field, Philip Armour, and George M. Pullman pledged $100,000 for the purpose of eradicating anarchy and sedition


Anarchists suspected (without basis) of a conspiracy were put on trial The trial lasted from June until August

the judge intimidated jurors by instructing them that advocating violence was the same as committing murder

Although six of the eight defendants were not even at Haymarket Square on May 4, and the other two were in full view, directly in front of the speakers platform, the state’s attorney attempted to prove that they had engaged in a conspiracy and aided and abetted the bomb thrower


The jury found all eight defendants guilty and sentenced 7 to death


There is no evidence that I or any of us killed or had anything to do with the killing of, policemen at the Haymarket. None at all. But it was proven clearly that we were, all of us, anarchists, socialists, communists, Knights of Labor, unionists. It was proven that three of us were editors of labor papers; that five of us were labor organizers and speakers at workingmen’s mass meetings. They, the class court, jury, law and verdict, have decided that we must be put to death because, as they say, we were “leaders” of men who denounce and battle against the oppression, slaveries, robbery and influences of the monopolies. Of these crimes against the capitalist class they found us guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. Albert Parsons, from an old American family in Alabama


Another of the convicted men concluded that “he who speaks for the workingman must hang.”

The verdict was initially exceedingly popular with most Americans

But as tensions cooled somewhat, people started to come out against the ruling

Haymarket Bombing (1886) Writers, social

activists, local chapters of the Knights (but not Powderly) led a campaign to have the sentences reduced

On one Sunday alone, workers in London gathered 16,000 signatures

Haymarket Bombing (1886) Despite the change of heart, 4 of the 7 who

were sentenced to death hanged in November 1887

Illinois’ governor commuted 2 of the sentences to life in prison Under Illinois law the governor could only

commute a sentence if the prison begged for mercy, which only 2 did

One of the defendants killed himself in his prison cell

Six years later, Governor John P. Altgeld pardoned the two surviving defendants

THE HOMESTEAD LOCKOUT (1892)

Importance of steelImportance of steel a series of wage cuts in 1892 struck at the

heart of the steel industry The result was one of the country’s most

sensational strikes at Homestead, PA in 1892.

A strike that pitted the nation’s largest steel producer, Andrew Carnegie, against the nation’s strongest trade union Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and

Tin Workers, formed in 1876

Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers

The Amalgamated Association had reached its highest membership just one year before the strike (1891) and had more than 24,000 members

The best organized and strongest union in Gompers’ AFL, the Amalgamated won a strike in Homestead in 1889 but in 1892 the plant manager and former

owner Henry Clay Frick had decided he was going to break the union


Working conditions in addition to 12 hour

days, every two weeks workers worked a continuous 24 hour shift, then they had 24 hours off

The extremely hot, extremely dangerous work of tending to the mills gigantic furnaces struck one observer as inhuman

wage cuts in 1892


Amalgamated’s contract with the mill at Homestead expired in June 1892

Carnegie was at his castle in Scotland and gave all control in the matter over to Frick.

Frick proposed to cut wages, forcing the union to reject his terms Frick then locked the “uncooperative” union

members out and actually constructed a fence that was eight feet high and three miles long to keep the workers out!


Frick topped the fence with barbed wire

constructed twelve-foot towers equipped with searchlights at the corners of the mill

Workers swore that Frick had also installed sniper holes in the fence!

Enraged workers dubbed the plant Fort Frick!


The lockout began June 28. On July 2 Frick discharged (fired) all the workers and called in 300 Pinkertons to protect the new group of workers that would be entering the plant

Pinkerton National Detective Agency

Founded in the 1850s in Chicago

Scottish immigrant named Allan Pinkerton ran the company for

almost 40 years involvement in

strike breaking and other anti-union activities


On the morning of July 6 the Pinkertons arrived on two covered barges

workers charged the riverbank, swearing and cursing at the Pinkertons

Someone fired a pistol and the all hell broke loose The battle raged all day


Workers hid behind piles of steel and pig iron and fired pistol and rifles at the Pinkertons who were trapped on the barges

At one point they rolled out what the Pinkertons thought was a cannon, but they were actually just throwing dynamite at the boats!!

workers also tried to light the barges on fire with another flaming barge and a handcart that they had lit on fire and rolled toward the shore.


They also threw stones and pieces of metal at the barges

Pinkertons returned fire, and both sides fought until they realized that their efforts to destroy one another were futile

Both sides eventually hashed out a cease-fire and the Pinkertons were allowed to land, but they had to run a 600-yard gauntlet of workers who beat and kicked them as they passed.


Fortunately only 9 steelworkers and 7 Pinkertons were killed—many more were injured

When they learned of the battle, most Americans blamed Carnegie and Frick

not the workers or the Pinkertons


PA governor sent 8,000 militia to Homestead gradually new workers entered the mill,

which began operations on July 15 The regular workers continued to strike with

the hope that Frick would be able to find enough skilled workers to fill the plant

They were soon joined by workers who walked out in sympathy strikes at Carnegie plants in Beaver Falls and Pittsburgh.


Then on July 23, an anarchist named Alexander Berkman shot Frick

Berkman sentenced to 22 years Frick made a full recovery In September, 35 union leaders were

charged with treason under an obscure PA law that essentially made a crime against ones employer a crime against the state


A jury eventually found all of them not guilty, but they had to spend a month in jail. (Sept.-Oct.)

Disorganized and discouraged, most of the steelworkers left Homestead by the end of October

Their jobs went to black workers whom the whites had systematic barred from membership in the Amalgamated Association

Frick succeeded He completely broke one of the strongest

unions in the country

The Pullman Strike (1894)

In the wake of the great railroad strike of 1877, which erupted in a four day battle in Chicago that pitted strikers and their sympathizers against the Chicago police and killed 13 and left hundreds injured, George Pullman decided to take extreme measures in a effort to mollify his workforce

The Pullman Town Pullman decided to build an entire “model”

town for his workers down the street from his Pullman Palace Car Company on Chicago’s south side

Pullman’s town was clean, orderly, rationally arranged, meticulously managed, and dry (no alcohol)

Pullman hoped his town would inculcate habits of respectability in his workers, and that living in such well designed and well maintained surroundings would initiate a new era for labor free of strikes and unrest

Pullman TownPullman Town

Workers and Pullman Workers and Pullman TownTown

Ironically, most Pullman workers only remained in Pullman’s model town for a couple of years

The workers bolted as soon as they had the chance because they wanted to live a life free form George Pullman because the town had no independent

government or elected officers of any kind They could not own their homes There was also no cemetery, orphanage, or

public charity Utilities were 80% higher than they were in

nearby Chicago and everyone had to pay a fee for the library

whether they used it or not

The Pullman StrikeThe Pullman Strike At the outset of the panic

of 1893, Pullman cut wages by 28%, (and as high as 70% in some cases)

but he did not lower rents in his Pullman village

To make matters worse, rents were deducted directly from workers’ pay, which meant that some workers received pay envelopes with only 1 or 2 dollars for two weeks work. Some workers received less than that

The Pullman Strike (1894) In May 1894, workers

asked Pullman to restore wages to their 1892 level

Pullman refused even to bargain and within a week three of the workers who stated the grievance were laid off

The Pullman workers struck and called the American Railway Union to represent them

American Railway UnionAmerican Railway Union Eugene V. Debs ARU organized by

industry instead of craft and so possessed a very large base of members

Ultimately 150,000 ARU members throughout the country refused to handle any of the Pullman cars

The Pullman StrikeThe Pullman Strike


The strike began of May 12 1894 By the end of June, railroad traffic in

Chicago had stopped completely shipping was tied up from CA to OH

The shortages that resulted sent food prices soaring, especially in Chicago

The Southern Pacific Railroad lost $200,000 per day!

The Pullman Strike (1894) On July 2, Richard Olney, the attorney general

of the United States, obtained a blanket injunction ordering all strikers back to work

Olney had argued that the strikers were blocking the flow of mail, which was carried by the trains, and that was against federal law

Because Debs was such a high-profile leader, and because strikers were supposedly blocking the flow of mail

President Cleveland sent 14k U.S. Army troops to Chicago on July 3 to disperse the workers and make sure they went back to work


Troops entered the city on the Fourth of July in spite of strenuous objection from Illinois’ Governor John P. Altgeld

Once again all hell broke loose Workers stoned, burned and

generally wrecked dozens of Pullman’s train cars

They also fought in the streets with the Chicago police, the state militia, and 14,000 U.S. Army troops



The strike ended on July 8 after the violence had spread to several states and killed at least 34 people

Debs was convicted of contempt of court (ignoring the injunction) and served 6 months in a federal pen

Colorado

The Colorado Miners and Smelters Strikes (1902-1904)

1903 -- “Big Bill” Haywood -- Is Colorado in America? Great Colorado labor wars

1902 -- Haywood & WFM organize smelters 12-hour days for $1.80 Miners -- 8-hour day for $3-3.50

Employers began firing union members

Colorado

February 1903 -- one of the owners February 1903 -- one of the owners (Hawkins) fired 23 workers(Hawkins) fired 23 workers

WFM responded with a strikeWFM responded with a strike Union reached agreement with Union reached agreement with

Telluride and Portland millsTelluride and Portland mills 8-hour day8-hour day Rehire fired workersRehire fired workers Further negotiations on wagesFurther negotiations on wages

Colorado

One owner (Charles MacNeill of the One owner (Charles MacNeill of the Standard Mill) walked out--refused to Standard Mill) walked out--refused to negotiatenegotiate

Miners at Cripple Creek, which Miners at Cripple Creek, which supplied ore to Standard waged a supplied ore to Standard waged a sympathy strikesympathy strike MacNeill agreed to rehire fired workers, MacNeill agreed to rehire fired workers,

but then reneged on his promisebut then reneged on his promise Labor wars beginLabor wars begin

Colorado

Businessmen led by mine and mill Businessmen led by mine and mill owners formed the Citizens’ Alliance owners formed the Citizens’ Alliance and vowed to crush the WFMand vowed to crush the WFM Cut off credit to strikersCut off credit to strikers Persuaded Colorado Governor James Persuaded Colorado Governor James

Peabody to send the National GuardPeabody to send the National Guard Battle spread to state legislature Battle spread to state legislature

where an 8-hour referendum where an 8-hour referendum approved by 72% of voters died in approved by 72% of voters died in committeecommittee

Colorado

Following news of the failure of the 8-Following news of the failure of the 8-hour amendment, the labor war hour amendment, the labor war spread to mines in Idaho Springs and spread to mines in Idaho Springs and TellurideTelluride

Haywood appealed to Governor Haywood appealed to Governor Peabody and President Roosevelt to Peabody and President Roosevelt to protect workers, but neither protect workers, but neither individual responded favorablyindividual responded favorably

Cripple Creek, Telluride, and Idaho Cripple Creek, Telluride, and Idaho Springs dragged on until…Springs dragged on until…

Colorado

On June 6, 1904 a bomb exploded in a On June 6, 1904 a bomb exploded in a train station, killing 13 strikebreakers and train station, killing 13 strikebreakers and seriously injuring another 16seriously injuring another 16

Citizens’ Alliance and Mine Owners Citizens’ Alliance and Mine Owners Association immediately blamed the WFMAssociation immediately blamed the WFM

Erected “kangaroo” courts and began Erected “kangaroo” courts and began “deporting” striking union members“deporting” striking union members

Within a few months the WFM was non-Within a few months the WFM was non-existent in Colorado and the strikes were existent in Colorado and the strikes were over over

Colorado

Colorado, it is of thee,

Dark land of tyranny,

Of thee I sing:

Land wherein labor’s bled,

Land from which law has fled,

Bow down thy mournful head,

Capital is king.

Why are they important?Why are they important?

Why were workers striking?Why were workers striking? What were their demands?What were their demands? How did employers respond?How did employers respond? How did local, state, and federal How did local, state, and federal

government respond?government respond? What was the eventual outcome of What was the eventual outcome of

the strikes?the strikes? Why is this significant? (the outcome)Why is this significant? (the outcome)

Documents

The Great Upheaval: Labor Relations During the GAPE