Labor StrikesUnions at Work

The Labor Conflict Turns Violent: the Haymarket Affair

• Chicago, May 3, 1886: Union strikers locked out of McCormick Harvester Co.

• Replaced with strikebreakers

• Violence erupted between union, strikebreakers, & police

• Striker died; Union called for meeting in Haymarket Square

Many of the workers were German, like a lot of people in Chicago.

“Arm Yourself and Appear in Full Force!”

• May 4: Bomb thrown at Haymarket Square• 7 police killed• 60 people wounded

• Police open fire on crowd• 100 people wounded

• Chicago police arrest hundreds• Union leaders• Socialists• Anarchists

• Union membership drops

Two Views of the Riot

“Lady Justice Deals with Anarchist Agitator”, 1886

“Justice Hurling a Bomb”

Today there is a monument in Haymarket Square to the “Haymarket Martyrs”- the original statue, to honor the police, was destroyed in 1927, rebuilt, and moved

Homestead Strike, 1892• Carnegie reduced wages at

steel mills in Homestead, PA

• Workers went on strike & were locked out

• Replaced with nonunion labor & 300 armed guards

• July 6: Violence broke out between strikers & guards, killing 12 people

• PA militia escorted scab workers

• Strike collapsed after 4 months

The PA militia separating the strikers (left) from the

nonunion workers

Pullman Strike, 1894• Bad economy- Pullman

Palace Car Company cut wages by $.25 but did not cut rent in company housing; workers struck

• Eugene V. Debs called for boycott of Pullman cars; rail traffic stopped

• President Cleveland called out army to end strike; Debs arrested

In re: Debs• Debs arrested for

contempt of court for refusing obey injunction to end Pullman Strike

• Appeal reached Supreme Court

• 9-0 decision: U.S. government allowed to issue injunction via Commerce Clause of Constitution

Debs speaking to the striking Pullman workers