Strikes of the 18-1900s
Silver Mine Unrest of 1892
July 11, 1892 striking silver miners in Coveur' Alene, Idaho blew up the Frisco Mill. It killed two mine employees and about 60 mine guards. 3000 miners demanded good wages for themselves but the mine owners wanted to cut costs, they also wanted to increase work days from 9-10 hours 7 days a week with a pay cut.
Haymarket affair of 1886
On the day of May 4, 1886, a labor protest rally near the Haymarket Square in Chicago turned into a violent riot between protestors and police forces after someone threw a bomb at police. The protestors wanted higher wages, and better working conditions. Eight people died as a result of this riot in Chicago. Protests like these were common in the 1880s because working conditions were often dangerous, and wages were extremely low. This protest did slightly help the cause, delaying the acceptance of the eight-hour work day.
Great Railroad strike of 1877
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was the first major railroad strike in our nation. The cut of salaries and wages occurred because of the Financial Panic of 1873. The Great Railroad Strike was a mass strike that took place across 10 states. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company began cutting wages by 10%, then another 10%, having a domino effect on other railroad companies that soon began to do the same thing. Violent strikes all over the world began to break out but militia men that were fully armed began to fire and kill people. This sparked a rampage. Over 100 people died and this strike "set the stage" and had an impact on the other strikes that were going to occur in the future.
Pullman Strike of 1894
The Pullman Strike on May 11 1894. It started because George Pullman cut down the already small wages by 25%. The strikes caused railroad traffic nationwide to stop. Soldiers joined with local authority to get the trains running again. Outraged by the strike at his own factory, Pullman decided to wait out the workers. It caused wide criticism throughout the nation. 260,000 workers nationwide joined the boycott. Richard Olney, a U.S. attorney general became determined to crush the strike. On July 2, 1894 the federal government got an injunction in federal court which ordered an end to the strike. The strike was successful because George Pullman 's reputation was destroyed.
Homestead Strike of 1892
The strike took place at Carnegie steal company in Pennsylvania. Frick, the manager, locked the workers in the steel plant and build a fence 3 miles long and 12 ft high around the plant and adding peepholes for rifles and topped the fence with barbed wire. On July 6th of 1892 ten thousand strikers formed by an advisory committee with armed weapons were fighting back. Pinkertons and strikers fought and people were seriously injured. At the end of the day 9 strikers and 7 Pinkertons were killed.
