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The Pullman Company Strike

The Pullman Company Strike During the panic of 1893 & depression that filled, the Pullman company laid off more than half its employees Also cut remaining workers wages by 25-50% (w/out cutting employee housing costs) Strike called after Pullman company refused to raise wages & decrease rents.

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The Pullman Company Strike

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  1. The Pullman Company Strike • During the panic of 1893 & depression that filled, the Pullman company laid off more than half its employees • Also cut remaining workers wages by 25-50% (w/out cutting employee housing costs) • Strike called after Pullman company refused to raise wages & decrease rents

  2. Eugene Debs asked for arbitration, Pullman refused negotiation, the American Railway Union (ARU) started boycotting Pullman trains • Pullman hired strikebreakers, strike turned violent, Pres Cleveland sent in federal troops • Debs was jailed, Pullman fired most strikers

  3. Women Organize • Women were barred from most unions • They united behind powerful leaders & demanded better working conditions, equal pay, & an end to child labor

  4. The public could no longer ignore after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in NY • The fire spread quickly thru the oil soaked machines & cloth, engulfed 8th-10th floors • Workers tried to flee, discovered doors were locked to prevent theft (unlocked door was blocked by fire) • No sprinkler system, single fire escape collapsed • 146 women died

  5. Unions became stronger, employers became more fearful • Employers stared firing union members, forced employees to sign “yellow dog contracts” • Industrial leaders used the Sherman Antitrust Act against labor • They just had to say a strike or boycott hurt interstate trade & the state or fed govt would end it

  6. Legal limitations hurt unions’ effectiveness • Didn't stop growth • By 1904, the AFL had +1 million members • By WWI, it grew to +2 million

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