Pullman Strike

(noun)

An 1894 strike in which 125,000 railroad workers boycotted trains made by the Pullman Palace Car Company. The strike was broken by the US army and US Marshalls, and union leader Eugene V. Debs was sentenced to 6 months in prison.

Related Terms

  • labor union
  • bimetallism

Examples of Pullman Strike in the following topics:

  • The Pullman Strike

    • The Pullman Strike began in 1894 when nearly 4,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a strike in response to wage cuts.
    • The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroad companies that occurred in the United States in 1894.
    • The conflict began in the town of Pullman, Illinois, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages, bringing traffic west of Chicago to a halt.
    • Debs, which supported their strike by launching a boycott—union members refused to run trains containing Pullman cars.
    • The strike effectively shut down production in the Pullman factories and led to a lockout.
  • Labor and Domestic Tensions

    • An especially violent strike came during the economic depression of the 1870s, as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, lasted 45 days and resulted in damages to railroad property.
    • The strike collapsed when President Rutherford B.
    • The most dramatic major strike was the 1894 Pullman Strike which was coordinated effort to shut down the national railroad system.
    • The strike was led by the upstart American Railway Union led by Eugene V.
    • The ARU vanished, and the traditional railroad brotherhoods survived but avoided strikes.
  • Depression Politics

    • Immediately after the coal strike concluded, Eugene V.
    • Debs led a nationwide railroad strike, called the Pullman Strike.
    • The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the United States in 1894.
    • The conflict began in the town of Pullman, Illinois, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages, bringing traffic west of Chicago to a halt.
    • During the course of the strike, 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded.
  • The Labor Wars

    • Debs, which supported their strike by launching a boycott of all Pullman cars on all railroads .
    • ARU members across the nation refused to switch Pullman cars onto trains.
    • Within four days, 125,000 workers on twenty-nine railroads had people quit work rather than handle Pullman cars.
    • The seven officers of the ARU were jailed following the suppression of the 1894 Pullman strike: Rogers, Elliott, Keliher, Hogan, Burns, Goodwin, and Debs.
    • 1894 strike by the American Railway Union.
  • The Railroad Strikes

    • The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroad companies that occurred in the United States in 1894.
    • The conflict began in the town of Pullman, Illinois, on May 11, when nearly 4,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages, bringing traffic west of Chicago to a halt.
    • Debs, which supported their strike by launching a boycott: Union members refused to run trains containing Pullman cars.
    • The strike effectively shut down production in the Pullman factories and led to a lockout.
    • Within four days, 125,000 workers on 29 railroads quit work rather than handle Pullman cars.
  • Coxey's Army

    • While the protesters never made it to the capital, the military intervention they provoked proved to be a rehearsal for the federal force that broke the Pullman Strike later that year.
  • Workers Organize

    • The first of these was the Great Railroad Strike in 1877, when rail workers across the nation went on strike in response to a 10-percent pay cut by owners.
    • Attempts to break the strike led to bloody uprisings in several cities.
    • Two years later, wage cuts at the Pullman Palace Car Company led to a strike, which, with the support of the American Railway Union , soon brought the nation's railway industry to a halt.
    • The strike collapsed, as did the ARU.
    • The Lawrence textile strike was a strike of immigrant workers.
  • The Rise of Unions

    • In the Great Railroad Strike in 1877, railroad workers across the nation went on strike in response to a 10 percent pay cut.
    • Attempts to break the strike led to bloody uprisings in several cities.
    • Nonunion workers were hired and the strike was broken.
    • Two years later, wage cuts at the Pullman Palace Car Company just outside of Chicago led to a strike.
    • The strike collapsed, as did the American Railway Union.
  • Mill Towns and Company Towns

    • One of the first company towns in the United States was Pullman, Chicago, developed in the 1880s just outside the Chicago city limits.
    • Employees were required to live in Pullman, despite the fact that cheaper rentals could be found in nearby communities.
    • In 1898 the Illinois Supreme Court required Pullman to dissolve their ownership of the town.
  • The New Immigrants on Strike

    • Two important labor strikes led by immigrant groups were the New York shirtwaist strike of 1909 and the Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912.
    • The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909 (also known as the "Uprising of the 20,000") was a labor strike primarily involving Jewish women working in New York shirtwaist factories.
    • The successful strike marked an important milestone for the American labor movement.
    • The Lawrence Textile Strike (also referred to as "Bread and Roses") was a strike of immigrant workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912 led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
    • Identify key strikes that advanced the cause of labor in twentieth-century America
Subjects
  • Accounting
  • Algebra
  • Art History
  • Biology
  • Business
  • Calculus
  • Chemistry
  • Communications
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Microbiology
  • Physics
  • Physiology
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Statistics
  • U.S. History
  • World History
  • Writing

Except where noted, content and user contributions on this site are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 with attribution required.