Pullman+Strike+of+1894

Pullman Strikes of 1894

By Alex Sadwick and Zack Krugman

A Block

Table of Contents The Pullman strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occured in 1894. The conflict was between 3,000 workers in the town of Pullman, Illinois who worked for the Pullman Palace Car Company. During the economic panic of 1893, the Pullman Palace Car Company cut wages as demands for their train cars plummeted and the company's revenue dropped. A delegation of workers complained of the low wages and sixteen hour workdays and the company's's failure to decrease rents or the price of goods.The workers performed a wildcat strike (a form of a strike in which workers strike without approval from the officials of their Union) in response to recent reduction in wages.
 * 1. Events Leading up to Strike**
 * 2. Effect on Businesses**
 * 3. Effect on Laborers**
 * 4. Effect on Society**
 * 5. Long Term Effects[[image:http://www.lib.niu.edu/1994/ihy9412081.jpg width="260" height="165" align="right"]]**
 * 1. Events leading up to strike**

Businesses west of Chicago were completely slowed down. The strike effectively shut down production in the Pullman factories and led to a lockout. The strike a struggle between the greatest and most important labor organization and the entire railroad capital that involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states at its peak. Many businesses couldn't transport their goods or receive the materials necessary to create the companies products. Many businesses had an even harder time with the Pullman strike because they were already dealing with the economic panic of 1893 and had to decrease wages and now the companies were becoming less productive.
 * 2. Effects on Businesses**

125,000 workers on twenty-nine railroads had quit work rather than handle Pullman cars.Adding fuel to the fire the railroad companies began hiring replacement workers (that is, strikebreakers), which only increased hostilities. Subsequent deaths of workers led to further outbreaks of violence. During the course of the strike, 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded. An estimated 6,000 rail workers did $340,000 worth of property damage.
 * 3. Effects on Laborers**



4. **Effect on Society** The sympathy generated by the boycott for the railway workers, highlighted the need for unionism as well as more federal regulation in large scale industry. The strike also encouraged laboreres to look to Socialism as an answer to their problems.



The strike showed the people how much power they had in numbers and what they were able to accomplish if they joined together. The laborers were able to disrupt the railroad industry for a few weeks with their boycott. In addition it exposed the problems with labor and illustrated the need for reform, ultimately sparking the labor reform movement which would change the way big business operated in America forever.
 * 5. Long Term Effects**



Sources used

[|__http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/445660?terms=__pullman____] [] [] The American Labor Movement by Leon Litwack The Chicago Haymarket riot by Bernard Kogan