-
Great Southwest Railroad Strike
In 1886, thousands of railroad workers began to strike on the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads. They began this strike due to poor conditions and lay. Eventually this strike failed due to lack of negotiation and the Knights of Labor dispanded early afterwards. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
This act was created in 1890 to specifically target labor unions. The law forbade any "restraint of commerce" across state lines, and courts ruled that union strikes and boycotts were covered by the law. This act is still enforced, even today. -
The Homestead Strike
In 1889, a strike had given a series of employees a three-year contract. However, in 1892, steel company employer, Andrew Carnegie, decided to break this union, so he got his manager, Henry Frick, to get the job done. Frick fired nearly all of their workers on July the 2nd, and the workers were not happy about it. The workers then began to revolt and begin strike, which eventually led to a war between employees and the mercinaries. -
The Great Depression
In October of 1929, the stock market suddenly crashed. People suddenly started to lose their jobs; in fact, the unemployment rate was 25%. Due to the huge drop in employment, the amount of unions needed severely decreased. -
The Wagner Act
In 1935, an act known as the Wagner Act will be put into place. This act gives workers rights to form and/or become part of a labor union. This obviously led to the production of more and more unions in the 20th century. -
The Bituminous Coal Strike
In early April of 1946, over 400,000 coal miners went on strike for better conditions, better health benefits, and higher pay. President attempted to work with the strike via compromise, but no one accepted his offers. This lead to December where Truman find the entire strike $3.5 million. The strike eventually dissipated, but eventually came to compromise with President Truman. -
The Taft-Hartley Act
In 1947, this act was sponsored by U.S. Senator Robert A. Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley. This act declared all collective bargaining illegal, permits Union shops after voting, and forbidden unions contributing to political campaigns. This act was active until 1959 when the Landrum-Griffin Act amended some of its features. -
U.S. Postal Strike
In New York of 1970, postal workers are declared that they cannot participate in collective bargaining. This eventually led to a strike due to increased dissatisfaction with wages, working conditions, benefits and management. In only two week, negotiations were met and employees were given the ability of collective bargaining. -
9/11
On September 11th, 2011, the biggest terrorist attack in U.S. history took place. Two planes collided into the twin towers and eventually made them collapse. This caused a huge decrease in employment within New York; however this also caused an increase in armed forces and security employment. As the amount of unions in one field decreased, the amount increased in another. -
Tsunami & Hurricane hits Japan
On March 11, 2011, an magnitude 9 earthquake struck the northeast of Japan, which led to the outbreak of a humongous tsunami. These series of events were responsible for the destruction of thousands of Japanese homes, and some are still trying to recover today. Due to this, many jobs were destroyed and as a result, many unions have faded away. -
Oil Plant Explosion in Gulf of Mexico
In April of 2016, a Pemex oil plant exploded on the Gulf of Mexico. This catastrophe left about 30 dead and over 100 injured. This event dropped the oil company employments, which would drop the amount of unions toward oil companies.
