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Great Southwest Railroad Strike
The Great Southwest railroad strike of 1886 was a labor union strike involving more than 200,000 workers. This strike led to the formation of the American Federation of Labor. -
Haymarket Riot
This riot started as a protest until one protester threw a bomb at police. It was viewed as a setback for the organized labor movement in America. -
Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike was an industrial lockout and strike. It culminated in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. -
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States. It pitted the American Railway Union against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States. -
Shirtwaist Factory Fire
This was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in US history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, 123 women and 23 men, who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. -
Textile Workers Strike
This was the largest strike in the labor history of the United States at the time. It was involving 400,000 textile workers from New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and the U.S. Southern states, lasting twenty-two days. -
The Wagner Act
The Wagner Act was a New Deal reform passed by President Franklin Roosevelt. It was instrumental in preventing employers from interfering with workers' unions and protests in the private sector. -
General Motors Sit Down Strike
This was one of the first sit down strikes in the US. The autoworkers were striking to win recognition of the United Auto Workers as the only bargaining agent for GM’s workers. They also wanted to make the company stop sending work to nonunion plants and to establish a fair minimum wage scale, a grievance system and a set of procedures that would help protect assembly line workers from injury. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
This introduced the forty-hour work week, established a national minimum wage, guaranteed "time-and-a-half" for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor". -
Steel Strike
The steel strike was a labor union strike by the United Steelworkers of America against major steel-making companies in the United States. The strike remained the longest work stoppage in the American steel industry until the steel strike of 1986.
