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Great Southwest Railroad Strike
In 1886, the Knights of Labor struck against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads, owned by robber baron Jay Gould. Hundreds of thousands of workers across five states refused to work, citing unsafe conditions and unfair hours and pay. The strike suffered from a lack of commitment from other railroad unions, the successful hiring of non-union workers by Gould, violence and scare tactics. -
Haymarket Square Riot
The Haymarket Riot was viewed a setback for the organized labor movement in America, which was fighting for such rights as the eight-hour workday. Labor protest rally near Chicago’s Haymarket Square turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day. Despite a lack of evidence against them, eight radical labor activists were convicted in connection with the bombing. -
The Battle of Cripple Creek
It all began in 1894. Cripple Creek had become a boom town after gold was discovered. Some 150 mines sprang up. So did a strong miners union—the Free Coinage Union which was part of the militant Western Federation of Miners (WFM). -
McKees Rock Strike
The strike took place at the huge Pressed Steel Car Co. plant in McKees Rock, a few miles down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, where between 5,000 and 8,000 mostly immigrant workers from some 16 nationalities created railway cars. Hailing mainly from southern and eastern Europe. Italians who had led resistance strikes, Germans who were active in the metal workers' union. -
Ludlow Massacre
The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado. Some two dozen people, including miners' wives and children, were killed. The site is private property leased by the miners' union. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world.The tremendous gains labor unions experienced resulted in part from the pro-union stance of the Roosevelt administration and from legislation enacted by Congress during the early New Deal. The National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) provided for collective bargaining. -
The Wagner Act
This bill was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 5, 1935. It established the National Labor Relations Board. It also addressed relations between unions and employers. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
This act established minimum wage, overtime, and child labor laws. The first minimum wage was 25 cents an hour. The minimum wage for Indiana now is $7.25 an hour. Franklin D. Rosevelt signed this bill to be passed. -
World War II
World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. During this time the union membership was at 35%. There was a decline in popularity of unions. -
The Pullman Strike
Facing 12-hour work days and cut wages resulting from the depressed economy, factory workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company walked out in protest. The workers were soon joined by members of the American Railway Union (ARU) who refused to work on or run any trains, which included Pullman-owned cars. Soon enough, 250,000 industry workers joined in the strike, effectively shutting down train traffic to the west of Chicago. -
Employee Free Choice Act
This act restores balance to the union election process by allowing workers to choose a union through simple majority sign-up or an election. Under current law, management rather than workers has the power to decide whether workers can organize a union through majority sign-up or election.The bill's purpose was to amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system.
