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Railway strick
A strike against the Baltimore & Ohio railroad ignites a series of strikes across the northeast. The violence and disturbances that follow result in Federal troops being called out for the first time in a labor dispute. The strike is crushed, but it gives evidence of the deep conflict between workers and business owners. -
Haymarket Riot
A labor rally at the Haymarket Square in Chicago, called in support of the eight-hour day, erupts into chaos when an unknown party tosses a bomb at police, who then fire into the crowd. The incident stains labor's image and creates turmoil within the movement. -
Gompers found AFL
In the wake of the Haymarket incident, labor organizer Samuel Gompers sets up the American Federation of Labor (AFL), a collection of trade unions that will play a major role in the labor movement throughout the century to come. -
Sherman Anti Trust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts. It was named for Senator John Sherman of Ohio, who was a chairman of the Senate finance committee and the Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes. -
Homested strike
A lockout at the Homestead Steel Works turns violent as 300 Pinkerton detectives hired by the company arrive at the mills by barge. Workers picketing the plant greet the Pinkerton's with violence and the confrontation soon becomes a full-scale pitched battle, with seven Pinkertons and eleven union members killed. Court injunctions help to crush the union, safeguarding the steel industry from organized labor for decades. -
Anti labor Injunction
A federal court issues the first injunction against a union under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The case, brought against the Workingman's Amalgamated Council of New Orleans for interfering with the movement of commerce, hands managers a potent legal weapon. -
Pullman strike
Union workers walk out of the factory of the Pullman Company in Pullman, Illinois, in spite of the paternalistic treatment the company had afforded to workers. The strike, organized by Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union, will end in total defeat. -
ILGWU Strike
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union calls a strike in New York, demanding a 20-percent pay raise and a 52-hour workweek. Within two days, more than 20,000 workers from 500 factories walk off the job. This largely successful "Uprising of 20,000" is the largest labor action by women in the nation's history. -
LA Times Bombing
A bomb explodes at the headquarters of the stridently anti-union Los Angeles Times, killing twenty people. Eventually two men connected with the Iron Workers Union, which has been implicated in other bombings, will confess to dynamiting the Times. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
A fire in lower Manhattan kills 146 women workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. The tragedy highlights the harsh conditions under which the young women had to work, evoking public sympathy for reform. -
First State Minimum wage law
Massachusetts adopts the first minimum wage law, setting a floor under the pay of women and minors. Other states will pass similar laws beginning the same year.
