jan 1, 1877 - Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Description:

- Due to an economic depression, railroad companies cut wages in order to reduce costs
- Strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad spread across 11 states and shut down ⅔ of the country’s rail trackage
- Railroad workers joined by 500,000 workers from other industries (national strike)
- President Hayes used federal troops to end labor violence
- By the time the strike ended, 100 were killed
- After the strike, some employers addressed the workers’ grievances by improving wages and working conditions, while others took a hard line by busting workers’ organizations.

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