The Struggle of Organized Labor: Strikebreaking in the 1890s: Homestead Strike; Pullman Strike, Eugene V. Debs, In re Debs (apr 18, 1890 – apr 18, 1895)

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(WXT, POL) The most prominent and destructive response to an unjust working environment was through strikes. Strikes mostly aimed to slow down the production of goods until compensation was paid to the workers of the institution. In the Homestead Strike, Henry Clay Frick lowered the wages of the laborers in Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead Steel plant by 20% which invoked fury and frustration to all the workers of the factory. The steelworkers responded in a walkout, but Frick refused to let the strike proceed so he used weapons of the lockout, private guards, and strikebreakers to stop the steelworkers. Ultimately, the Union’s efforts failed, and set back their efforts drastically. A more drastic strike was the Pullman Strike. In the Pullman strike, workers living in George Pullman’s company town, after their wages were cut, dropped their tools and called for the help of the American Railroad Union led by Eugene V. Debs. Debs told workers to stop working with any trains that had any of Pullman’s cars. As a result, the movement of trains across America slowed down dramatically. However, railroad leaders did not let this slide. Many railroad owners tied Pullman’s cars onto mail trains and even got President Grover Cleveland involved. The federal government demanded that the workers halt the boycott and stop trying to halt the movement of trains across the United States. Most of the workers did not comply with the injunction so they were arrested and the boycott was put to a halt. Not to mention, that in the court case In re Debs, the courts allowed for the use of injunction against strikes. As a result, employers gained immense power over their employees and against unions. With all the strikes occurring across America, a message was sent despite only 3 percent of Americans being in Unions. In the 1900s, many people were beginning to sympathise with laborers and understanding the need for a balance between the demands of the employer and the needs of the employees in order to prevent strikes in the future and the immense violence of the 1800s.

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