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The great railroad strike began on the Baltimore & Ohio and spread west along the railroads through west Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and eventually touching Omaha, St.Louis and the west .
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A hundred years ago today, several workers were killed and about 30 were injured when the police opened fire at a rally for an eight-hour work day at the McCormick Reaper Works. A protest meeting was hurriedly called for 7:30 o'clock the next night, May 4, 1886, in Haymarket Square.Minutes later someone threw a bomb at the police and a melee ensued. Many people were wounded, and seven officers lost their lives.
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The Knights of Labor was one of the earliest labor organizing party that sought to diversify the worker population by enlisting workers from different races, such as African Americans, and women under the motto An Injury to One Is the Concern of all. Like other labor unions, they advocated for laws ending child labor and also wanted equal pay for women.
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The strike was a result of the Pullman Palace Car Company cutting already lowered wages by 25 percent, but not decreasing the rents and other charges of its workers who lived in the town of Pullman. By June 30, 125,000 workers decided to stop working, and 29 railroads were shut down.
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The Bread and Roses Strike it was caused by a two hour payout that responded to law that shortened the workweek for women starting on January 1, 1912. Women could only work 54 hours a week. The Strike lasted for two weeks.
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The Ludlow Massacre, one of history’s most violent moments in labor relations, took place 100 years ago on the prairies of southern Colorado and killed 20 people, including women and children.
The massacre, which took place on April 20, 1914, was just one event in the Colorado Coal Field Wars which comprised a longer conflict over dangerous working conditions and unfair labor practices.