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Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Intended to block business monopolies, it is used effectively by employers against unions. -
Homestead 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. -
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. -
Ludlow Massacre
Violence breaks out in a camp housing striking miners in Ludlow, Colorado. National Guardsmen machinegun strikers and set fire to their tents, killing five miners, two women, and twelve children. More than 75 people will be killed over the full course of the industrial dispute. -
Postwar Strike Wave
A wave of strikes breaks out after World War I. More than 40,000 coal workers and 120,000 textile workers walk off the job. In Boston, police strike, causing chaos in the city. The labor unrest is answered by a "Red scare," in which agitators are rounded up and the public turns suspicious of labor radicals. -
Taft-Hartley Act
Congress overrides President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley bill, a landmark piece of legislation that rolls back many of the advantages labor gained in the 1935 Wagner Act. Many Democrats join with Republican lawmakers to curb the power of unions. -
Landrum-Griffith Act
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, also known as the Landrum-Griffith Act. The law addresses the union corruption uncovered by Senator John L. McClellan. It holds labor leaders to stricter standards in handling union funds and requires them to file annual reports. -
Kennedy Legalizes Public Employee Unions
An order by President Kennedy allows federal employees to organize, join unions, and bargain collectively with the government. It does not give them the right to strike. The move begins an era of public employee unionization. -
WWI
World War 1 caused a lot of the union to crash. most union workers were demanded in the battlefield.
