|
THE
GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE OF 1877
From 1874 through 1877, the
United States suffered through a devastating economic depression, or panic,
as they were called back then. Businesses faced declining profits and many
went bankrupt. Worker were let go or had their hours cut and wages and family
incomes fell drastically. Working class families became desperate, with many
on the brink of starvation.
This was also the time of rapid
expansion of the railroads following the Civil War. In 1850 only 2,201 miles
of track were in use but this tripled by 1860. By 1877, the railroad network
had grown to 79,000 miles of track. The national economy had quickly become
dependent on railroads to move raw materials, finished products, mail, and
people. The men who owned and ran these new corporate empires became
fabulously rich and powerful. On the other hand, work on the railroad was
dangerous and demanding, with long hours under brutal work conditions. When
the panic hit, the railroads seized the opportunity to lay off crews and cut
wages. With declining revenues, managers cut expenses wherever possible so
equipment and roadways alike went unmaintained, becoming more dangerous than
usual to workers.
Many railroad workers had joined
craft unions, known as the Railroad Brotherhoods, in an attempt to protect
themselves from the greed of the railroad owners. However, the Brotherhoods
were organized along craft lines and generally failed to support one another.
Ina addition, employers did not recognize and legal right of workers to
collective bargaining. They dealt with the unions as expediency dictated:
sometimes they negotiated, other times they ignored the unions. No formal
recognition was ever given to the Brotherhoods. Consequently when the panic
of 1874-77 hit, with its widespread layoffs and severe wage cuts, these early
unions were not able to effectively oppose the powerful corporations for whom
the worked. Sporadic strikes by individual Brotherhoods produced only limited
results.
By the summer of 1877, railroad
workers of the Baltimore and Ohio, the B&O, had already suffered
reductions of 50% of what they had earned before the panic. Their wage cuts
averaged 30% more than the national average of railroad wage reductions.
B&O workers were clearly the lowest paid men on any railroad in the
country except for workers on the New York Central line. (Philip S. Foner,
The Great Labor Uprising of 1877)
Then, on July 11, the B&O
announced an additional 10% wage cut to be effective on Monday, July 16th.
Housing cost, equipment and tool prices, and the price of necessities had not
fallen so this announcement had an explosive impact on the B&O workers.
Making matters worse, the Baltimore Sun newspaper had just reported that
B&O President John Garrett claimed that the company’s affairs were
“entirely satisfactory” and the Board of Directors had just voted the usual
10%dividend for the B&O stockholders.
The workers had had enough.
Shortly before noon on July 16th, a fireman climbed down from his
engine (No. 32) in disgust at Camden Junction, between Baltimore and
Martinsburg, joined by many local citizens, assembled a the B&O
roundhouse, seized and uncoupled engines, ran them into the roundhouse, and
announced to B&O officials that no more would leave Martinsburg in either
direction until the last wage cut was restored. The townspeople generally
supported the strikers and Martinsburg Statesman accused President Garrett of
“putting wages down to the starvation point” and urged the workers “to
resist”, (Philip S. Foner, The Great Labor Uprising of 1877)
No violence occurred and only
freight trains were stopped. Mail and passenger trains were allowed to
proceed. The strike rapidly spread across the B&O system and to other
railroads. Other workers, unionized and non-union, joined the strikers in
many cities turning the railroad work stoppage into a general allow workers
to provide for their families once again. When local authorities pressured
governors and eventually President Hayes to use federal troops to quell the
work stoppage.
For two weeks, northeastern
cities like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Reading, Martinsburg, St. Louis, Wheeling,
and Chicago, experienced civil turmoil as armed troops rode the trains,
occupied terminals, and crushed the strike. In Pittsburgh, where hatred of
the Pennsylvania Railroad and its president, Tom Scott, was particularly
intense, most of the city rose in support of the strike. The depot and its
warehouses were burned to the ground along with hundreds of engines and
boxcars. In several cities, federal troops fired on strikers and crowds of
unarmed civilians and killed or wounded hundreds of people. In time, the
strike collapsed, mainly due to the lack of any organized leadership capable
of sustaining the effort in the face of the military.
The reaction of employers across
the nation to this general strike was one of irrational hysteria. They and
their allies, especially in the influential newspapers, fed the nation a
steady barrage of propaganda against workers, unions, and any who expressed
sympathy for the suffering of workers and their families. Some of the most
vicious editorials, sermons, and political harangues seen were made against
labor in support of employer, Wholesale class warfare had erupted in America.
While the immediate goals of the
railroad strike were not won, several positive outcomes did come fro this
massive reaction by workers against employer exploitation. A new sense of
class solidarity emerged among workers. Unions regrouped and began to grow.
The need of unions capable of organizing on an industrial basis to counter
the power of giant corporations became clear to many workers. The public
gradually became aware of the need to place political restraint so the
disruptive behavior of the corporate giants in their insatiable drive for
profits. The events of 1877 paved the way for the political and economic
reforms of the early 1900s.
By: David Cormier
Institute for Labor Studies and Research
West Virginia University
June 28, 2002
|
|
OUR HERITAGE
The International
Association of Machinist Local Lodge 104 represents the locomotive machinist/
mechanics working mainly at the CSX Transportation Huntington Locomotive
Shops. It is also known as the Huntington Heavy Repair. We are located in
Huntington, West Virginia. The Local Lodge 104 also serves a few smaller
facilities in our area such as South Charleston, West Virginia, and several
at the Russell, Kentucky, locomotive shops.
The locomotive shop was
put into service by the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad in 1872. Inside the
facility the workers rebuilt steam locomotives. They worked long hours under
poor conditions for low wages. In the turn of the century, the workers
decided it was time to take a stand. They wanted fair treatment and a decent
wage. On April 25th, 1900, a charter was signed with the
International Association of Machinist (IAM) and became Huntington Local
Lodge number 104. As members of the IAM they now had the power of collective
bargaining on their side. Conditions slowly but surely improved. Along with
the improved conditions came great pride in their work, a winning combination
for both workers and employers.
In the early 1930’s the
shops were enlarged and remodeled to become the second largest railway shop
in the world, at that time. This is the same facility that the members of
local lodge 104 work in today. Under the same roof that IAM workers
maintained and rebuilt the steam locomotives of that era. The members now
maintain and rebuild the state-of-the-art diesel electric locomotives of
today.
Our IAM heritage is
long and proud, with over 100 years of membership. We are thankful that our
forefathers had the insight to join the IAM and fight the battle for fairness
in the workplace through the process of collective bargaining.
Today we reap the
benefits of the battle they waged. We receive a decent wage; better working
conditions, and health benefits to name a few. We must continue the battle
that our forefathers started for the future. If we let down our guard we will
surely lose ground. We owe it to our forefathers to protect what they have
gained for us. We also owe it to our children to continue to make the
workplace better for them.
Local Lodge 104 is
dedicated to carrying on the traditions handed down to them as "THE
FIGHTING MACHINISTS" well into the FUTURE.
|
