Pullman Strike

1. Discuss The Pullman Strike.

The Pullman Strike of 1894 was a revolutionary strike in the United States that had the potential to challenge the AFL for union members. It involved Eugene Debs and George Pullman and the American Railway Union. Because of the depression in 1893, the Pullman company had laid of over fifty percent of its workers had cut wages up to forty percent. The Pullman Company owned all the houses, buildings, and services such as the grocery store. The company, or George Pullman, had cut wages but the towns people still found themselves paying into the housing, food, and other services where the cost were not lowered to. This situation caused much hostility among employees, many of which were members of the ARU. The strike began on May 11, 1894 led by the ARU leader, Eugene Debs. The first actions that took place was the workers would cut the Pullman cars from the train and move them to side tracks leaving the Pullman company immobilized or causing workers to get fired in order for railroad carriers to put pressure on Pullman to agree with the ARU position. This did not work because the railroad employers were backing up Pullman and countered the by hiring strikebreakers. The strike got bad when employees decided to burn about 700 of the railroad cars in Chicago, which led to the federal troops coming in and Eugene debs sentenced and convicted to federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia for failing to abide by the courts labor injunction. Because of the stubbornness of the owner George Pullman, the federal government, and negative public opinion it was too difficult to alter existing terms and conditions thus deeming the strike as a disaster and utter failure.

2. Discuss the Wagner Act of 1935

The Wagner Act of 1935 also know as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935 was a policy drawn up by Senator Robert Wagner, chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. It sought to ensure that free flow of commerce, labor peace and...