The Great Railroad Strike
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The Great Railroad Strike
The Great Railroad Strike was the first big strike by rail workers in America and the first general strike. In my opinion, the rail workers had the strongest argument. The rail companies unilaterally decided to slash the wages of the workers. For instance, wages of workers employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad which was the biggest in the country were slashed by a tenth in June then slashed by another 10% in the subsequent month. At the same time, the length of all trains going to Pittsburgh was doubled yet the size of the crew was not increased meaning that the workers were expected to put in more work at less pay. The wage cuts were made against a backdrop of a recessive economy, high inflation rates, and high cost of living attributed to the financial crisis of 1873. The rail companies latched on this excuse to justify the wage decrements (VT, 2014; Digital History, 2014; UNL, 2014).
The workers had the strongest argument because they were hired on certain contractual terms which were being fragrantly flouted without their input. The economy was in bad shape and reducing the wages of workers and increasing their workload would make them destitute as the cost of living had shot through the roof. Force and violence leading to deaths of tens of the rail workers was unleashed on the striking workers in an attempt to break the strike. The actions by the rail companies show a failure of leadership and a serious assault on the rights of the workers. Whereas the economy was in bad shape and the rail companies were finding it difficult to operate profitably, the companies were obliged to look at other ways of resolving the crisis. A more humane approach would have been to engage the workers using dialogue. Instead, the firms made draconian and unilateral decisions without consulting the workers and reaching an amicable settlement. This would not have led the workers to react the way they did.
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