Five of the Biggest Strikes in U.S. History

Women textile workers arrested by policemen for picketing the Jackson mill in Nashua, N.H., on Sept. 7, 1934.
Women textile workers arrested by policemen for picketing the Jackson mill in Nashua, N.H., on Sept. 7, 1934.

The concept of the American strike helped create the nation's great middle class.

It was no easy process. In the early days of "collective bargaining," some of the biggest strikes in U.S. history were often violent and ineffectual.

Regardless, the ability to negotiate one's working conditions has evolved into an American worker's right in the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

Here are five of the largest strikes in U.S. history that paved the way for America's working class...

Five of the Biggest Strikes in U.S. History

Biggest Strikes in U.S. History No. 1: The Great Southwest Railroad Strike

American railroads were expanding quickly by the end of the 1800s. In 1886, the Knights of Labor went on strike at the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads, owned by robber baron Jay Gould. The protest officially began when a member of the Knights of Labor was fired for initiating a company meeting in Texas.

Unrest quickly spread to Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri. Hundreds of thousands of workers across the five states refused to work, citing unsafe conditions and unfair hours and pay.

After several incidents of "union violence," Gould requested military assistance from the governors of the affected states. The governor of Missouri mobilized the state militia. The governor of Texas mobilized both the state militia and the Texas Rangers. The governor of Kansas, however, refused after local officials reported no incidents of violence, despite claims by railway executives that mobs had seized control of trains and rail yards were burning.

Ultimately, this strike failed. While the railroad workers themselves protested, engineers and other industrial workers did not join in. And Gould managed to quickly hire nonunion workers. The Knights of Labor disbanded soon afterwards.

Biggest Strikes in U.S. History No. 2: The Steel Strike of 1919

Some 350,000 U.S. Steel Corp. employees, represented by the American Federation of Labor (the first federation of labor union in the United States) in Pittsburgh, went on strike from September 1919 to January 1920.

The protest halted almost half of the country's steel industry. Workers were sick of enduring long hours, poor working conditions, and low pay.

U.S. Steel extinguished the mess with an unexpected scare tactic - and violence that lead to multiple deaths...

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The company accused its protesting employees of communism. Government officials used National Guard federal troops to put down the strike in many cities, causing a clash of violence and even workers' deaths. The protest ultimately failed and, for over a decade, left workers in the steel industry without union representation.

Biggest Strikes in U.S. History No. 3: The Textile Workers Strike of 1934

On Labor Day in 1934, more than 400,000 American textile workers on the East Coast went on strike. They protested the negligent representation of textile labor in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's National Industrial Recovery Administration.

The NIRA, which Roosevelt signed in June 1933, called for cooperation among businesses, labor, and government. It was meant to oversee the creation of codes of conduct for particular industries that would reduce overproduction, raise wages, control hours of work, guarantee the rights of workers to form unions, and stimulate an economic recovery.

But the NIRA rarely lived up to its promises. Employers made up the majority of its members and prioritized their interests - not those of their employees.

The Textile Workers Strike spread rapidly throughout the eastern seaboard. Newspaper surveys reported 200,000 protestors on Sept. 4 and 325,000 out the next day.

The rallies were disbanded by flying squadrons sent in by the National Guard.  Due to a lack of outside support, the strike ended after just 20 days with nothing accomplished.

Biggest Strikes in U.S. History No. 4: The Oakland General Strike

On Dec. 3, 1946, a general strike broke out in Oakland, Calif., after a woman was fired for joining a union. As the protest strengthened, authorities were summoned to remove picketers at two Oakland department stores - Kahn's and Hastings.

In response to the authorities, the AFL (American Federation of Labor) of Alameda County stepped in and joined forces with the strikers. A "Work Holiday" was declared by 142 AFL unions that day, prompting over 100,000 workers to walk off their jobs. By the first night of the strike, protesters shut down all the stores except for pharmacies, food markets, and bars.

Though striker numbers dissipated considerably the second day, Harry Lundeberg, who had been one of the major leaders in the San Francisco General Strike, urged people to support the workers. He famously shouted, "These flinky gazoonies who call themselves city fathers have been taking lessons from Hitler and Stalin. They don't believe in the Unions that are free to strike!"

Finally, on Dec. 5, the AFL Central Labor Council ended the strike. The major result of the debacle, however, was not that the fired woman was reinstated at her job. Rather, this protest ended with the creation of the United AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations), which would aid union friendly candidates in running for office.

Biggest Strikes in U.S. History No. 5: The Steel Strike of 1959

Members of the United Steelworkers of America went on strike against the major U.S. steel producers on July 15, 1959. This day would be the first of a record 116 days during which workers in the industry struck over contract language on new technology and job security.

There had never been such a lengthy work stoppage in the steel industry. In response, President Dwight D. Eisenhower invoked the "back-to-work provisions" of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 - anti-union legislation passed by Congress. The Steelworkers sued and the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices upheld the constitutionality of Taft-Hartley. On Nov. 7, 1959, the court ordered the workers back to work for an 80-day cooling-off period.

Taft-Hartley required that management attempt to negotiate improved conditions if a company's employees proved productive. Minimal improvements were made in the steel mills, but it did not last.

The workers threatened to strike again but were dissuaded by then Vice President Richard Nixon. Nixon met with the steelworkers in private, reminding them that the Democratic Congress would soon begin hearings on the steel strike. He urged management to listen to the employees' needs and warned the workers that little would be achieved if they struck and caused an election-year recession.

Ultimately, Nixon played a pivotal role in one of the biggest, most historic strikes in U.S. history. It resulted in automatic cost-of-living wage adjustments for the workers, as well as greatly improved pensions and health benefits.

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