Pullman Strike

Pullman strike, in U.S. history, an important labor dispute. On May 11, 1894, workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago struck to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. They sought support from their union, the American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene V. Debs, and on June 26 the ARU called a boycott of all Pullman railway cars. Within days, 50,000 rail workers complied and railroad traffic out of Chicago came to a halt. When the railroad owners asked the federal government to intervene, Attorney General Richard Olney, a director of the Burlington and Santa Fe railroads, obtained (July 2) a court injunction. On July 4, President Cleveland dispatched troops to Chicago. Much rioting and bloodshed ensued, but the government's actions broke the strike and the boycott soon collapsed. Debs and three other union officials were jailed for disobeying the injunction.

Bibliography

See A. Lindsey, The Pullman Strike (1942, repr. 1964); W. Cawardine, The Pullman Strike (1973).

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Pullman Strike

(May 11–c. July 20, 1894) Massive railroad strike in the U.S. After financial reversals caused the Pullman Palace Car Co. to cut wages by 25%, local union members called a strike. The company's president, George Pullman, refused arbitration, and union president Eugene V. Debs called for a nationwide boycott of Pullman cars. Sympathy strikes followed in 27 states. Violence broke out in Chicago, Ill., but Gov. John Peter Altgeld refused to intervene. The U.S. attorney general, Richard Olney, obtained an injunction against the strikers for impeding the mail service, and federal troops were called in. Debs's conviction for conspiring against interstate commerce established that the Sherman Antitrust Act could be enforced against labour-unions.