Breakthrough On Transit Worker Strike: June 22, 1900
June 22, 1900 was an important day in St. Louis, a beginning to restoring order and mobility:
The first breakthrough came in the streetcar strike which had terrorized St. Louisans for almost eight weeks, when employees of the Suburban Road reached an amicable settlement with management. Violence during the long strike had been frequent. Dynamite placed on the tracks of several lines on June 17 had damaged cars, but not passengers. A citizens’ posse had had violent encounters with strikers, and several people head been killed in riots and shootings. Those bold enough to brave the union’s disfavor by riding the cars were jeered at and sometimes assaulted by angry crowds of union sympathizers, and several riders had had their clothes torn off when they alighted from the cars.
The union’s grievances were concerned with low pay and long hours. The seriousness of the strike, largest of of (sic) its kind to date in the nation, was attested by the arrival of Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, who tried uncussessfully (sic) to arbitrate with local authorities in mid-June. (Source: The book ‘St. Louis Day by Day’ by Frances Hurd Stadler)
From Wikipedia:
The St. Louis Streetcar Strike of 1900 was a labor action, and resulting civil disruption, against the St. Louis Transit Company by a group of three thousand workers unionized by the Amalgamated Street Railway Employees of America.
Between May 7 and the end of the strike in September, 14 people had been killed, and 200 wounded. (Wikipedia)
From a 2010 Post-Dispatch article (recommended):
Employees of St. Louis Transit Co., controlling all but a few routes, voted at 2 a.m. May 8, 1900, to strike. The bosses vowed to operate the cars. Strikers and sympathizers quickly gathered along the routes leading downtown.
At 15th Street and Washington Avenue, women from the Garment Workers Union stood across the tracks. A large crowd at Sixth and Locust streets pelted streetcars with rocks and cut overhead power lines. (stltoday.com: A look back • Bloody street strike in 1900 rips open class divide)
In anticipation of a commenter asking “so what?’ let me state this post is a history lesson; there is no hidden agenda, no special meaning, etc. If you’re not satisfied please email me to request a refund.
– Steve Patterson
I wonder what we’ve learned locally over the past 112 years about labor unions? I know that, in STL, they are responsible for helping to produce one of the most skilled building contracting labor pools in the US, in my opinion. I value the skill and dedication and hard work of local ironworkers, carpenters and laborers and bricklayers to rank among some of the finest that can be found anywhere, inside and outside of the US, especially among some of the younger tradesmen, many of whom are advancing to foreman and superintendent status. But in the process, I’m wondering if labor unions today might not offer a disservice to and destroy the personal initiative of those workers who attempt to give the contractor a full, honest 8 hours of service, vs those who are just along for the ride but reap the same benefits? The pie could be so much sweeter and more plentiful if all ingredients were added equally.
History lessons are always good. Thanks Steve! In my view, a person who does not know his own history cannot see his own future. Learn from the past, look to the future.
Mobs tearing peoples clothes off, that’s a new one on me. What happened next, were the victims further assaulted or merely forced to find new clothes in embarrasment? Is tearing off clothes going to be the next knockout game?