User:SummerPhD/General strike

inuse The General Strike of 1910 was a labor strike by trolley workers of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company that grew to a city-wide riot and general strike in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1909 strike
On May 29 1909 a committee of the local AFL affiliate Amalgamated Association of Street Car and Electric Railway Men of America approached officials of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT) with demands for an hourly wage of 25 cents for motormen and conductors, the right to buy their uniforms on the open market, limits of workdays to 9 or 10 hours and recognition of the Association. Officials at PRT refused to meet with the committee, triggering a strike.

PRT responded by bringing in strike breakers from New York City and Boston. Violence broke out, with trolley cars, tracks and wiring destroyed, police brutality and wholesale arrests of strikers. Given the population's general dislike of the company for poor service, mismanagement and backroom political dealings, the union felt safe issueing an ultimatum. John J. Murphy of the Central Labor Union issued the terms:"If the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company does not meet the demands of the trolley workers by Thursday night (June 7), a strike of all organized labor bodies of Philadelphia affiliated with the Central Labor Union, representing 75,000 men, will be called for Friday morning. The present strike is only a beginning of the fight which will be waged by organized labor to emancipate the city of Philadelphia from the thraldom of capitalism."

State Senator James P. McNichol met with the union and Mayor Reyburn urged PRT to settle. On June 2 1909, an agreement was announced. The workers received a wage increase from 21 to 22 cents per hour, a ten hour work day, the right to buy uniforms from five clothiers and recognition of the union. The company, however, soon ignored one of the key terms of the deal by establishing a replacement union, refusing to meet with representatives of Amalgamated and giving choice jobs and promotions to members of PRT's union.

New negotiations
In December 1909 the Amalgamated union made new demands for a wage increase to 25 cents an hour. PRT flatly refused and on January 1 1910, without union discussion, announced a complicated "welfare plan" for the workers; keeping the 22 cents an hour pay rate and adding insurance and pension provisions. Two days later, the company fired seven workers for announcing they were joining Amalgamated and denouncing the welfare provisions as the company's attempt to undermine union demands. Amalgamated requested arbitration, which the company refused.

A strike vote was called. With over 5,300 votes cast, the strike was approved with less than 5% voting against. The strike resolution charged PRT with creating "dissention and discord" by forming the company-controlled union, favoring employees antagonistic to Amalgamated, refusing to address grievances, attempting to prevent workers from joining Amalgamated, firing workers who joined and refusing arbitration. The resolution left the timing of the actual strike to Amalgamated's Executive Board.

Local newspapers, citing the near unanimity of the vote and the union's obvious strength, urged PRT to give the situation urgent attention. PRT issued a statement saying "The strike vote will not change the attitude of the company the slightest." Mayor Reyburn endorsed the company's position, calling the union memebers "semi-public functionaries" who owe their service to the city.

Negotiations slowly got under way and labored on until mid-February. AFL President Samuel Gompers urged PRT to join the union in arbitration to reach a settlement. PRT dismissed the offer saying they had the situation under control and stating they intended to uphold the rights of workers to join or not join a union of their choosing and breaking off negotiations.

On February 19 1910, PRT fired 173 workers, all of them members of the union, "for the good of the service" and hired replacement workers from New York City. Immediately after the firings, the union leadership ordered the strike, taking their respective trolley cars off the streets effective at 1:00 that afternoon.

The strike and riots
On the first day of the strike, hundreds of strike breakers were brought in. Mayor Reyburn dispatched heavy police guard to the trolly barns. Newspapers of the time noted the "almost universal hatred" the public had for PRT.

Throughout the city scab drivers were forced from their trolley cars which were then overturned, smashed and burned. Crowds on Broad Street marched in protest of the mayor's openly alligning with PRT, only to be met by police freely clubbing protesters. Marchers in Kensington met with a similar fate while 10,000 protesters in Germantown fought furiously with police for hours.

Workers meeting police while seizing the Baldwin Locomotive Works hurled bricks, nuts, bolts and tools. Police responded with an indiscriminant hail of bullets hitting strikers and pedestrians alike. The police called in fire fighters who used heavy hoses on the growing crowds. In reporting the day's events, a local paper noted that the forceful response "cannot be expected to quell the indignation...these people are Americans and they are not accustomed to Russian rule."

The mayor called for 3,000 citizens to serve police duty. Amalgamated offered 6,000 union men -- "bonafide citizens of Philadelphia (to) preserve peace and order" -- an offer the mayor rejected.

Women's auxiliary formed
By the end of March, the general strike was called off. The wives, daughters and women friends of the stiking car men set about organizing a woman's auxiliary of the car men's union to raise funds in support of the strike. The city's Director of Public Safety turned down their requests for parade permits. During the court hearing seeking to overturn the ruling, the auxiliary's organizer, when questioned about her politics, stated that she was not an anarchist, but a Socialist. She stated that there would be men in the parade, but only to hold babies and push strollers so that the women marchers would have their hands free to collect donations. The court ruled against the auxiliary and the refusal to issue the permit was not overturned.

The women's auxiliary went on to raise funds through a variety of sales, entertainment events and door-to-door solicitions.