Today in Labor History

July 26  -- Union Communications Services, Inc.

In Chicago, 30 workers are killed by federal troops, more than 100 wounded at the "Battle of the Viaduct" during the Great Railroad Strike - 1877

President Grover Cleveland appoints a United States Strike Committee to investigate the causes of the Pullman strike and the subsequent strike by the American Railway Union. Later that year the commission issues its report, absolving the strikers and blaming Pullman and the railroads for the conflict - 1894

Battle of Mucklow, W.Va., in coal strike. An estimated 100,000 shots were fired; 12 miners and four guards were killed - 1912

President Truman issues Executive Order 9981, directing equality of opportunity in armed forces - 1948

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) took effect today. It requires employers to offer reasonable accommodations to qualified disabled employees and bans discrimination against such workers - 1992

Teamsters Strike 1934

Governor Olson declared martial law in Minneapolis.

On July 25 Rev. Frances J. Haas and E.H. Dunnigan issue their plan for a settlement which becomes known as the Haas-Dunnigan Plan.

According to its provisions the strike was to be called off immediately, all workers were to be reinstated, union elections were to be conducted by the Regional Labor Board, negotiations on wages and hours were to be undertaken as soon as employee representation was determined, and, if no agreement was reached, wage levels v^'cre to be established by a five-man board of arbitration.
The governor hoped his threat of martial law would prompt the employers to accept the Haas-Dunnigan proposal. As expected, President William S. Brown of Local 574 immediately
notified the mediators that "by overwhelming majority in a secret ballot Local Union 574 accepts your proposal of July 25, 1934, to settle the strike."

The governor's strategy failed, however, when the Employers' Committee accepted the plan only with modifications— elimination of the minimum wage clause and the provision to rehire all strikers.
On July 26, 2012 the Governor stated that “ a state of insurrection existed” and placed the city under Marshall Law. Approximately 4,000 guardsmen were deployed and the union was forbidden from picketing or even conducting any open air meetings (Rebellion,Dobbs,149).

The Chicago Tribune called Olson a dictator and called his actions “pure Nazi doctrine.” The New York Times on its front page declared that a military dictatorship had been established in Minneapolis.

Father Haas had notified Washington that "the Citizens' Alliance dominates the employers by the
threat of cutting off bank credit." Many of the Alliance leaders were bank executives who had little personal interest in the trucking dispute but who were determined to see the union defeated and the open shop.