Today in Labor History June 26, 2023

 

Armed soldiers pose with locomotive during the Pullman Strike

The American Railway Union launched a boycott of all trains carrying Pullman cars, turning the Pullman strike into a national strike which was eventually crushed by federal troops and by lack of support from the more conservative American Federation of Labor. Strike leader Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned and many workers were blacklisted for their involvement. – 1894

The Bisbee, Arizona IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) miner strike occurred on this date. On July 12, 1,300 strikers, their supporters, and innocent bystanders were illegally deported from Bisbee by 2,000 vigilantes. They traveled over 200 miles in cattle cars, without food or water for 16 hours. – 1917

The St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened. The joint project between the US and Canada employed 22,000 workers to build the 2,342-mile waterway system linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. – 1959