cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25773825
Philadelphia General Strike (1910)
Sat Feb 19, 1910
Image: Workers and supporters gather before a meeting on February 2nd, 1910, as the tensions between the Rapid Transit Company and workers increased. From the Library of Congress [philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/]
On this day in 1910, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (RTC) fired 173 union members, resulting in a series of escalating labor actions that culminated in a general strike.
RTC fired the workers "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.
During the strike, workers destroyed trolley property. A crowd of 2,000 seized a trolley and set it on fire. Another crowd of 5,000 seized a crew working a trolley and beat them in the street. A bomb threat in Germantown was disregarded until dynamite was loaded onto the tracks by 2,000 workers.
Despite the union threatening a general strike if strike breakers were brought in, RTC brought in 600 strike breakers while simultaneously denying that they had done so.
When the National Guard entered Philadelphia to provide protection for RTC, members of other unions saw this as a clear signal that the city and state governments were uniting in favor of the companies against the unions, and the entire city began a general strike.
The general strike began on March 5th, 1910 with 60,000-75,000 workers, but grew to more than 140,000 over the following weeks. During the strike, Philadelphia police arrested high-ranking union organizers and sympathy strikers, half of whom were under eighteen.
Newspapers reported violence and sabotage that rendered streetcars inoperable, as well as retaliation by strikebreakers who shot into crowds and killed several bystanders with trolleys. Approximately ten strikers and bystanders were killed by gunfire from strikebreakers and police.
The general strike ended on March 27th, however streetcar workers remained on strike until April 19th. After nine weeks of the strike, costing RTC $2,395,000 and the city government millions, RTC agreed to a wage increase, the re-hiring of strikers within three months, and mediation of the initial 173 union-targeted firings.
- Date: 1910-02-19
- Learn More: philadelphiaencyclopedia.org, en.wikipedia.org.
- Tags: #Labor, #General Strikes.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org
