What Do You Know About Labor Day?
George Pullman founded the town of Pullman, Illinois to create a haven outside of Chicago for the employees of his railroad car company. It’s strange now to imagine an environment so corporately insular, but Pullman nearly monopolized the economy of an entire town – providing jobs and housing while also owning everything in sight. Nearly every dollar paid to a Pullman employee by the Pullman company and then spent in the town of Pullman,IL. returned to the pocket of George Pullman. Still, the system worked for more than a decade.
Too bad George’s world wasn’t entirely self-sufficient. The Pullman Palace Car Company required cash from the broader U.S. economy to function, and the economic depression of the time caused orders for the company’s product to decline. With fewer dollars coming in, many workers in the town were laid off. Incomes vanished, rents and goods remained locked at Pullman-set levels, and the workers who kept their Pullman Co. jobs received orders which employees in 2011 hear far too often – do more with less.
Facing 16-hour workdays and pay cuts at the insistence of a boss who controlled the cost of living (but refused to adjust it downward), the Pullman employees became frustrated and trapped. In June of 1894, a strike organized and supported through the American Railway Union demanded Pullman increase wages and reduce rents for employees. Railroad workers across the nation joined in solidarity by refusing to switch or operate trains with Pullman cars, and the ARU pledged a full strike across the entire industry if rail companies attempted to discipline workers for boycotting Pullman.
American industry relied upon the dependable operation of the railroads, so the trouble in Illinois soon drew national attention. President Grover Cleveland felt pressure from shipping tycoons and also recognized the threat to the U.S. Postal Service should the full ARU strike, so he declared the boycott a federal crime. Cleveland next ordered twelve thousand U.S. Army troops and the United States Marshals to bring an immediate end the labor dispute. The government agents killed 13 workers and injured another 57 before the conflict ended.
The violent and heavy-handed action by the federal government marked the beginning of several ends. President Cleveland would fail to secure his party’s nomination for another term largely due to opposition from the governor of Illinois, who disagreed with the involvement of U.S. forces. The Supreme Court eventually forced the Pullman company to surrender all interest in Pullman, Illinois, which Chicago annexed. And just three years after the strike, George Pullman remained such a villain to labor that his death resulted in a night-time funeral replete with a steel-reinforced concrete tomb, all to avoid desecration of his remains at the hands of a vengeful proletariat.
The conflict did have at least one positive outcome, though. As a way to mollify an increasingly unhappy labor movement across the nation, and to help remedy the negative feelings surrounding the death of American workers at the hands of U.S. soldiers, Congress passed legislation creating the federal Labor Day holiday just six days after the end of the strike.
117 years later, 2011 finds labor organizations in several states maligned, weakened, and on the verge of breaking. The federal government sides with industry and merely watches as state governors outlaw labor organization and collective bargaining. Our jobs are being taken away by our employers and our work piled higher and higher because of a steadfast refusal to hire, hire. Those with jobs are so afraid of losing their employment they don’t object to taking on more work and more hours without more pay, or even with less pay. How could they possibly take a stand for any one else? Many Americans don’t know what a labor union does and have never been a part of one. Most aren’t given the option. Many Americans don’t have any idea that unions are responsible for limitations on working which they likely take for granted, including 8-hour days, 40-hour weeks, and overtime pay, let alone the free day off granted on the first Monday of September.
I’m surprised the observance hasn’t been cancelled altogether.
Unions protect and help Americans, but require our support to remain vital. As we enjoy the holiday, it should be remembered that Americans have fought and died to secure rights currently being stolen by the corporate influences on our government. Those Americans had homes and families and plenty to lose, but took a stand because they knew it to be right.When we believe that our own jobs are not at risk, our positions not threatened, and someone else’s union is not ours to worry about, we fail our neighbors and ourselves. We betray the brave actions of braver men and women who defended difficult positions for the benefit of those outside and beyond their own lives.
Unions are American. Organizing to protect and improve common interests is American. Undermining or criminalizing attempts to bargain collectively contradicts American democratic principles.
Information concerning your right to join or form a union can be found at the website of the AFL-CIO.
The opinions expressed in this post and throughout RedBrownandBlue.com are intended to encourage civil discussion and invite well-reasoned alternatives. To join in, please visit our Contact Us page and drop us a line. Your contribution may be highlighted as a selected response and posted to the site at a later date.
Jake Negovan drives Red Brown and Blue to be an outlet for progressive political opinion that leads to the betterment of life for the real, multicultural population of the U.S. and the rest of the world. His columns address the issues faced by our country as we continue growing toward a society of equality. More about Jake can be found on the web at jakejots.com or on Twitter@jakenegovan.
