All The Grandeur We Behold

September 3rd, 2010 |

More than 100 years ago the fledgling labor movement began the push to create a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.*” and while the Central Labor Union first celebrated Labor Day in 1882, it took the blood of American workers to force national legislative recognition of the holiday…

It was in the spring of 1894, when 3000 workers in the town of Pullman, Illinois began a wildcat strike against Pullman Palace Car Company. Pullman was losing revenue, fast. A year earlier America began slipping into an economic depression caused by railroad companies overbuilding and unscrupulous financing which caused a chain of bank failures. To attempt to survive Pullman cut their workers’ wages.

Now if you’ve been following along, you’ve probably caught on that Pullman, Il., was of course a company town owned by the Pullman Corporation. Pullman was founded by George M. Pullman who, according to the Historic Pullman Foundation, built the town as a “model community superior to that available to the working class elsewhere.” By creating the town for his workers he hoped to attract the most skilled workers, attain greater productivity and… avoid strikes. The trouble was, that when Pullman cut their workers’ wages, they didn’t feel it was necessary to adjust the cost of housing in the town they owned. Adding further tinder to the fire, George Pullman refused to communicate in any way with the workers about the situation.

In support of the Pullman workers strike, the American Railway Union began a boycott refusing to handle Pullman cars across the county. Thus began a fight between the workers and the railroad companies that at the time, the railways could ill afford. As always seems the case, violence and destruction ensued.

Under the auspice of keeping the mail going through, the US government came down on the side of corporate America. Attorney General Richard Olney instructed the local district attorneys to get injunctions restraining workers from striking. He also advised the use of Federal troops. It was not long afterward when US Marshalls accompanied by 12,000 US army soldiers rolled into town. 13 workers were killed and 57 wounded.

Just 6 days later, congress unanimously signed into law legislation making Labor Day a national holiday.

Something to think about today, September 3rd, 2010. Let the Labor Day weekend begin.

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