When I read the prompt for this essay, the first example that came to mind was one of my favorite Musicals, “Newsies,” which is based off the real Newsboy strike in 1899. The strike was a youth led campaign, triggered by the want of change in the way two major heads of the newspaper industry Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers compensated their child labor force. Newsboys would buy bundles of papers from the companies for a set price, and then sell them on their own. Whatever they didn’t sell was their loss. The strike began soon after Pulitzer and Hearst raised the price of a newspaper bundle of 100 newspapers from 50 cents to 60 cents. During the strike circulation was reduced 3 to 1, as the newsboys recruited more
The strike affected much of the country, and it had great influence on public opinion on the rights of workers. It showed how the roles of management and the roles of government handled this situation. The Pullman Strike of 1894 and its aftermath had a huge effect on the course of the labor movement in the United States. The use of federal troops and the labor injunction sent a message to U.S. workers that would not change until the new deal of the 1930s. George Pullman was no longer look at as the great enlightened employer who took care of his workers, but a greedy intolerant man. After the strike he was worried that people would rob him so when he was buried he had it lined in concrete so no one could. The Pullman strike ultimately was unsuccessful at the time. Workers were sent to jail and many couldn’t find any jobs after. Although, it was successful in several ways. The federal government was involved for the first time in history because of a strike, and because they all took a stand for their human rights it impacted the future and how workers are treated
During the Railroad Strike of 1877, when large crowds in Baltimore attempted to attack militia breaking up the strike, President Hayes got word of the uprising and personally sent his troops to quell it (DOC B). Many witnesses of the strike used Yellow Journalism to make it seem as if Communists were causing the strike through the use of political cartoons in newspapers, such as “Always killing the goose that lays the golden egg” (DOC C), where the strike was purposefully invalidated to break up the labor movement. Nevertheless, the largeness of the uprising made strikes become more widely-known, causing employers to be slower to slash wages in fear of a bigger
The strike was generally non-violent. The majority of the strikers were reformist, ("revolutionary socialism", which believes that there must be a revolution to fundamentally change a society.) not radical. They wanted to amend the system, not destroy it and build a new one.
This strike was a battle over several issues. One factor that escalated the strike intensity was the pensions battle. Billons of dollars in pensions were on the line. The Teamste...
The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the first national strike in American history and it came about during a period of unrest with labor unions and controversy regarding the role of government in business.5 The strike officially started when employees organized and went to their supervisors to ask for a lowered rent and were refused.5 The strike had many different causes. For example, workers wanted higher wages and fewer working hours, but the companies would not give it to them; and the workers wanted better, more affordable living quarters, but the companies would not offer that to them either. These different causes created an interesting and controversial end to the Pullman strike. Because of this, questions were raised about the strike that are still important today. Was striking a proper means of getting what the workers wanted? Were there better means of petitioning their grievances? Was government intervention constitutional? All these questions were raised by the Pullman Strike.
There were several specific labor unions and strikes that affected the general public. In 1866, the National Labor Union was formed. Their main goal was the 8-hour work day. The National Labor Union did have some setbacks in achieving this goal; one in partic...
This strike involved the workers of General Motors and they were unhappy with how much they were getting payed in relation to how much profit General Motors was bringing in. They also were concerned with the notion of being fired with no warning and no help after they were layoff with no unemployment insurance. The workers that were still at the plants had no control over about of hours to be worked, or when the lines would speed up. With the workers at high tension they formed the Sit down strike (The 1937 Flint Sit- down Strike). The strike need to be this was for a few reasons, one, all the workers would not leave the building because if they held a normal strike then they would just all be fired and replaced with other people. Another reason was because although there was an early union that started in 1935, the United Automotive Workers (UAW), they are still a new union that did not have respect with he companies to negotiate with them. Also, by locking themselves inside with the machinery, the GM had to react in a peaceful way so that their machines would not be damaged(Rubenslein Ziewacz, 241). Another big step for Unions was on August 28, 1963. This was event was called the March on Washington and took place at our nations capital. Although many people now know the March on Washington to be about civil rights and freedom it was originally about Jobs and the rights of workers. My people gathered to hear Dr. King speak about freedom, but the Union officials were their as well supporting what they were fighting for as well (The 1937 Flint Sit- down
For instance, in 1892, Carnegie was trying to tear down unions and in Homestead, Pennsylvania decided to fire everyone. However, if they signed a contract stating that they would not join a union, they could get their job back. In response to this, the workers struck back and started shooting the Pinkerton's and it got to the point where the company called in the state militia who defeated the strikers. This was known as the Homestead Strike and the surviving strikers were arrested and convicted of murder. Furthermore, in 1894, the Pullman Strike occurred where a nationwide railroad strike occurred. George Pullman basically owned the town and controlled the cost of rent and food, so when he lowered wages and raised prices, the workers called for a strike. Eugene Debbs was asked to lead the strike leading to the formation of the American Railroad Workers Union (ARWU). Debbs told the workers to not work any of Pullman cars on the railroad. Since the railroads had a huge impact on the national economy, President Cleveland intervened and got the National Guard to run the trains and ordered them to crush the strike. Debbs was arrested for breaking the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, but formed the Industrial Workers of the World union (IWW) in jail. Some members of the ARWU were killed or wounded
In the mid-1880s, groups across the country went on strike in an effort to persuade employers to shift to eight hour workdays. On May 4, 1886, thousands of people gathered in Chicago to meet in a peaceful protest regarding an event that occurred the previous day in which some strikers were killed by police. The group met at a place known as the Haymarket Square. The event turned violent. Police fired into the crowd and someone set off a bomb. However, it is unclear as to which incident occurred first. What is known is that several people were killed and hundreds were injured.
against their employers, employees were able to go on strike and prove a point. Some
Through these harsh, discriminating, inhumane conditions, unification came about. In 1936, the Filipino Labor Union was formed to rise against inequity. The first strike that took effect was the Salinas Lettuce Strike. Already being paid less than a dollar an hour, the enraged picketers fought hard to fight against the hourly wage being reduced from forty to thirty cents. According to the article The Salinas Lettuce Strike of 1936, “Vigilantes, encouraged by the growers, surrounded the Filipino camp, burned it, and sent the inhabitants out of the Salinas valley at gun-point” (Salinas Lettuce Strike of 1936). Instead of receiving the change they were determined to get, they decided to seize the strike on November 3rd because of the brutality they were facing. The next major strike that took place was the Delano Grape Strike. This is the strike that led to something new. The Filipino Labor Union then became a much larger association – the United Farm Workers Union, although the strike mostly consisted of Filipino grape pickers. Demanding another raise in pay, Filipino labor workers along with Mexican labor workers went on strike so America would acknowledge
The important prelude to the Coal Strike of 1902 was the strike of 1990. This strike occurred just as the 1900 presidential elections were happening (Grossman). John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers called this strike into effect on September 17, 1900 (Grossman). It proved effective because he had the support of most miners. The election also helped the miners cause as it brought the strike to national attention. Political bosses took note and convinced mine owners that a strike was bad news for their party (Grossman). This allowed the strikers to get the 1...
As in all genres, the musicals have had its share of failures. Some worthy dramas have been pressed into service and musicalized and sometimes butchered in the process, and audiences have had to watch a fine play diluted into a mediocre musical. But the successes have been many and spectacular and they have left a long lasting effect on the American art and culture.
The Typographical Society of New York was organized in 1795. In the fall of 1803, they went on strike for the enforcement of the first pay scale adopted for the printers of New York. It lasted ten years, but their demands were never met, and they ceased to exist in 1804. In 1935,, the Pennsylvania general strike in Philadelphia involved twenty thousand workers striking for a ten hour workday and increased wages. This strike ended in a victory for the workers. Unions would gain momentum as industry grew and a larger labor force was needed.
Tabloid culture is, in simple terms, gossip. Anna Hummel, a student of University of California, quoted Robin Dunbar; a published expert on gossip, in her short paper called ‘The Evolutionary significance of Gossip’. She says, ‘As humans, we take pride in our ability to think critically and express ourselves through art, music, religion, politics, and science. But in reality, most of these subjects are not discussed in the majority of human social discourse. About two-thirds of all human conversation is gossip (Dunbar 1996: 4); informal, trivial chatter, usually about the lives of other people’.