The Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886
The Union Pacific and the Missouri Pacific Railroads were owned by Jay Gould when they were struck by more than 200,000 workers who were members of the Knights of Labor, at the time one of the most powerful labor organizations in the United States. The strike was triggered when the Union Pacific fired a worker for attending a union meeting in violation of a previous agreement with the Knights of Labor. Workers struck in five states, and Gould responded by hiring strikebreakers, encouraged by the fact that another union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, refused to honor the strike.
The strike began on March 1, 1886 and by early April, after numerous incidents of sabotage and vandalism damaging railroad property, Gould was lobbying the governors of the affected states to provide militia to protect railroad property, and those non-striking workers who attempted to cross the picket lines. State militia were called out in Missouri and Texas, which also mustered the Texas Rangers. Strikers responded by increasing the attacks on railroad property and violent clashes between the state troops and strikers increased.
Gould used his considerable wealth and influence to ensure that the newspapers focused on acts of violence by the strikers, rather than those committed by state militia or his hired strikebreakers, most of whom came from the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Random violence occurred in several states, often the injured parties were innocent bystanders not involved in the strike. While some workers not members of the Knights of Labor expressed sympathy with the strikers, many others did not. The lack of unity encouraged Gould and the state troops.
Before the strike was settled at least ten workers were killed by state troops or Pinkerton Agents, and the number of persons injured was in the hundreds. The hard line established by Gould, the lack of support from many other workers, and the inability of the Knights of Labor leadership to negotiate an agreement, and the intimidation tactics of the states’ militia and the Pinkerton’s led the strike being called off in early May.
The Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 broke the back of the Knights of Labor as an effective representative for workers, and did much to encourage management to continue to resist efforts at unionizing workers. Labor leaders in other industries recognized the need for more effective organization, and led by Samuel Gompers and others the American Federation of Labor was formed in the aftermath of the strike in December 1886, in Columbus, Ohio.