Answer

The Pullman Strike was a widespread strike and boycott by railroad workers which served to disrupt the Midwest traffic in the United States from May 11, 1894, to July 20, 1894. In specific, the strike started with Pullman Palace Car Company which manufactured railroad cars, cutting the low wages of its workers by 25 percent but failing to reduce the rents and charges of the houses where Pullman workers resided (Piper, 2013). In response to the strike, an injunction was issued in the quest to end the strike. President Grover Cleveland made an order which saw the federal troops seek to crush the strike and killed dozens of people in in the violent clashes witnessed in the streets of Chicago, the central area for the strike. A conciliatory gesture towards the American labor movement was demonstrated when the then President, on June 28, created the Labor Day as a national holiday.

One of the issues which emanated from the strike is the role of the government and the courts in labor disputes. In specific, the government, at the time, instead of engaging in negotiations with the workers and the employer (Pullman Palace Car Company), reacted by sending in federal troops to open the railroads (Piper, 2013). The government failed to use peaceful means in the mediation of the labor unrest. Additionally, the injunction issued by the court demonstrated that the government and the courts were only concerned with the opening of the railroads as opposed to the rights of the workers. A lesson was learned at the time that labor disputes can also be resolved through negotiations as the use of force is counterproductive.