STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP sheg.stanford.edu
Set A: May 12, 1894
The following articles were published the day after the strike began.
PULLMAN MEN OUT
Nearly 4,000 Throw Down
Their Tools and Quit
Refuse to Work Till Wrongs are
Righted
Firing Three Men Starts It
Almost the entire force of men
employed in the Pullman shops
went out on strike yesterday. Out
of the 4,800 men and women
employed in the various
departments there were probably
not over 800 at work at 6 o’clock
last evening. The immediate cause
of the strike was the laying off of
three men in the iron machine
shop. The real but remote cause is
the question of wages over which
the men have long been unhappy.
The strike of yesterday was
ordered by a committee
representing every department at
the Pullman works. This
committee was in session all night
Thursday night, and finally came
to the conclusion to order a strike
4:30 o’clock yesterday morning.
The position of the company is
that no increase in wages is
possible under the present
conditions. The position of the
men is that they are receiving less
than a living wage, to which they
are entitled.
PULLMEN OUT
LAY OFFS THE CAUSE
Committeemen Laid Off and
Their Comrades Act
Two thousand employees in the
Pullman car works struck
yesterday, leaving 800 others at
their posts. This was not enough
to keep the works going, so a
notice was posted on the big
gates at 6 o’clock saying: “These
shops closed until further notice.”
The walk-out was a complete
surprise to the officials. Mr.
Pullman had offered to allow the
men the privilege of examining
the books of the company to
verify his statement that the
works were running at a loss.
When the men quit work at 6
o’clock Thursday evening none of
them had any idea of striking. But
the Grievance Committee of
Forty-six held a session until 4:30
o’clock in the morning. . . . One
department at a time, the men
went out so that by 10 o’clock
1500 men were out. Only 800
came back after lunch.
Vocabulary
comrades: communist companion
grievance: complaint
