The History and Violence in American Labor Unions

Strayer University Labor relations professor shereen turner | The History of Violence in American Labor Unions | | | Michael Cook | 6/6/2010 | Some of the more important events in labor union history included how unions were stereotyped as violent anarchist, and how they took a stance that invoked violent activity in three serious events; the Haymarket Riot, Homestead Incident and Pullman Strike and how these events in ways changed American labor union history. | Up through the late 1700’s to early 1800’s, men, women, and even children were subject to intolerable†¦show more content†¦The workers demanded an eight hour workday for which the average work week was sixty hours or more. The company hired strikebreakers which were often used by this era. On May 3rd, 1886 as a protest resulted in the killing of an individual by the police, and on May 4th a mass meeting was called to take place in the Haymarket Square to protest what was seen as police brutality. At the meeting there were approximately 1500 people as radical speakers addressed the crowd. As the mood of the crowd began as a peaceful meeting that quickly turned confrontational when the police began to break up the crowd. As fights broke out, a powerful bomb was thrown. The police began to use their guns. Seven police officers lost their lives which was later proclaimed that they were not killed by the bomb but however from the bullets from other police officers from the chaos of the event. Four citizens were killed and over a hundred were injured. The public was outraged because of the event. Within the next two weeks, on the cover of a magazine, illustrations were drawn of the bomb thrown into the crowd, cutting down police officers, and a priest giving last rites to a police officer at the local police station, thus leading to the blame of the riot on the labor movement and particularly the Knights of Labor.Show MoreRelatedThe Role Of Violence During U.s. 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