Pullman Strike Case Study

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As a leading member of the American Railroad Union and in the Pullman Strike, I am a firsthand witness in the strike. I have heard and witnessed the workers complaints of having low wages and high priced and inadequate living conditions. In response to the 25% wage cut with no corresponding price reductions in housing or food the Pullman workers, many a part of the ARU, found that the situation extremely unjust. The ARU and many workers understand that America is in a time of economic depression, but by Pullman lowering the workers’ wages by so much left the workers feeling that the new wages had no “difference between that and nothing” so they had “almost nothing to lose and everything to gain by a strike…” The ARU weighed the complaints with the act of striking and found it not only justifiable, but also necessary. Mr. Pullman and his company reduced the hardworking men’s wages to “less than a living wage” leaving them unable to take care of their families and pushing them …show more content…

However, Debs, myself and other members of the ARU did not wants any bloodshed yet were arrested for contempt. In response to the strike, many people praised the Pullman workers for their “dignified, manly and conservative conduct” while GMA members were described as “arrogant and absurd”. The ARU and Pullman workers were not looking for violence and destruction in the strike; we were looking to gain justice for the abuse and violations executed by Pullman. The workers wanted to get the salaries and hours they deserve as the hardworking men they are. Being a member of the ARU, a part of the strike, and a person that was found stuck in a jail cell after doing nothing wrong I fully believe that the strike was justifiable. However, what was not acceptable were the actions of George Pullman to his workers, the GMA in the strike, and the action of sending unnecessary and violent Federal

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