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From: tommy meehan tmeehan0421 AT gmail DOT com
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2018 06:53:26 -0400
Subject: 100 Years Ago - D,L&W Shop Worker cancel strike
"Rail_Strike_NY_Times_Apr_12_1920.jpg" - image/jpeg, 530x880 (24bit)

> Following a meeting this morning between the boilermakers, blacksmiths and
machinists working for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and
company officials it was announced that there would be no suspension of
work today. Last night, 1,600 employees of the railroad’s shops and
roundhouses held a meeting at Casino Hall and voted to stop working today
at noon. <

This news story interested me because it was the start of the labor
problems that eventually culminated in the wildcat strikes that swept
across the USA in the Spring of 1920. One of the strike actions involved
mostly DL&W locomotive firemen and brakemen on the Morris & Essex Division
causing extensive problems for commuters.

The trouble began, as the linked article made clear, while the railroads
were under the control of the United States Railroad Administration (USRA)
during WWI. The war touched off a period of price inflation and railroad
employees wanted wage hikes. President Woodrow Wilson became personally
involved, promising the workers wage increases, though he later changed his
mind. Wilson's reason for changing his mind was, his belief that once the
war ended inflation would abate. Wilson's economic advisers expected that
many of the wartime price increases for things like food and clothing would
come down (as they eventually did). But in the meantime, a lot of
railroaders were having trouble making ends meet and once the railroads
were returned to private control in March 1920 the labor dispute heated up.

Very interesting period. I'm attaching an image of a news story giving a
brief summary of the strike's effects in the New York City area on the
morning of April 12, 1920. The Lackawanna and the Erie were pretty much
completely shutdown in New Jersey.

tommy meehan


Rail_Strike_NY_Times_Apr_12_1920.jpg

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