Labor Activism
The railroad brotherhoods were comparatively conservative organizations, focused on providing fellowship and services rather than on collective bargaining. Debs gradually became convinced of the need for a more unified and confrontational approach as railroads were powerful companies in the economy.
After stepping down as Brotherhood Grand Secretary in 1893, Debs organized one of the first industrial unions in the United States, the American Railway Union (ARU), for unskilled workers. The Union successfully struck the Great Northern Railway in April 1894, winning most of its demands.
Read more about this topic: Eugene V. Debs
Famous quotes containing the word labor:
“In a virtuous government, and more especially in times like these, public offices are, what the should be, burthens to those appointed to them which it would be wrong to decline, though foreseen to bring with them intense labor and great private loss.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)