The four-day New Orleans General Strike begins…
October 1892 CE
Resolved by arbitration, the strike helps strengthen the labor movement in New Orleans.
Most existing unions will gain substantial numbers of members.
Three new unions form during the general strike and affiliated with the Amalgamated Council.
Earlier in 1892, streetcar conductors in New Orleans had won a shorter workday and the preferential closed shop.
This victory has driven many New Orleans workers to seek assistance from the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
As many as thirty new labor unions had been organized in the city before the summer of 1892. By late summer, forty-nine unions belonged to the AFL.
The unions established a central labor council known as the Workingmen's Amalgamated Council that represents more than thirty thousand workers.
Three racially integrated unions—the Teamsters, the Scalesmen, and the Packers—make up what came to be called the "Triple Alliance."
Many of the workers belonging to the unions of the Triple Alliance are African American.
On October 24, 1892, between two thousand and three thousand members of the Triple Alliance had struck to win a ten-hour work day, overtime pay, and the preferential union shop.
The Amalgamated Council wholeheartedly supported them.
The striking workers refused to break ranks along racial lines.
Large majorities of the Scalesmen and Packers unions passed resolutions affirming their commitment to stay out until the employers had signed a contract with the Teamsters on the same terms offered to other unions.
Members of other unions began to call for a general strike to support the Triple Alliance
A number of meetings had been held, during which sentiment proved so strong that a majority of the unions belonging to the Amalgamated Council voted in favor of a resolution calling for a general strike.
A Committee of Five had been formed to lead the general strike.
Its members include the Cotton Screwmen's Union, the Cotton Yardmen's Union, the Printers, the Boiler Makers, and the Car Driver's Union.
The Board of Trade agrees to binding arbitration to settle the strike.
Although they balk at first, the employers agree to sit down with both white and black union leaders
After forty-eight hours of negotiations, the employers agree to the ten-hour day and overtime pay, but not the union shop, nor will they grant recognition to the unions of the Triple Alliance.
Other unions also win reduced hours and higher pay.
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