ST. LOUIS LABOR RETROSPECTIVE: Wild West St. Louis: street railway employees fight for rights
One of bloodiest strikes in St. Louis history
By ZACHARY PALITZSCH
Archivist, Missouri State Historical Society
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the quickest and easiest way to get around in St. Louis was the railway streetcar. Over 400,000 St. Louisans relied on this mode of transportation to get to work, home, school, or the store. That all came to a halt when the employees of the St. Louis Transit Company went on strike.
OVERWORKED, UNDERPAID
In 1899, the St. Louis Transit Company employed around 4,000 workers, and 2,100 of them had joined the newly established St. Louis division of the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America (AASREA).
Not appreciating their employees’ rights as workers, the St. Louis Transit Company fired any employee caught wearing a union button or openly admitting they were a part of the union. On top of this, many employees were working 12-hour workdays for a mere pittance of 12-16 cents per hour.
Outraged by their mistreatment, leaders of St. Louis AASREA organized a meeting to discuss negotiating for more rights as workers.
https://labortribune.com/st-louis-labor-retrospective-wild-west-st-louis-street-railway-employees-fight-for-rights/