The Pressed Steel Car Strike of 1909 was an American labor dispute which ran from July to September in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The strike was triggered on July 10th, a payday on which many workers were shorted by the Pressed Steel Car Company.

The strike began on July 13th, and grew to include more than 8,000 workers, 3,000 of whom were also from the Standard Steel Car Company. By the next day, 500 cops began working to protect strikebreakers and evict strikers from company houses. The New York Times called the immigrant workforce "savages" and "illiterate foreigners".

Management refused to speak with the workers' representatives and James Rider, manager of the Pressed Steel Car Company, responded to their strike by hiring Pearl Bergoff, a notorious owner of a strike-breaking paramilitary force.

The workers were joined by members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), including founders William Trautmann and "Big Bill" Haywood, as well as "Smiling Joe" Ettor.

The walkout drew national attention when, on this day in 1909, a bloody battle took place between strikers, private security agents, and the Pennsylvania State Police. The violence began after strikers boarded a trolley to search for scabs and they were confronted by an armed deputy, who opened fire. In the fighting that followed, between 12 and 26 people were killed.

The strike was settled on September 8th when Pressed Steel Car agreed to a wage increase, the posting of wage rates, and ended abuses in company housing practices. This labor dispute would be a precursor to the Great Steel Strike of 1919.

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  • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I'm still generally on team "life's too short" but team "don't shit where you eat" has a very powerful point in that seeing someone you had a failed romance with every single fucking day SUXXX (I swear to god I will one day stop posting about this in the mega lol)

    • stigsbandit34z [they/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m personally on team “the only reason life seems short is because most people spend the duration of it enriching someone else for no reason” when in actuality it’s the longest thing you can do

      doomer

      • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Life is dialectical - shorter than we think it should be but also the longest thing u do. by fence sitting on this issue under the guise of the term "dialectics" I instantly become very intelligent very-smart

        • Dolores [love/loves]
          ·
          1 year ago

          by fence sitting on this issue under the guise of the term "dialectics" I instantly become very intelligent

          shhh don't fucking tell people we're only using 'dialectics' for dumb jokes and making our observations sound smarter than they are

        • PaX [comrade/them, they/them]
          ·
          1 year ago

          soypoint-1 Unity of opposites soypoint-2

          nerd words

          That being said, just being aware of the contradictory aspects within things doesn't mean they are equal in magnitude. Idk where I stand on the life issue.

    • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      but on the other hand if we cannot overshare about our petty personal drama in the megathread is it truly the chapo dot chat megathread? thinkin-lenin

      • milistanaccount09 [she/her]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Honestly this is pretty tame and also a common issue. Tbh it's also one that's hard to completely avoid. My divorced parents frequently run into each other slash their associates since they all live in the same town. It's a larger place sure but it's still not infrequent

    • milistanaccount09 [she/her]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Just have good taste in people you have romances with so you can break up amicably troll

      I also have to deal with this problem stuff

      • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Just have good taste in people you have romances with so you can break up amicably

        I think we both had bad taste in this instance and we're kinda equally the problem re: amicability tbh.

        spoiler

        also I still like her and would totally try something again if she said the word deeper-sadness