The Great Railway Labor Trust: A Pre-Strike Reckoning in 1902
As railroad clerks and telegraphers joined forces with trade unionists in an ambitious new 'trust' of laborers, the era's major rail lines braced for a nationwide standoff.
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A vote is currently being taken by mail among railroad trainmen to determine what action will be taken if demands for wage increases are refused by major lines, including the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and the Union Pacific. The telegraphers of the Great Northern have already presented their contract, though it is understood the St. Paul authorities rejected it. The laborers cite long hours, lack of consideration from superiors, and stagnant wages of $50 per month as primary grievances.
Meanwhile, the United Brotherhood of Railway Employes, led by George Estes, is aggressively organizing clerks, stenographers, and track workers. Estes aims to create a 'trust' of railway employees, a move viewed with suspicion by established craft unions like the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, who fear losing their professional identity and established bargaining power. General Manager J. Kruttschnitt of the Southern Pacific has thus far refused to recognize Estes’s new union, directing employees to handle grievances through existing channels. As tensions simmer, one trainman declared, 'It will be the last great strike in the history of railroading if a contest is forced upon us at this time.'
“We are forming a trust of the railway employes, and have every reason to expect a large membership.”
The tension between 'class' craft unions and industrial unions—organizing everyone from clerks to track hands—was the central labor debate of the early 20th century. Today, similar debates about inclusive organizing echo in the efforts to unionize modern service and retail sectors where employees have historically been fragmented by position.
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