The Nation on the Brink: Rail Workers Push for Eight-Hour Day
As contract negotiations fail, two million workers threaten a total shutdown of the nation's rail system, prompting intervention from President Wilson.
The story, cleaned up
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A general strike on virtually all the railroads of the nation, paralyzing commerce and throwing approximately 2,000,000 men out of employment, can be averted only through the good offices of President Wilson, as a result of Sunday’s developments in the dispute over the men’s demands for an eight-hour day and time and a half for overtime. The workers have flatly rejected any form of arbitration. The men’s proposition provides that 100 miles or less, or eight hours or less, should constitute a day, with overtime beginning at the expiration of eight hours. The railroads contend that the men made no allowance for the difference between railroad and industrial service. President Wilson conferred with both parties Monday, seeking a feasible basis for settlement.
“A general strike on virtually all the railroads of the nation, paralyzing commerce and throwing approximately 2,000,000 men out of employment, can be averted only through the good offices of President Wilson.”
This 1916 labor standoff over the eight-hour day echoes the long history of the American labor movement’s struggle for fundamental standards. Today, rail workers still battle over scheduling and quality-of-life issues, proving that the civic friction between corporate productivity and worker well-being remains a persistent American theme.
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