1916-17 Springfield Streetcar Strike
The 1916–17 Springfield Streetcar Strike was a strike among streetcar workers in and around Springfield, Missouri. The strike went from October 5, 1916 to June 16, 1917 caused by the streetcar company's refusal to recognize the union. As a result, the union was recognized after 8 months of striking. Background At the turn of the century there was no union organization in the street car industry. An effort by the St. Louis street car workers to organize a union in 1900 was violently opposed by St. Louis Transit Company. A call by the county sheriff for a thousand volunteers to be deputized to rid the streets of St. Louis of strikers brought forth a wave of response from the business community. In a short time there were a dozen dead and over 200 wounded. With such a terrible cost, it put an end to any thought by Missouri's street car workers to try to organize a union for the next 15 years. On January 14, 1916, Reuben Wood, president of the Missouri State Federation of Labor, and Orville Jennings, president of the Springfield Central Trades and Labor Assembly, went to the Springfield Traction Company to meet with its General Manager