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Video: Real 1:1 Trains
Train Strike!
Sep 23, 2009
By Peter De Keles
Author
Bio
Unions that continued to press beyond the general labor settlements established in the auto and steel industries after World War II found themselves facing an additional and powerful adversary - the Federal Government.
Title:
Train Strike!
LSOL.com Rating
Length
1:43
Release Date
09/16/2009
Overview
In the spring of 1946, both coal miners and railroad workers staged nationwide strikes. President Harry Truman decided that the unions had gone too far, and after the railroad workers rejected a settlement, he seized control of the railroads.
Despite the government takeover, the workers continued with their strike plans. As a result, on May 24, 1946, Truman issued an ultimatum declaring that the government would operate the railroads and use the army as strikebreakers.
When the deadline passed, Truman went before Congress to seek the power to deny seniority rights to strikers and to draft strikers into the armed forces. Just as Truman reached the climax of his speech, he received a note saying that the strike was "settled on the terms proposed by the President."
