1. Pullman town / strike notes
Apel/carey

2. GEORGE PULLMAN OWNED A FACTORY THAT MADE LUXURY RAILROAD cars

3. The Pullman company
His company grew fast and he decided to start his own factory town. He owned all the houses, apartments and other places to live. He rented all these places to his workers.

4. He also controlled everything else in town: stores, barbers, food prices, etc.
In the early 1900’s the market shrank and people stopped buying luxury railroad cars. Pullman started to go broke.

5. Pullman decided the best thing to do was cut his employees’ pay and at the same time keep their rent the same. He wouldn’t negotiate costs with any of the workers.
This led to a massive work strike. Only 800 of his 4,800 employees went to work.

6. The strike grew and members of the railway union joined the movement
Pullman got help from the federal government and the strike was declared illegal. Federal troops came in and stopped the strike to get the railways moving again.
Although the workers failed in their attempt to improve working conditions, the strike had a major influence on the future of workers unions in the united states.