In the late 19th century the right for workers to form labor unions and engage in collective bargaining for a raise or a more suitable working condition was not protected by any laws, federal or state as they are today. In Labor Violence in Industrial America, an excerpt from a book called The Guns of Lattimer, Michael Novak describes the striking of a miner’s union. The strikers just want a ten cent raise and lower prices in the company store, yet many of them die because the sheriff refuses to allow their march.
Many of the miners had been warned the night before that the sheriff and his men were increasingly hostile and might respond violently to a march. The strikers anticipated this, but, being instructed in the rights of free assembly, they believed that they were
There were several occurrences similar to this one in the late 1800’s. At the trial the deputies who should have been charged with several counts of murder each, were acquitted because much of the evidence was either ignored or falsified. It was because of instances like this however, that labor unions gained legal protection from the federal government and so the marchers who died eventually did indeed make a difference.
protected. They were even told that the sheriff had a tendency to use the riot act to excuse the way he treated strikers and made sure that none of them were even carrying sticks or pickets which might be considered weapons. In the end, even their strict adherence to the appearance of peace did not save them from a brutal massacre at the hands of the law
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