1907 San Francisco streetcar strike

February 2025 San Francisco streetcar strike Scab streetcar led by police - San Francisco Street Car Strike 1907.jpg San Francisco police escort a scab streetcar to protect it from the violence during the strike May 5, 1907 – mid-February, 1908 San Francisco, California 8-hour day $3 per day Striking Unsuccessful; Carmen's Union Local 205 disbanded Carmen's Union Local 205 United Railroads Richard Cornelius Streetcar workers Patrick Calhoun James A. Farley 31 (25 passengers) 1100 (900 passengers) The San Francisco streetcar strike of 1907 was among the most violent of the streetcar strikes in the United States between 1895 and 1929. Before the end of the strike, thirty-one people had been killed and about 1100 injured. Background Like the St. Louis Streetcar Strike of 1900, the events were associated with progressive civic reform. Strike left center 350 R. Cornelius, President Edit Alt.jpg Richard Cornelius, President of Carmen's Union No. 205 Earl Rogers, Attorney, Patrick Calhoun, United R.R. Calhoun Crop.jpg Patrick Calhoun, President of United Railroads As the strike loomed, one of the prominent officials of San Francisco's United Railroads, Patrick Calhoun, contracted with the nationally known "King of the Strikebreakers" James A. Farley, for four hundred replacement workers waiting on board ship. The streetcar Carmen's Union, led by founding presidentSTREET CAR UNION STATEMENT TO THE PUBLIC https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-street-car-un/206325071/ 19 September 2026 The Examiner 18 November 1901 San Francisco Richard Cornelius,Gribble Richard E. Peter Yorke and the 1907 San Francisco Carmen's Strike Southern California Quarterly Spring 1991 73 1 16–17, 21 https://www-jstor-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/stable/41171558?seq=4 19 September 2026 struck on May 5, 1907, for an 8-hour day and $3equivalent to $US 3 1907 in US adjusted for inflationUS per day.New York Times, May 6, 1907 Farley's armed workers took control of the entire system. The violence started two days later, Bloody Tuesday, when a shootout on Turk Street left 2 dead and about 20 injured.http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~epf/1996/street.html Death of a Union - The 1907 San Francisco Streetcar Strike July 17, 2011 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110717033731/http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~epf/1996/street.html July 17, 2011 On May 25, both the pro-labor Mayor Eugene Schmitz and Calhoun were indicted on corruption charges, and on June 13 Schmitz was found guilty of extortion, to be replaced by Edward Robeson Taylor. This development seriously undermined labor's political position, and the Daily News was the only one of the city's newspapers to support the strikers.E.W. Scripps and the business of newspapers By Gerald J. Baldasty, page 115 The action effectively collapsed in November, and officially abandoned in mid-February with the dissolution of Carmen's Union Local 205. Results Of the 31 deaths from shootings and streetcar accidents, 25 were passengers; 900 of the estimated 1100 injuries were passengers.Industrial Relations in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1900-1918, page 196 In 1916 San Francisco labor leader Thomas Mooney would attempt to re-organize the Carmen's Union in San Francisco,Labor and World War I, 1914-1918 By Philip Sheldon Foner, page 81 a prelude to his notorious trial later that year. 170 170 center File:Obstruction on tracks during San Francisco Streetcar Strike 1907.jpg Striking workers fell tree to obstruct tracks during strike. File:Man assists injured strikebreaker during San Francisco Street Car Strike 1907.jpg Strikebreaking motorman injured after streetcar attacked. File:Obstructions-on-Mission-Street-Track-in-Daly-City-From-Labor-Strike-Action- -May-28-1907 U01279.jpg Workers blockade tracks to stop the streetcars from running. File:THE CAR STRIKE.jpg Scenes on two occasions when sympathetic teamsters blocked traffic on the public streets. See also Organized labour San Francisco Bay Area Streetcar strikes in the United States St. Louis streetcar strike of 1900 Murder of workers in labor disputes in the United States Notes References Category:1900s strikes in the United States Category:1907 in California Category:1907 labor disputes and strikes Category:History of San Francisco San Francisco Category:1907 in rail transport Category:Labor disputes in California