BOSTON POLICE STRIKE

Boston Police Strike of 1919



Boston Police Strike of 1919

Introduction

The Boston Police strike is remembered as the day the Boston police went out on a strike, in hope to gain recognition for the trade union that they developed and the for the improvements in their working conditions and wages. They were faced by police commissioner Edwin Cutis who was an implacable opponent, and also was against the right of the police officers to develop a union for themselves. Several attempts were taken in order to gain reconciliation between the police officers and the commissioner, especially on the part of the mayor of Boston Andrew Peters, but yet it failed.

Boston had to experience several lawless nights during the strike, although the damage to the properties was not that much as it was expected there would be. Volunteers from the state guard, several thousands of them, supported during this strike in order to create back the order. Gompers, S. from the American Federation of Labor recognized the fact that the strike was only damaging instead of gaining recognition and the cause of the labor in the mind of the public and so he suggested all the strikers to return to work, but the Commissioner refused to re hire any of the police men who went on strike and remained quite adamant about it. He was also by the governor of Massachusetts Coolidge, who earned a lot of national reputation through his rebuke of Gompers. At the end, the strike turned out to be a setback for the trade union and the labor itself, and the American Federation of labor reversed all of its attempts for another two years to organize police officers (Koss, 1966).

Discussion

Outline of the Events

The legislature of Massachusetts had altered with the structure of management of the Boston police two times during the year before the strike in 1919. First it was in 1985, when the legislature removed the authority of the mayor of Boston over the police department and handed it over under the control of a five men board of commissioners who were actually been appointed by the Governor. Then in 1906, the legislature had abolished the board and gave the control of the department and gave it to a single commissioner, who was again also appointed by the government for about a five year term period and a subject to removal only in the authority of the Governor. Also, the city and the mayor had the main responsibility to pay for the working physical conditions.

Police officers salary's value were dramatically eroded with the rise in the inflation, and also the fact that from 1913 to 1919, there was an increase in the cost of living of about 76 percent, and the increase in the wages of the police officers was only about 18 percent. Police Officers were working for very long shifts which were about ten hours and often even had to sleep over at the station without any sort of pay in case ...