 Thomas E. Allen (left), an employee of the Philadelphia Transportation Company, training as a trolley operator with William Poisel. Until 1944, black workers were excluded from all non-menial jobs. | |
| Date | August 1–6, 1944 |
|---|---|
| Location | Philadelphia |
| Participants | White workers of the Philadelphia Transportation Company |
| Outcome | Strike broken as a result of the U.S. military intervention under the Smith–Connally Act |
The Philadelphia transit strike of 1944 was a sickout strike by white transit workers in Philadelphia that lasted from August 1 to August 6, 1944. The strike was triggered by the decision of the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), made under prolonged pressure from the federal government in view of significant wartime labor shortages, to allow black employees of the PTC to hold non-menial jobs, such as motormen and conductors, that were previously reserved for white workers only.[1][2] On August 1, 1944, the eight black employees being trained as streetcar motormen were due to make their first trial run. That caused the white PTC workers to start a massive sickout strike.[1][3]
The strike paralyzed the public transport system in Philadelphia for several days, bringing the city to a standstill and crippling its war production. Although the Transport Workers Union (TWU) was in favor of allowing promotions of black workers to any positions they were qualified for, and opposed the strike, the union was unable to persuade the white PTC employees to return to work. On August 3, 1944, under the provisions of the Smith–Connally Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson to take control of the Philadelphia Transportation Company, and Major-General Philip Hayes was put in charge of its operations. After several days of unsuccessful negotiations with the strike leaders, Hayes issued an order that the striking workers return to work on August 7, 1944, and that those refusing to comply be fired, stripped of their military draft deferment, and denied job availability certificates by the War Manpower Commission for the duration of the war. This ultimatum proved effective and on August 7, the strike ended and the strikers returned to work. The black workers, whose pending promotions to non-menial jobs triggered the strike, were allowed to assume those jobs.
During the strike, despite considerable tensions, the city of Philadelphia remained mostly calm, and there were no major outbreaks of violence. All of the city's newspapers editorialized against the strike and the public was, by and large, opposed to the strike as well. Several of the strike leaders, including James McMenamin and Frank Carney, were arrested for violating the anti-strike act. The NAACP played an active role both in pressuring the PTC and the federal government to institute fair hiring practices at the PTC for several years before the strike and in maintaining the calm during the strike itself.
The strike received considerable attention in the national media. The Philadelphia transit strike of 1944 is one of the most high-profile instances of the federal government invoking the Smith–Connally Act.[4] The Act had been passed in 1943 over President Roosevelt's veto.[5]
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
timewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
wolfwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
w80was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Daniel J. Leab, The Labor history reader, University of Illinois Press, 1985, ISBN 0-252-01197-X; p. 399
- ^ Peter G. Renstrom, The Stone court: justices, rulings, and legacy. ABC–CLIO Supreme Court handbooks, 2001, ISBN 1-57607-153-7; p. 244