When the railroad workers went on strike, the nation came to a halt. There were so many daily operations that depended on the trains running. Looking back on the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, it ended up being largely successful in improving the individual …show more content…
One of the groups was the Knights of Labor that was well before the railroad strike. Originally it was a ‘secret society’ that wanted to better the workplace for everyone in all jobs. It was a group that wanted to make a difference. After the railroad strike the group grew bigger and they decided to no longer be a ‘secret society’. “The Knights attempted to bridge the boundaries of ethnicity, gender, ideology, race, and occupation.” (pg.514) They worked with a variety of people to make a difference. They also focused on trying to make child labor a thing of the past and get equal pay for women (which still hasn’t happened to this day!). There was another rival organization called American Federation of Labor, known as AFL. The Knights and AFL were competing to get the same people to join their union. The AFL was less more focused on getting together skilled workers and being able to ensure that they had a great work environment and higher