San Francisco General Strike of 1901

At the end of the 19th century union organizing in California became red hot. In all of 1896 only three unions were formed in the whole state. By 1899 the number of new unions being formed grew to twenty-five. In early 1901 a federation of San Francisco unions - including the Teamsters, sailors, waterfront and warehouse workers - formed the City Front Federation. Around the same time the large businesses of San Francisco created an Employers' Association. The Employers' Association would donate money to any local business having labor trouble, demanding that the business in turn never give in to union demands. Members of the Employer's Association were kept secret. due to fear of boycotts against their businesses. In July the Teamsters went out on strike after union members were fired for refusing to handle baggage of the Methodist Epworth League which was delivered using non-union labor. In solidarity, the other members of the federation joined the strike. They joined cooks, bakers, waiters, metal workers and others who were already on strike demanding a six-day work week and ten-hour work day.

By late August, over 200 cargo ships were sitting in the San Francisco bay, waiting to be unloaded. 200 special police officers were hired by the city to escort scabs to their job sites. The employers association likewise hired a private "police" force. In all, five men were killed and over 250 seriously injured in clashes between strikers, scabs and the police. This included an open gun battle on Kearny Street between the mercenaries hired by the employers association and striking workers.

Men returning from war in the Philippines and laborers throughout the country were encouraged by the Employers to come to San Francisco to scab. They were met hours outside of the city by union members who first explained what was happening, and if that did not do the trick at times used force to turn men away.

During the strike, rather than moving the labor movement towards a more radical leftist position, the majority of workers rallied behind Catholic priest Peter Yorke. San Francisco's working class at the time was largely Irish and Catholic, and they were more inclined to listen to the teachings on working class rights set by Pope Leo XIII than those by Karl Marx. Yorke preached militancy, but from the conservative philosophical point of view of the Church. He would openly criticize the city government and police forces for working hand-in-hand with the employers, but also attempt to restrain the most militant of the strikers. He advocated social justice and nonviolence rather than class war and revolution.

When the employers association reached out to the governor of California to send in the state militia to put down the strikes, the governor instead met with Father Yorke. Knowing he would need Yorke's support in the next election, the governor got the unions to agree to end their strike without involving the employers association in the bargaining. Though their demands were not completely met, the unions saw this largely as a victory. If nothing else, the unity and solidarity of the working class of San Francisco became clear.

The aftermath of the strike led to the formation of the Union Labor Party (ULP). A short lived labor led political party which won the following two mayoral elections in San Francisco. This cemented the view of San Francisco as being a labor town. In 1911 the state legislature created a law forbidding city candidates from belonging to partisan groups, effectively disbanding the ULP.