The members of the brotherhoods had
filled their places and, in retaliation, the former Reading engineers
and firemen now took the places of the Burlington strikers, so that on
March 15 the company claimed to have a full contingent of employes. The
brotherhoods ordered a boycott upon the Burlington cars, which was
partly enforced, but they were finally compelled to submit. The strike
was not officially called off until January 3, 1889. Notwithstanding the
defeat of the strikers, the damage to the railway was enormous, and
neither the railways of the country nor the brotherhoods since that date
have permitted a serious strike of their members to occur.
The lull in the trade union movement was broken by a new concerted
eight-hour movement managed by the Federation, which culminated in 1890.
Although on the whole the eight-hour movement in 1886 was a failure, it
was by no means a disheartening failure. It was evident that the
eight-hour day was a popular demand, and that an organization desirous
of expansion might well hitch its wagon to this star. Accordingly, the
convention of the American Federation of Labor in 1888 declared that a
general demand should be made for the eight-hour day on May 1, 1890.
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