Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892
| Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892 | |||
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illustration showing the town of Wardner, in the heart of Coeur d'Alenes. The place is hemmed in on each side by high mountains. The Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines are in the side hill at the upper hand of the picture, and the Bunker Hill mill, which was blown up is the one from which smoke is rising.
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| Date | July 1892 | ||
| Location | Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, U.S. | ||
| Goals | wages | ||
| Methods | Strikes, Protest, Demonstrations | ||
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The Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892 erupted in violence when labor union miners discovered they had been infiltrated by a Pinkerton agent who had routinely provided union information to the mine owners. The response to that violence, disastrous for the local miners' union, became the primary motivation for the formation of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) the following year.
There were two related incidents between miners and mine owners in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, United States: the labor strike of 1892, and the labor confrontation of 1899.
The confrontation of 1899 resulted from the miners' frustrations with mine operators that paid lower wages, hired Pinkerton or Thiel operatives to infiltrate the union, and routinely fired any miner who held a union card.
Shoshone County, Idaho area miners organized into several local unions during the 1880s. Mine owners responded by forming a Mine Owners' Association. In 1891, silver/lead ore worth nine million dollars had been shipped out of the Coeur d'Alene mining district, plus a quarter-million dollars' worth of gold bullion. Mine owners were making fortunes, but hardrock miners and common laborers were not.
The mine operators got into a dispute with the railroads which had raised rates for hauling ore. Mine operators also introduced hole-boring machines into the mines. The new machines displaced single-jack and double-jack miners, forcing the men into new, lower-paid jobs as trammers or muckers.
Mine operators found a reduction in wages the easiest way to mitigate increased costs. After the machines were installed, the mine owners were going to pay the mine workers $3.00 to $3.50 per day, depending upon their specific jobs. The operators also increased miners' work hours from nine to ten hours per day, with no corresponding increase in pay. The work week would be seven days long, with an occasional Sunday off for those who did not have pumping duty. The miners had other grievances; for example, high payments for room and board in company lodging, and check cashing fees at company saloons.
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