The following list of worker deaths in United States labor disputes captures known incidents of fatal labor-related violence in U.S. labor history, which began in the colonial era with the
earliest worker demands around 1636 for better working conditions. It does not include killings of enslaved persons. According to a study in 1969, the United States has had the bloodiest and most violent labor history of any industrial nation in the world, and there have been few industries which have been immune.
[Philip Taft and Philip Ross, "American Labor Violence: Its Causes, Character, and Outcome," The History of Violence in America: A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, ed. Hugh Davis Graham and Ted Robert Gurr, 1969.]
This list is not comprehensive. A number of factors (multi-sided conflicts, physically remote locations, company-controlled locations, exaggerated or biased original reporting, etc.) make some of the death and injury counts uncertain. In all, the number of deaths documented below add up to over 1100.
By authorities
Law enforcement and companies' militia, armed detectives and guards
:
Execution by the state
:
By vigilante, strikers, mob and hate group
:
:''*'' includes labor organizers
See also
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Anti-union violence in the United States
Union busting is a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or prevent the formation of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace.
Union busting tactics can refer to both legal and illegal activities, and can range ...
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List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States
Listed are major episodes of civil unrest in the United States. This list does not include the numerous incidents of destruction and violence associated with various sporting events.
18th century
*1783 – Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, June 20 ...
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List of strikes
The following is a list of specific strikes (workers refusing to work, seeking to change their conditions in a particular industry or an individual workplace, or striking in solidarity with those in another particular workplace) and general str ...
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Union violence in the United States When union violence has occurred, it has frequently been in the context of industrial unrest. Violence has ranged from isolated acts by individuals to wider campaigns of organised violence aimed at furthering union goals within an industrial dispute ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worker deaths in United States labor disputes
Anti-union violence
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Labor issues and events
Labor issues and events
Labor issues and events
History of labor relations in the United States
Labor in the United States
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United States history timelines
United States history-related lists
Death-related lists