Page 28 - Garda Journal Winter 2019

GARDA HISTORY | The Boston Strike
Celebrating 71 Years in Livestock Transportation (1947-2018)
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man has taken us by the throat and has us at his mercy”. The lines of “us” and “them” were drawn quickly.
NEGOTIATION
From this point on, state officials focused on the legitimacy of public employees unionizing rather than the validity of the officers complains. On August 20th commissioner Curtis suspended eight of the leading police union organizers, followed soon by another ten. The rank and file were ordered to turn in their nightsticks, and Curtis began to organize volunteer police substitutes.
When mayor Peters returned from vacation he made conciliatory statements, and organized a commission headed by prominent banker James Jackson Storrow. The commission came to the expected conclusion, that though wages and working conditions required change, it would be inconsistent with public interest to negotiate with a union,
or have the police obliged to any non-public organization. The majority need for public safety outweighed the officers asserted right to collective bargaining.
The police were emotionally committed to the union as the only effective means of making progress. The vote to strike was within five votes of unanimous, and was seen in Massachusetts as the climax to a year of violence and threats. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge described the strike as “the first step to sovietizing the country”. Governor Coolidge suggested that the city council raise wages and improve working conditions. Still, Coolidge’s commissioner held firm to his position, and recruited about 200 Harvard athletes and business men to step in during the expected strike.
Mayor Peters requested that Coolidge dispatch the state guard as a first reaction to the strike. Coolidge sided with his police commissioner who advised that volunteers could fill the void, and that troops should only be sent if needed.
STRIKE TIME
On the evening of September 9th the strike took place as planned. Nearly three quarters of Boston’s police left their jobs. As residents absorbed the reality of the absence of police, the mischievous among them took the opportunity to engage in petty crimes. There was gambling in public, harassing officers: both those on strike who were now without badge and gun, as well as those who remained as strike breakers in the greatly weakened force.
By 8pm a crowd estimated at 10,000 gathered, as pictured here, in Scollay Square. Soon a cigar store window was broken and emptied. This was followed by a frenzy of looting, gambling and mayhem downtown and in South Boston until after 1am.
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