Kansas City Southern Railways Company 1933 Strike Miscellany

The Kansas City Southern Railway [KCS] is a Class 1 railroad operating in the United States and Mexico. The KCS was founded in 1887 in Kansas City, Missouri by Arthur E. Stilwell. The KCS expanded their holdings in the following decade through the acquisition of the Arkansas Western Railway Company and the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway Company. The KCS successfully linked Kansas City with the Gulf of Mexico at its terminus in Port Arthur, Texas, which was named after Arthur Stilwell.



KCS and its employees had been operating under series of contracts between the carrier and the various crafts and classes that had been in effect since 1924-1925. On January 1, 1932, both the carrier and the unions had entered, with 130 other American railroads and the unions, into what was called the "Chicago Agreement." The Chicago Agreement was a measure designed by President Roosevelt and his administration to help lift America out of the Great Depression in which the wage rates of employees would remain unchanged, but the railroads could deduct ten percent from each employee's pay check for a period of one year, provided the railroads did all in their power to maintain or even increase their number of employees. This wage reduction was part of a broader trend of wage reductions, in order to try and kickstart the American economy. At the end of this year, a wage dispute arrose between KCS and its employees.



According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "An emergency board to investigate the wage dispute between the Kansas City Southern Railway and its engineers, firemen, conductors, and trainmen, was appointed on June 12, 1933. The carrier and these employees were parties to the so-called "Chicago agreement" of January 31, 1932, which provided for a 10-percent deduction from the wages of the employees during the year beginning February 1, 1932. On December 31, 1932, the agreement was extended to October 31, 1933, on most of the railroads. The Kansas City Southern Railway Co. was not a party to the extension agreement, but continued to make the 10 percent deduction under the terms of a mediation agreement entered into February 23, 1933. On April 5, 1933, the carrier served notice of cancelation, on May 15, 1933, of all contracts covering rates of pay, rules, and working conditions. On April 6, 1933, it declared its intention of placing in effect on May 16, 1933, new rates of pay, rules, and working conditions. Conferences and mediation were unsuccessful, and on June 6, 1933, the employees voted overwhelmingly to strike.

On July 12, 1933, the emergency board reported its findings, pointing out the employees' belief that acceptance of the company's demands would mean 'a complete breakdown of the many years of efforts of organized railroad labor and would be and become an opening wedge toward the ultimate breakdown of these conditions upon all the other railroads in this country.' In deference to the wish of President [Roosevelt] 'for peace between labor and employer while the country is trying to regain prosperity,' expressed in a letter to [the KCS] president, the carrier postponed putting into effect the proposed new schedule until early in 1934, continuing in the meantime under the existing rates of pay, rules, and working conditions" (Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1936 Edition, Issue 616, pp. 22-23).



In 1934, the same issues arose between KCS and their employees. President Roosevelt dispatch Joseph B. Eastman, Federal Coordinator of Transportation, to mediate between the parties. The strike was once again postponed while the parties submitted themselves to mediation.