Philadelphia Transit Strike (1944)

Tue Aug 01, 1944

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Image: A protest by black workers during the Transit Strike of 1944. Signs read “WE DRIVE TANKS WHY NOT TROLLEYS?” and “WAR EFFORT NEGROES WANT TO WORK” [washingtonpost.com]

The Philadelphia Transit Strike of 1944 was a sickout strike by white transit workers in Philadelphia that began on this day that year, in protest of black employees being allowed to hold non-menial jobs during a wartime labor shortage.

The strike was triggered by the decision of the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), made under prolonged pressure from the federal government, to allow black employees to hold non-menial jobs that were previously reserved for white workers only.

The strike was widely unpopular with the public, and paralyzed the public transport system in Philadelphia for several days, bringing the city to a standstill and crippling its war production.

Invoking the authority of the Smith-Connally Act, President Roosevelt sent 8,000 United States Army troops to the city to seize and operate the transit system, and threatened to draft any PRTEU member who did not return to the job within 48 hours.

This act broke the strike, and black workers were allowed to work in non-menial roles on the transit system. Historian Malcolm Ross later characterized the strike as “the most expensive racial dispute of World War II”.