Racial hatred towards free Black Americans in the north was also a prevalent issue, with many White union workers viewing them as strikebreakers during the war.

[1]: 126 In 1866, a national congress of trade unions & associations (NLU) was organized in Baltimore, on August 20, with plans to meet next year for a general convention in Chicago, Ill.. During this first meeting in Baltimore a general resolution around the eight hour workday was adopted:[1]: 133 [2] WHEREAS, the history and legislation of the past has demonstrated that no dependence whatever can be placed upon the pledges and professions of representatives of existing political parties, so far as the interests of the industrial classes are concerned; therefore, be it Resolved, That the time has come when the workingmen of the United States should cut themselves loose from all party ties and organize themselves into the National Labor Party, the object of which shall be to secure the enactment of a law making eight hours a day's work.In 1869, The NLU passed a motion claiming it didn't recognize color, however black workers were largely excluded from the individual unions making up the NLU, and thus formed their own in response.

[3] In 1868, an eight-hour day bill applying to all government workers was passed in Congress, overriding president Andrew Johnson's attempt to veto it.

Aided by this time of the year being the busy season of the trades, employers gave into demands quickly, spurring more workers to join the general strike.

[6] By June 8, the Eight Hour League would have 21,000 dues paying members, and by the end of that month over 100,000 workers had participated in the city's general strike for an eight-hour day.

[6] At first, the strike won several trades within the city the eight hour workday, including: bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, painters, plumbers, brown and bluestone-cutters, stonemasons, masons' laborers, paper hangers, and plate printers.

Steinway also had his friend Oswald Ottendorfer, and owner of city's leading German newspaper, to smear the strikers as violent and as manipulated by union agitators and communists.

According to the New York Herald on June 17, at one sugar refinery:[6] The police, in their onslaught struck the men with their clubs, regardless of anything but the order they had received and the poor wretches scattered, groaning and bleeding.

Following the police crackdown, employers heightened their union busting efforts and by the end of the month had largely clawed back the previous victories by workers for the eight hour day.

[6] At first, the strike several trades within the city secured the eight hour workday, including: bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, painters, plumbers, brown and bluestone-cutters, stonemasons, masons' laborers, paper hangers, and plate printers.