Santa Teresa Urrea Henry E. Huntington The Pacific Electric Railway strike of 1903 was an industrial dispute between Mexican tracklayers and their employers on the construction of the Main Street streetcar line in Los Angeles.
Their employer, Henry E. Huntington, hired replacement workers for the duration of the strike from other projects at higher rates of pay, in order to meet the deadline for completion of the line, which coincided with the visit of President Theodore Roosevelt.
[2] On April 24, 1903 approximately 700 Mexican track workers, working on Main St in Downtown Los Angeles, walked off the job in protest of the low wages they received.
[3] A spokesman for Pacific Electric told the Los Angeles Times that Huntington "would have raised wages if only the workers came to him instead of bringing the union.
"[3] The spokesman further elaborated that the company would pay the workers five dollars a day if they had to but they absolutely would not deal with the union and the strikers would not be rehired.
After picketing failed, a group of women marched onto the site Saturday April 25, 1903 and confronted the strike breakers, seizing their tools so they would stop working.
The track workers received the help of Santa Teresa Urrea, a Mexican Catholic leader that sided with the working class.
A major tactic of the Union Mexicanos was to stay off the job until April 29, 1903 when the street car operators were to go on strike and put a stop to the entire transit system.
This lack of solidarity between the street car operators and track workers undermined the power of the strike and made Huntington the victor.
It appears the strike was not very big judging by the interpretation of the Los Angeles Times that said for the police they "probably had the dullest Saturday night all year.