New Orleans was home to one of the lengthiest and most violent transit strikes in American history 95 years ago this month.
The four month-long streetcar strike involved more than 1,100 motormen and conductors who were members of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, Division 194.
They sought better pay and working conditions and tussled over their union’s power in negotiations with New Orleans Public Service Inc. (NOPSI), the company which operated the city’s transit, electricity and gas services.
According to a 2012 article by historian Michael Mizell-Nelson, for the first few days of the strike, no streetcars operated in the city. When NOPSI attempted to run the cars by sending in “strike breakers” from other cities, the striking workers and their supporters reacted violently. They ambushed the strike breakers when they arrived, beating and hurling bricks at them.
On July 5, 1929, a crowd of 10,000 watched as striking workers attacked and burned a streetcar on Canal Street. The violent protests continued for weeks — with strikers even attacking City Hall.
Throughout the months of protests, at least two strikers were killed and hundreds of people on both sides injured. The strike finally ended in October 1929.
Amidst the acrimony, one positive development emerged: it popularized the poor-boy sandwich. Although recent research has shown the city’s now-signature sandwich existed before 1929, Martin Brothers Coffee Stand helped expand its popularity.
Owners Bennie and Clovis Martin, former streetcar conductors and union members, offered free sandwiches to out-of-work strikers. Legend has it that when a striker would enter the restaurant, Bennie or Clovis would call out, “Here comes another poor boy!”
The bright green building at 4401 Tchoupitoulas St. has a colorful history.