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American Railway Union, headed by Eugene Debs, was
founded on June 20, 1893. The next year, in a strike
against Pullman Co., the union was defeated by the use of
injunctions and by federal troops sent to the Chicago
area. Debs was imprisoned for violating the injunctions. The antiworker Taft-Hartley Act
was passed on June 23, 1947 over President Truman’s
veto. The act weakened unions and allowed states to
exempt themselves from union requirements; 20 states
immediately enacted antiunion open shop laws.
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