Police Strikes/“Blue Flu”

The first recorded police strike in the United States occurred in Ithaca, New York, on April 3, 1889. As a result of a pay cut from $12 to $9 a week, the entire force, all appointed by a prior Republican administration, protested and were removed. A new force of loyal Democrats was quickly appointed to fill these vacancies. Several days later, the old pay rate was reinstituted. Salaries would continue to be the cause of unrest among police officers. In 1918, following the social unrest and skyrocketing inflation caused by World War I, several police agencies were being affected by moves toward unionization and strike.

In early September 1918, some officers in the Cincinnati Police Department met clandestinely to discuss forming a union; word spread, and the police chief suspended all those involved. Quickly, all the officers of the department refused duty. The National Guard was mobilized, and traffic duties were taken over by the Boy Scouts. The mayor stepped in, and a settlement was quickly reached—the officers would forget their plans for a union, and the strikers were welcomed back. Several weeks later, in Boston, the situation and outcome would be much different.

For quite some time, the police officers of the Boston Police Department had been discussing the formation of a union and affiliation with the American Federation of Labor (AFL). On September 9, the newly formed Boston Policemen's Union voted for a strike, and at 5:45 p.m., 1,117 patrolmen, more than 80% of the force, walked off their jobs. The commissioner quickly suspended all of those officers. The state militia was mobilized, and volunteers were recruited from all over Boston, including Harvard's football team. Federal troops and naval forces in the Boston area were ordered to full alert.

Unlike the situation in Cincinnati, rioting quickly broke out in Boston. Over the course of the next few days, Guard units opened fire on the rioters. Calvary units, with drawn sabers, charged the mob in Scollay Square. The city was under marshal law, and the state governor, Calvin Coolidge, who assumed command, did not believe that police had a right to strike. The end result of this strike was seven people killed, including one striking officer, 22 seriously wounded, and millions of dollars in damages. All 1,117 striking officers were fired, losing all benefits and pensions, and an entirely new force was recruited.

Throughout the next 50 years, the Boston Strike continued to have an effect on policing in the United States. After the disaster in Boston, many jurisdictions, including the federal government, passed legislation forbidding the formation of or membership in a union by police officers. In 1944, and again in 1958, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) issued bulletins that condemned this police strike and the chaos it created.

Much of this was to change with the militancy of the 1960s. A new breed of officers was rising to leadership roles and was looking to explore other avenues to press their negotiating position.

The use of the “Blue Flu,” or sick-out, by these officers was a new approach to labor negotiations. Other new ideas were the “work to rule,” to slow down the general workings of the department; failing to “see” violations or write tickets for them; and declining overtime assignments. These ideas were all taken from other labor organizations that had a more traditional labor–management relationship.

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