New Orleans general strike in 1892:

The first general strike sponsored by an American Federation of Labor central labor union--the organization of all A.F. of L. locals in a city--took place in 1892 in New Orleans. On November 8, 1892, the Workingmen's Amalgamated Council, the local A.F. of L. central labor union, called a general strike in support of three of its member locals--the "Triple Alliance" of teamsters, scalesmen, and packers--who were trying "to gain a preferential closed shop," among other demands. The city's unions heeded the central's call, and "more than 20,000 men, who with their families made up nearly half the population, stopped work for three days." The strike committee called off the strike after nine days, when the authorities threatened martial law. The strike resulted in some improvement for the workers, but it did not achieve the primary demand for a closed shop.17 Had the strike succeeded, it "would have marked the greatest victory of the American Federation of Labor in its early career. . . ." The failure may have steered the national A.F. of L., which had supported the strike, away from the use of the general strike.

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