A US labour dispute that began when the Pullman Palace Car Company of Chicago laid off men and cut wages, blaming the economic depression, and refused to discuss grievances with its employees. The cause of the workers was taken up by the powerful American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs. The strike threatened to paralyse the entire railway network unless Pullman went to arbitration. President Cleveland’s sympathies were with the company, and the federal circuit court at Chicago issued an injunction declaring the strike illegal. Rioting and bloodshed ensued, and Debs was gaoled in 1895. Injunctions were open to misuse until the Norris–La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act of 1932.