Facts
In 1794, Philadelphia shoemakers organized the "Federal Society of Journeyman, Journeymen Cordwainers" (the name came from the cordovan leather they worked with) in an effort to secure stable wages. Over the next decade, the Trade union, union secured some wage increases. Through 1804, the Journeymen received moderate wage increases. In 1805, the union struck for higher wages. The strike collapsed after the union leaders were indictment, indicted for the crime of conspiracy (crime), conspiracy.Trial
The jury trial was in the Philadelphia Mayor’s Court, which was not a court of record. The only report historians have today consists of shorthand notes by Thomas Lloyd (stenographer), Thomas Lloyd, a young Jeffersonian political philosophy, Jeffersonian printer who later published the proceedings. Eight leaders of the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers were brought to trial and accused of conspiring to increase their pay rates after leading an unsuccessful strike for higher wages. The employers, not the government, paid the prosecution's expenses. The arguments in ''Pullis'' promoted the idea '"that workers were transitory, irresponsible, and dangerous", and were, thus, properly the subject of judicial control.Judgment
After a three-day trial, the jury found the defendants guilty of "a combination to raise their wages". The union of Philadelphia Journeymen Shoemakers was convicted of and bankrupted by charges of criminal conspiracy. The defendants were fined US$8 each (the cost of one week's wages) and made to pay the costs of the suit. The law established in this case, that labor unions are illegal conspiracies, would remain the law until ''Commonwealth v. Hunt'', tried in Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.See also
*US labor law *''Commonwealth v. Hunt'', Massachusetts ruling deciding strikes were not a conspiracyReferences
{{Reflist, 1 Pennsylvania state case law United States labor case law 1806 in United States case law 1806 in Pennsylvania Shoemaking History of Philadelphia Labor disputes in Pennsylvania Textile and clothing labor disputes in the United States Law articles needing an infobox