NCJ Number
145232
Journal
Crime, Law, and Social Change Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: (July 1993) Pages: 53-64
Date Published
1993
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The New Orleans Police Department went on strike between February 9 and March 3, 1979, in one of a series of police strikes that hit American cities during that decade.
Abstract
As a result of the strike, the first black mayor of New Orleans was forced to cancel the annual Mardi Gras festivities, for which the city is famous, in order to break the strike. The strike grew out of a conflict between the Teamsters' Union, that wanted to make inroads among government workers in many U.S. cities, and a newly elected black administration. The threat that organized crime would take over the city turned public opinion against the local police union as so-called international negotiators from the North were called in to settle the strike. The mayor became a local hero for standing up to the union and won a second term in office. Their defeat weakened the police officers' union for many years.