H onduran G eneral S trike of 1954

Abstract

Virtually all historians agree that the Great Strike of 1954 was the most important episode in Honduran labor history. Following the long dictatorship of Tiburcio Carías Andino (1933–49), Juan Gálvez Durón became president of Honduras. Although he had previously been a lawyer for the Boston‐based United Fruit Company (UFCO), the most powerful and richest corporation in the country, he began his presidency by courting labor in an attempt to build a populist base for his presidency. An 8‐hour workday law was passed, which also stipulated that employees were to be paid on holidays. UFCO and the Standard Fruit Company, however, chose to ignore these reforms.