Why did many Pullman workers and their families face starvation during the depression?

During the economic depression that began in 1893, many Pullman workers and their families faced starvation because the Pullman Palace Car Company significantly reduced wages by 25 percent while failing to lower the high rents and costs of goods and utilities in the company town of Pullman.12

Even during prosperous times, the wages remaining after rent were barely sufficient for survival. When the company cut wages without adjusting the cost of living in the town, workers were left with almost no income to support their families. Furthermore, while the company reduced worker pay and jobs to lower costs, it did not reduce the dividends paid to its stockholders. When a delegation of workers attempted to present these grievances to company president George M. Pullman, he refused to meet with them and ordered them to be fired, which ultimately triggered the Pullman Strike.21