An estimated 15,000 building tradesmen in the East Bay had laid down their tools; now they were joined by some 2 7,000 workers affiliated with Central Labor Council local unions. The East Bay's street car system and the Key System ferries halted operations; commuters who flocked to the still-operating Southern Pacific (SP) lines to get to San Francisco were angered when the SP refused to honor the Key System's commute tickets. Employers were especially upset, J. Paul St. Sure recalled, when the Key System's employees' strike resolution called for the employees "and the workers of the community to take over the transportation system for working people." St. Sure said he and several businessmen, "frightened" by the prospect of "an actual class struggle," had asked Governor Merriam to send the National Guard into Oakland. 2