Today in Labor History: Weekend Edition
July 20
New York City newsboys, many so poor that they were sleeping in the streets, begin a two-week strike. Several rallies drew more than 5,000 newsboys, complete with charismatic speeches by strike leader Kid Blink, who was blind in one eye. The boys had to pay publishers up front for the newspapers; they were successful in forcing the publishers to buy back unsold papers – 1899
[Kids on Strike! tells the story of children who stood up for their rights against powerful company owners. Nearly two million children were in the U.S. workforce by the early 1900s. Their tiny fingers, strong eyesight, and boundless energy made them perfect employees. But after years and years of working long hours every day under inhumane conditions, they began to organize and make demands in order to protect themselves.]
Two killed, 67 wounded in Minneapolis truckers’ strike — “Bloody Friday” – 1934
Postal unions, Postal Service sign first labor contract in the history of the federal government — the year following an unauthorized strike by 200,000 postal workers – 1971
July 21
Local militiamen are called out against striking railroad workers in Pittsburgh. The head of the Pennsylvania Railroad advises giving the strikers “a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread.” Instead, the militiamen joined the workers. Meanwhile, federal troops are sent to Baltimore, where they kill 10 strikers and wound 25 – 1877
Compressed air explosion kills 20 workers constructing railroad tunnel under the Hudson River – 1880
IWW leads a strike at Hodgeman’s Blueberry Farm in Grand Junction, Mich. – 1964
Radio station WCFL, owned and operated by the Chicago Federation of Labor, takes to the airwaves with two hours of music. The first and only labor-owned radio station in the country, WCFL was sold in 1979 – 1926
A die-cast operator in Jackson, Mich. is pinned by a hydraulic Unimate robot, dies five days later. Incident is the first documented case in the U.S. of a robot killing a human – 1984
July 22
Newly unionized brewery workers in San Francisco, mostly German socialists, declare victory after the
city’s breweries give in to their demands for free beer, the closed shop, freedom to live anywhere (they had typically been required to live in the breweries), a 10-hour day, six-day week, and a board of arbitration – 1886
A bomb was set off during a “Preparedness Day” parade in San Francisco, killing 10 and injuring 40 more. Tom Mooney, a labor organizer, and Warren Billings, a shoe worker, were convicted of the crime, but both were pardoned 23 years later – 1916
Cool Labor Site: Labor Education
The American Labor Studies Center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to collect, analyze, evaluate, create and disseminate labor history and labor studies curricula and related materials, aligned to the various state and national standards, to kindergarten through 12th grade teachers nationwide. http://www.labor-studies.org/
Labor Video: Dirty Jobs
Mike Rowe, host of the TV show Dirty Jobs, shows himself engaged in all sorts of — you’ve got it — dirty jobs. In a lot of these cases a union would really, really help! Click here to watch the video.
