Today in Labor History: September 17
75 workers die in explosion at Allegheny Arsenal, Pittsburgh, Pa. – 1862
At a New York convention of the National Labor Congress, Susan B. Anthony calls for the formation of a Working Women’s Association. As a delegate to the Congress, she persuaded the committee on female labor to call for votes for women and equal pay for equal work. But male delegates deleted the reference to the vote – 1868
[I Knew I Could Do This Work: Seven Strategies That Promote Women’s Activism and Leadership in Unions: Although nearly half of union members in the United States are female, little more than one leadership position in five is held by a woman. This report is designed to promote women’s activism and leadership within unions across the country at the local, state, regional, and national levels. The report outlines seven strategies that unions can use to encourage women’s increased participation in a workforce that is increasingly female. In the UCS bookstore now.]
One hundred thousand Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners go on strike. Their average annual wage is $250. They are paid by the ton, defined by Pennsylvania as 2,400 pounds but which mine operators have increased to as much as 4,000 pounds – 1900
National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) formed at a convention in Washington, D.C. In 1999 it became part of the Intl. Assoc. of Machinists (IAM) – 1917
Some Depression-era weekly paychecks around the New York area: physician, $55.32; engineer, $40.68; clerk, $22.15; salesman, $25.02; laborer, $20; typist, $15.09 – 1933
Southern employers meeting in Greenville, N.C. ready their big counter-offensive to break the textile labor strikes that have hit the Eastern seaboard. Ultimately they deploy 10,000 national guardsmen and 15,000 deputies, but fail to drive hundreds of thousands of strikers back to work – 1934
A Southern Pacific train loaded with sugar beets strikes a makeshift bus filled with 60 migrant workers near Salinas, Calif., killing 32. The driver said the bus was so crowded he couldn’t see the train coming – 1963
Ninety-eight United Mine Workers of America members and a minister occupy the Pittston Coal Company’s Moss 3 preparation plant in Carbon, Va., beginning a year-long strike. Among other issues: management demands for drastic limitations in health and pension benefits for retired and disabled miners and their dependents and beneficiaries – 1989
The Occupy Wall Street movement is launched with an anti-Wall Street march and demonstration that ended up as a two-month encampment in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. The even led to protests and movements around the world, with their focus on economic inequality, corruption, greed and the influence on government of monied interests. Their slogan: “We are the 99%.” – 2011
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Labor Quiz: How Much Wealth?
This Week’s Quiz: The top 1 percent of Americans take in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year, but in terms of wealth — property, cash and other things of monetary value — the top 1 percent control: 10 percent, 25 percent, or 40 percent of the nation’s wealth? Click here and you could be next week’s winner!
Last Week’s Quiz: The siderographers, who formed a union in 1899, are printing plate engravers employed primarily in the printing of paper money, securities, bonds, and other similar documents. Congrats to Charlie Bernhrdt of OPEIU Local 2 and AFM Local 161-710, Washington, DC, this week’s quiz winner!
Labor Quote: “Can’t Bear it Anymore”
“I really can’t bear it anymore. From every standpoint — my independence, my sense of purposefulness, my self-esteem, my life planning — this is just not what I was planning.”
– Ellen Pinney, 56, who lost a $75,000 job in the Great Recession and is now barely making a living holding down several low-wage, low-skill jobs. As quoted in the New York Times.
GOT QUOTE? Click here to send us your favorite labor quote and we’ll consider it for future posts!
