Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Today in Labor History

Today in #LaborHistory: Aug 14 -via- unionist.com

Members of the upstart Polish union Solidarity seize the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk. Sixteen days later the government officially recognizes the union. Many consider the event the beginning of the end for the Iron Curtain - 1980

"The strike that changed the world began around dawn on 14 August 1980. Some 17,000 workers seized control of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk to protest, among other things, a recent rise in food prices." - from http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060898.html
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"Indeed, both in Communist Poland and in Wisconsin today, the target was unions and their collective bargaining rights. And in both cases, we see the Roman Catholic Church supporting organized labor." - from http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/02/24/poland-in-1980-and-wisconsin-2011-history-rhymes/

"The ability of Solidarity to survive, despite coordinated attempts to repress it, demonstrated the weakness of the ruling Communist party in Poland, eventually leading to the demoralization of its leadership, and contributing to the collapse of ruling Communist parties throughout eastern Europe and the Soviet Union itself." - from http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1980solidarity&Year=1980
 
 
 
August 14
President Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, providing, for the first time ever, guaranteed income for retirees and creating a system of unemployment benefits - 1935

Members of the upstart Polish union Solidarity seize the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk. Sixteen days later the government officially recognizes the union. Many consider the event the beginning of the end for the Iron Curtain - 1980

Former AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland dies at age 77 - 1999

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