Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Today in Labor History

July 23  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Anarchist Alexander Berkman shoots and stabs but fails to kill steel magnate Henry Clay Frick in an effort to avenge the Homestead massacre 18 days earlier, in which nine strikers were killed. Berkman also tried to use what was, in effect, a suicide bomb, but it didn't detonate - 1892

Northern Michigan copper miners strike for union recognition, higher wages and 8-hour day. By the time they threw in the towel the following April, 1,100 had been arrested on various charges and Western Federation of Miners President Charles Moyer had been shot, beaten and forced out of town - 1913

Aluminum Workers Int'l Union merges with The United Brick & Clay Workers of America to form Aluminum, Brick & Clay Workers - 1981

Working Class Heroes -- via -- www.unionist.com

Northern Michigan copper miners strike for union recognition, higher wages and 8-hour day. By the time they threw in the towel the following April, 1,100 had been arrested on various charges and Western Federation of Miners President Charles Moyer had been shot, beaten and forced out of town - 1913 ~De

The strike was the first strike to hit all Copper Country mines. After the first day of the strike, nearly all mines in the district were closed down, with mobs of strikers blocking access to the mines. Miners held daily parades to boost morale and show their strength. The mine owners, organized and led by James MacNaughton, manager of the Calumet and Hecla mining company, called for state governor Woodbridge Ferris to deploy national guard troops to keep the peace. The governor did so, which led to many confrontations, some violent, between strikers and troops.

The strike is often considered a major turning point in the history of the Copper Country. Even though the mines were successful in the short term, the strike had demonstrated that mines could actually be affected by collective action. The strike also marked the end of the old paternalism of the mining companies. Workers' lives were no longer watched by the mines, and the mines cut back many services which they previously provided.

The mines of the Copper Country were finally unionized many years later. The International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW-CIO), a successor of the WFM, unionized the Copper Range Company mines in 1939, the Quincy Mine in 1941, and Calumet and Hecla mines in 1943
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Country_Strike_of_1913–1914

PHOTO- A miners parade in Hancock during the strike

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