Today in Labor History

April 04

The first issue of The Labor Review, a "weekly magazine for organized workers," was published in Minneapolis. Edna George, a cigar packer in Minneapolis, won $10 in gold for suggesting the name “Labor Review.” The Labor Review has been published continuously since then, currently as a monthly newspaper - 1907

Unemployed riot in New York City’s Union Square - 1914

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, where he has been supporting a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of this tragedy, riots break out in many cities, including Washington, DC - 1968
[All Labor Has Dignity: People forget that Dr. King was every bit as committed to economic justice as he was to ending racial segregation. He fought throughout his life to connect the labor and civil rights movements, envisioning them as twin pillars for social reform. As we struggle with massive unemployment, a staggering racial wealth gap, and the near collapse of a financial system that puts profits before people, this collection of King's speeches on labor rights and economic justice underscore his relevance for today. They help us imagine King anew: as a human rights leader whose commitment to unions and an end to poverty was a crucial part of his civil rights agenda. Unprecedented and timely, All Labor Has Dignity will more fully restore our understanding of King's lasting vision of economic justice, bringing his demand for equality right into the present. In the UCS bookstore now.]

Some 1,700 United Mine Workers members in Virginia and West Virginia beat back concessions demanded by Pittston Coal Co. - 1989

SOURCE: Union Communications Services, Inc.