Today in Labor History

May 21
 
Italian activists and anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, widely believed to have been framed for murder, go on trial today. They eventually are executed as part of a government campaign against dissidents – 1921

The “Little Wagner Act” is signed in Hawaii, guaranteeing pineapple and sugar workers the right to bargain collectively.  After negotiations failed a successful 79-day strike shut down 33 of the territory’s 34 plantations and brought higher wages and a 40-hour week - 1945

Nearly 100,000 unionized SBC Communications Inc. workers begin a four-day strike to protest the local phone giant’s latest contract offer - 2004
[Every Employee’s Guide to the Law (3rd edition) goes into solid, useful detail about the federal and state laws that, together with union contracts, are designed to assure fairness and justice in the workplace. The book discusses issues that have become a larger part of the national consciousness over the past decade, including privacy and e-mail, sexual harassment, age discrimination and the confidentiality of medical records. In the UCS bookstore now.]

 
 SOURCE: Union Communications Services, Inc.