Today in Labor History

February 28 -- SOURCE: Union Communications Services, Inc. 

U.S. Supreme Court finds that a Utah state law limiting mine and smelter workers to an 8-hour workday is constitutional - 1898

(Actually Leap Year Feb. 29) The minimum age allowed by law for workers in mills, factories, and mines in South Carolina is raised from 12 to 14 - 1915

(The Worst Children’s Jobs in History takes you back to the days when being a kid was no excuse for getting out of hard labor. This British book, nearly all of which will strike a chord with youngsters around the world, tells the stories of all the children whose work fed the nation, kept trains running, and put clothes on everyone’s backs over the last few hundred years of Britain’s history. Their jobs ranged from chimney sweep to cesspool cleaner, from tooth-donor(!) to turnip-picker, from manure-shoveler to matchbox maker—and much more. The next time your children complain about having to help with the dishes, put this book in front of them.)

Members of the Chinese Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in San Francisco’s Chinatown begin what is to be a successful four-month strike for better wages and conditions at the National Dollar Stores factory and three retail outlets - 1938

In response to the layoff of 450 union members at a 3M factory in New Jersey, every worker at a 3M factory in Elandsfontein, South Africa, walks off the job in sympathy - 1986

Working Class Heroes shared Zinn Education Project

This day in history just goes to show you can’t separate Black history, labor history, women's history, and education activism: Sue Cowan Williams represented African-American teachers in the Little Rock School District as the plaintiff in the case challenging the rate of salaries allotted to teachers in the district based solely on skin color. The suit, Morris v. Williams, was filed on Feb. 28, 1942, and followed a March 1941 petition filed with the Little Rock School Board requesting equalization of salaries between black and white teachers. She lost the case, however she won in a 1943 appeal. 

Read more in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas: http://bit.ly/WjCfEj

SOURCE: Union Communications Services, Inc.