Today in Labor History

March 12  --  SOURCE: Union Communications Services, Inc.

Greedy industrialist turned benevolent philanthropist Andrew Carnegie pledges $5.2 million for the construction of 65 branch libraries in New York City—barely 1 percent of his net worth at the time. He established more than 2,500 libraries between 1900 and 1919 following years of treating workers in his steel plants brutally, demanding long hours in horrible conditions and fighting their efforts to unionize. Carnegie made $500 million when he sold out to J.P. Morgan, becoming the world’s richest man - 1901

The first tunnel under the Hudson River is completed after 30 years of drilling, connecting Jersey City and Manhattan. In just one of many tragedies during the project, 20 workers died on a single day in 1880 when the tunnel flooded - 1904

The Lawrence, Mass., "Bread and Roses" textile strike ends when the American Woolen Co. agrees to most of the strikers’ demands; other textile companies quickly followed suit - 1912

Lane Kirkland, president of the AFL-CIO from 1979 to 1995, born in Camden, S.C. - 1922

Steelworkers approve a settlement with Oregon Steel Mills, Inc. and its CF&I Steel subsidiary, ending the longest labor dispute in the USWA’s history and resulting in more than $100 million in back pay for workers - 2004

Working Class Heroes  -- www.unionist.com

Lane Kirkland, president of the AFL-CIO from 1979 to 1995, born in Camden, S.C. - 1922 ~De

Kirkland was born in Camden, South Carolina and rose over his career to head the 16-million-member American labor movement.

In 1941, Kirkland entered the United States Merchant Marine Academy, graduated 1942, and became a deck officer on U.S. merchant ships during World War II. After the war, he worked in the Research Department of the AFL. He received a B.S. degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Kirkland married Edith Draper Hollyday in June 1944, with whom he had five daughters. A year after their divorce in 1972, he married the Czech-born Irena Neumann (1925–2007).

From 1979 to 1995 Kirkland was president of the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). During his tenure, union membership in the United States declined precipitously. The unions suffered some of their most serious defeats, including the 1981 air traffic controllers's strike and the 1985 Hormel meat packers' strike. 

 

He also served on the Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated (FPI) board from 1980-1988, representing Labor during FPI's growth years. On the international front, Kirkland's support of the Solidarity movement in Poland contributed to the decline of communism. According to Michael Szporer's Solidarity: Great Workers Strike of 1980, Amercan Unions under the leadership of Lane Kirkland contributed $150,000 beginning shortly after the successful Solidarity Strike, as early as September 1980. 

 

At the time the Carter administration, including its two prominent Polish Americans, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Ed Muskie advised against such aid fearing Soviet reaction. Kirkland boldly took the initiative persuading Zbigniew Brzezinski of the wisdom of supporting the Solidarity movement. In all US union support of Solidarity far exceeded its European counterparts. CIA involved was also relatively small, which was later rationalized by Caspar Weinberger by unions taking the lead and doing a far better job. (He was awarded posthumously with the highest Polish award, the Order of the White Eagle).

His best remembered quotation is:
If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.

On November 13, 1989, Kirkland was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bush

In 1994, Kirkland was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.

In 1999, Lane Kirkland was awarded the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom. Lane Kirkland died in Washington, D.C., aged 77, from complications of cancer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_Kirkland