Today in Labor History

March 14

Henry Ford announced the new continuous motion method to assemble cars. The process decreased the time to make a car from 12 and a half hours to 93 minutes. Goodbye, craftsmanship. Hello, drudgery - 1914

Twenty-seven migrant workers are killed, 15 injured when the truck in which they are being transported collides with a train outside McAllen, Texas - 1940

The movie Salt of the Earth opens. The classic film centers on a long and difficult strike led by Mexican-American and Anglo zinc miners in New Mexico. Real miners perform in the film, in which the miners’ wives—as they did in real life—take to the picket lines after the strikers are enjoined - 1954

(Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films About Labor is an encyclopedic guide to 350 labor films from around the world, ranging from those you’ve heard of—Salt of the Earth, The Grapes of Wrath, Roger & Me—to those you’ve never heard of but will fall in love with once you see them.)

 Working Class Heroes

‎"On this date in 1940, An oncoming train collided with a truck carrying more than 40 Migrant agricultural workers, killing 34 of the workers, who ranged in age from ten to 48. The neighboring citrus packing plant served as headquarters for rescue operations. The tragedy, resulting in the most fatalities on a Texas highway in the 20th century. caused a renewed attention to safety issues surrounding railroad crossings and the transportation of agricultural workers. But similar tragedies also occurred during the Braceros Program over the next 25 tears and still occur today." ...via Historic Workplace and Environmental Health and Safety Issues -Mel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiMjKmuva0I

 

 

This clip is from the 1959 film, Why Braceros?, produced to justify the braceros program to the general public. The program was initially prompted by a demand for manual labor during World War II, and began with the U.S. government bringing in a few hundred experienced Mexican agricultural laborers to harvest sugar beets in the Stockton, California area. The program soon spread to cover most of the United States and provided workers for the agriculture labor market. The agricultural program, under various forms, survived until 1964, when the two governments ended it as a response to harsh criticisms and reports of human rights abuses. Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries. Farmer workers are at very high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries. For more information on farm work, farmwork hazards and their controls, link to: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginj... and http://www.ncfh.org/aaf_03.ph