The Sailors’ Union of the Pacific, a union of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working aboard U.S. flag vessels, is founded in San Francisco - 1885
The Knights of Labor picket to protest the practices of the Southwestern Railroad system, and the company's chief, high-flying Wall Street financier Jay Gould. Some 9,000 workers walked off the job, halting service on 5,000 miles of track. The workers held out for two months, many suffering from hunger, before they finally returned to work - 1886
Joe Hill’s song “There is Power in a Union” appears in Little Red Song Book, published by the Wobblies - 1913
With the Great Depression underway, hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers demonstrated in some 30 cities and towns; close to 100,000 filled Union Square in New York City and were attacked by mounted police - 1930
Int’l Brotherhood of Paper Makers merges with United Paperworkers of America to become United Papermakers and; Paperworkers - 1957
The federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act is enacted - 1970
Predominantly young workers at a Lordstown, Ohio, GM assembly plant stage a wildcat strike, largely in objection to the grueling work pace: at 101.6 cars per hour, their assembly line was believed to be the fastest in the world - 1972
President Jimmy Carter invoked the Taft-Hartley law to halt the 1977-78 national contract strike by the United Mine Workers of America. The order was ignored and Carter did little to enforce it. A settlement was reached in late March - 1978
The
U.S. Department of Labor reports that the nation’s unemployment rate
soared to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as
cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs amid a deepening recession -
2009
Five thousand people in New York City form what they term “the
world’s largest unemployment line,” stretching from Wall Street to Union
Square, holding pink slips over their heads for 14 minutes in
solidarity with the nation’s 14 million unemployed workers. The action
was sponsored by the city’s central labor council, Occupy Wall Street,
and at least a dozen other organizations - 2012
Today in #LaborHistory : March 6 -- via -- www.unionist.com
Predominantly young workers at a Lordstown, Ohio, GM assembly plant stage a wildcat strike, largely in objection to the grueling work pace: at 101.6 cars per hour, their assembly line was believed to be the fastest in the world - 1972 ~De
Predominantly young workers at a Lordstown, Ohio, GM assembly plant stage a wildcat strike, largely in objection to the grueling work pace: at 101.6 cars per hour, their assembly line was believed to be the fastest in the world - 1972 ~De
The GM Lordstown plant was a sprawling complex of factories. In the
1960s, GM built a new factory at Lordstown that was specially designed
to assemble Vega passenger cars that GM hoped would prevent foreign
manufacturers from eroding GM’s margins in the compact-car arena. By
1966, GM was hiring workers for the factory, eventually employing about
7,000 people. This new plant, built by GM with advanced robotics, represented
a $100-million investment by the company. GM recruited younger,
better-educated workers who, it was claimed, were products of the ethos
of the 1960s.
Many of them even had long hair, so this was indeed a “new
generation.” Then, GM adopted a variety of efficiency rules designed to
increase the production of the new Vega plant from 60 cars every hour (or
1 every minute) to 100 cars in the same time (or one every 39 seconds).
The company did not increase the work force or decrease the number of
procedures each worker was responsible for. It just required its workers to
increase their pace. The workers fell behind, reasonably not being able to
keep up with the line’s speed.
generation.” Then, GM adopted a variety of efficiency rules designed to
increase the production of the new Vega plant from 60 cars every hour (or
1 every minute) to 100 cars in the same time (or one every 39 seconds).
The company did not increase the work force or decrease the number of
procedures each worker was responsible for. It just required its workers to
increase their pace. The workers fell behind, reasonably not being able to
keep up with the line’s speed.
If the pace was maddening, the results were disastrous. Workers tried
various self-help remedies, such as letting cars go by, doubling up (surreptitiously
doing an additional procedure for a short period of time—usually
very poorly—so that a friend could rest). Absenteeism increased, and
harsher work rules were imposed that violated many traditional but unspoken
shop-floor conventions.
The workers went on strike. The primary reason for the strike was the
workers’ view that the company was engaged in a speed-up.
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0131423304.pdf
The situation led to a long strike, beginning in March 1972, and the press coined the term “Lordstown Syndrome” to cover the dissatisfaction many American workers felt toward the quality of their jobs in the early 1970s.
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