May 02 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Chicago's first Trades Assembly, formed
three years earlier, sponsors a general strike by thousands of workers
to enforce the state's new 8-hour-day law. The one-week strike was
unsuccessful - 1867
Birth of Richard Trevellick, a ship carpenter, founder of American
National Labor Union and later head of the National Labor Congress,
America’s first national labor organization - 1830
First Workers’ Compensation law in U.S. enacted, in Wisconsin - 1911
President Herbert Hoover declares that the stock market crash six
months earlier was just a "temporary setback" and the economy would soon
bounce back. In fact, the Great Depression was to continue and worsen
for several more years - 1930
Nazi forces occupy the headquarters, seize the funds, and imprison
the leaders of two of Germany’s largest trade union federations,
comprised of 41 unions representing about 4.5 million workers.
Independent trade unions were abolished - 1933
May 01
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones born in County Cork, Ireland - 1830
(Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America: Her
rallying cry was famous: "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the
living." A century ago, Mother Jones was a celebrated organizer and
agitator, the very soul of the modern American labor movement. At coal
strikes, steel strikes, railroad, textile, and brewery strikes, Mother
Jones was always there, stirring the workers to action and enraging the
powerful. In this first biography of "the most dangerous woman in
America," Elliott J. Gorn proves why, in the words of Eugene V. Debs,
Mother Jones "has won her way into the hearts of the nation's toilers,
and... will be lovingly remembered by their children and their
children's children forever.")
Cigar makers in Cincinnati warn there could be a strike in the fall
if factory owners continue to insist that they pay 30¢ per month for gas
heat provided at work during mornings and evenings - 1883
Eight-hour day demonstration in Chicago and other cities begins tradition of May Day as international labor holiday - 1886
The Cooks’ and Waiters’ Union strikes in San Francisco, demanding one
day of rest per week, a 10-hour work day and a union shop for all
restaurants in the city - 1901
Mother Jones’ 100th birthday celebrated at the Burgess Farm in Adelphi, Md. She died six months later - 1930
New York City’s Empire State Building officially opens. Construction involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, and hundreds of Mohawk iron workers. Five workers died during construction - 1931
Congress enacts amendments to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act,
extending protections to the employees of state and local
governments—protections which didn’t take effect until 1985 because of
court challenges and regulation-writing problems - 1974
The federal minimum wage rises to $2 per hour - 1974
Int’l Molders & Allied Workers Union merges with Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers Int’l Union - 1988
Woodworkers of America Int’l merges with Int’l Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers - 1994
Int’l Leather Goods, Plastics & Novelty Workers Union merges with Service Employees Int’l Union - 1996
Rallies
in cities across the U.S. for what organizers call “A Day Without
Immigrants.” An estimated 100,000 immigrants and sympathizers gathered
in San Jose, Calif., 200,000 in New York, 400,000 each in Chicago and
Los Angeles. In all, there were demonstrations in at least 50 cities -
2006
(Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Market: In
recent years, New Yorkers have been surprised to see workers they had
taken for granted—Mexicans in greengroceries, West African supermarket
deliverymen and South Asian limousine drivers—striking, picketing, and
seeking support for better working conditions. Suddenly, businesses in
New York and across the nation had changed and were now dependent upon
low-paid immigrants to fill entry-level jobs.)
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Today in Labor History
Labels:
#Solidarity,
GCC,
GCC-IBT,
IBT,
Jimmy Hoffa Jr.,
Labels: AFL-CIO,
labor movement,
Pete Seeger,
Teamsters,
Today in Labor History,
Union Communications Service,
Unionist,
Working Class Heroes
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