Today in Labor History

August 22  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Five flight attendants form the Air Line Stewardesses Association, the first labor union representing flight attendants. They were reacting to an industry in which women were forced to retire at the age of 32, remain single, and adhere to strict weight, height and appearance requirements. The association later became the Association of Flight Attendants, now a division of the Communications Workers of America - 1945

Int’l Broom & Whisk Makers Union disbands - 1963

Joyce Miller, a vice president of the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers, becomes first female member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council - 1980

Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1988

August 21
Slave revolt led by Nat Turner begins in Southampton County, Va. - 1831


August 20
The Great Fire of 1910, a wildfire that consumed about 3 million acres in Washington, Idaho and Montana—an area about the size of Connecticut—claimed the lives of 78 firefighters over two days.  It is believed to be the largest, although not deadliest, fire in U.S. history - 1910

Deranged relief postal service carrier Patrick “Crazy Pat” Henry Sherrill shoots and kills 14 coworkers, and wounds another six, before killing himself at an Edmond, Okla., postal facility.  Supervisors had ignored warning signs of Sherrill’s instability, investigators later found; the shootings came a day after he had been reprimanded for poor work.  The incident inspired the objectionable term “going postal” - 1986

(Preventing Workplace Violence: Hundreds of workers are killed in episodes of workplace violence every year at the hands of co-workers, customers or clients; thousands more are injured. This comprehensive booklet describes how workers can act together through their union to move an employer to reduce the risks for violence. The guidebook includes a workplace violence inspection checklist, workplace violence survey and model workplace violence contract language.)