Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Today in Labor History
September 27 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Striking textile workers in Fall River, Mass., demand bread for their starving children - 1875
The Int’l Typographical Union renews a strike against the Los Angeles Times; a boycott runs intermittently from 1896 to 1908. A local anti-Times committee in 1903 persuades William Randolph Hearst to start a rival paper, the Los Angeles Examiner. Although the ITU kept up the fight into the 1920s, the Times remained totally nonunion until 2009, when the GCIU—now the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters—organized the pressroom – 1893
The Int’l Typographical Union renews a strike against the Los Angeles Times; a boycott runs intermittently from 1896 to 1908. A local anti-Times committee in 1903 persuades William Randolph Hearst to start a rival paper, the Los Angeles Examiner. Although the ITU kept up the fight into the 1920s, the Times remained totally nonunion until 2009, when the GCIU—now the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters—organized the pressroom – 1893
Int’l Ladies' Garment Workers Union begins strike against Triangle Shirtwaist Co. This would become the "Uprising of the 20,000," resulting in 339 of 352 struck firms—but not Triangle—signing agreements with the union. The Triangle fire that killed 246 would occur less than two years later - 1909
Twenty-nine west coast ports lock out 10,500 workers in response to what management says is a worker slowdown in the midst of negotiations on a new contract. The ports are closed for 10 days, reopen when President George W. Bush invokes the Taft-Hartley Act - 2002
September 26
The Old 97, a Southern Railway train officially known as the Fast Mail, derails near Danville, Va., killing engineer Joseph “Steve” Broady and ten other railroad and postal workers. Many believe Broady had been ordered to speed to make up for lost time. The Wreck of the Old 97 inspired balladeers; a 1924 recording is sometimes cited as the first million-selling country music record - 1903
The first production Ford Model T leaves the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Mich. It was the first car ever manufactured on an assembly line, with interchangeable parts. The auto industry was to become a major U.S. employer, accounting for as many as one of every eight to 10 jobs in the country - 1908
The Old 97, a Southern Railway train officially known as the Fast Mail, derails near Danville, Va., killing engineer Joseph “Steve” Broady and ten other railroad and postal workers. Many believe Broady had been ordered to speed to make up for lost time. The Wreck of the Old 97 inspired balladeers; a 1924 recording is sometimes cited as the first million-selling country music record - 1903The first production Ford Model T leaves the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Mich. It was the first car ever manufactured on an assembly line, with interchangeable parts. The auto industry was to become a major U.S. employer, accounting for as many as one of every eight to 10 jobs in the country - 1908
Friday, September 25, 2015
Big Hitters in Trial for LA Times Sports Writer
9/23/2015 4:12:00 PM, Matt Reynolds
LOS ANGELES (CN) - The trial of former Los Angeles Times sports columnist T.J. Simers continued Wednesday, in which the retired writer seeks an estimated $18 million in damages for being allegedly fired from the paper in 2013.
Simers, 65, sued the Times two years ago claiming the paper had fired him after he suffered a "mini-stroke" and the true reason for his termination was "his age, his disability, and his medical leave."
After the parties failed to settle the case, a jury trial in Superior Court Judge William MacLaughlin's courtroom began last week and continued on Wednesday morning with testimony from former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda.
The 88-year-old's deadpan delivery led to frequent laughter from the jury box and gallery before he vacated the stand for Mike James, the sports editor who was Simers' direct supervisor at the Times.
Times of our times: Publishers on parade - Native Intelligence
Times of our times: Publishers on parade - Native Intelligence
By Steve Harvey
By Steve Harvey
In happier days, the masthead atop the Los Angeles Times editorial page proudly displayed the names of the newspaper's past and present publishers — and their years in power — next to that symbol of courage and strength, the eagle.
Services for Roger Morisette
Roger's family has decided not to have any type of public service, and will cremate his remains and scatter near Parker, Arizona on the Colorado River.
Roger was an avid water skier and taught many, including children of his colleagues, how to water ski barefoot.
The Union remains at the Los Angeles Times
The Union employees at the Los Angeles Times Olympic Production Facility overwhelmingly defeated the anti-union Tribune Publishing attempt to decertify their union by a vote of 59 to 28.
I'm told the Tribune Publishing puppet working in the pressroom has been placed on suicide watch as his attempt to please his masters failed yet again.
Great job everyone
I'm told the Tribune Publishing puppet working in the pressroom has been placed on suicide watch as his attempt to please his masters failed yet again.
Great job everyone
Today in Labor History
September 25 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
American photographer Lewis Hine born in Oshkosh, Wisc. - 1874
(Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor: Your heart will be broken by this
exceptional book’s photographs of children at backbreaking, often life-threatening work, and the accompanying commentary by author Russell Freedman. Photographer Lewis Hine–who himself died in poverty in 1940–did as much, and perhaps more, than any social critic in the early part of the 20th century to expose the abuse of children, as young as three and four, by American capitalism.)
Two African-American sharecroppers are killed during an ultimately unsuccessful cotton-pickers’ strike in Lee County, Ark. By the time the strike had been suppressed, 15 African-Americans had died and another six had been imprisoned. A white plantation manager was killed as well - 1891
American photographer Lewis Hine born in Oshkosh, Wisc. - 1874
(Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor: Your heart will be broken by this
exceptional book’s photographs of children at backbreaking, often life-threatening work, and the accompanying commentary by author Russell Freedman. Photographer Lewis Hine–who himself died in poverty in 1940–did as much, and perhaps more, than any social critic in the early part of the 20th century to expose the abuse of children, as young as three and four, by American capitalism.)Two African-American sharecroppers are killed during an ultimately unsuccessful cotton-pickers’ strike in Lee County, Ark. By the time the strike had been suppressed, 15 African-Americans had died and another six had been imprisoned. A white plantation manager was killed as well - 1891
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Deputy managing editor shifts to digital at LA Times
From: "Maharaj, Davan"
Date: September 24, 2015 at 8:46:02 AM PDT
To: yyeditall
Subject: Scott Kraft
To the staff:
We’re delighted to announce that Deputy Managing Editor Scott Kraft, one of our most gifted editors, is taking on an expanded role at the heart of our digital mission.
Scott has guided Page One and much of our signature enterprise work for the last few years. Effective immediately, he will shift his focus to identify, shepherd and polish the top stories of the day for latimes.com. He’ll work with the social media team, the Home Page and editors in all departments to ensure that our best stories, both news and enterprise, reach the largest possible audience.
Scott will help us with our key objective: to publish first and most comprehensively online, then print a terrific daily newspaper. He’ll also continue to work with the Column One team on our “Great Reads.”
Most of you are familiar with Scott’s reporting and editing experience but it bears repeating: He spent 12 years as a national and foreign correspondent, received the SPJ Distinguished Service Award for Foreign Correspondence and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. During his decade as National Editor, his reporters won four Pulitzer Prizes.
Please join us in congratulating him on his new responsibilities.
--Davan
Date: September 24, 2015 at 8:46:02 AM PDT
To: yyeditall
Subject: Scott Kraft
To the staff:
We’re delighted to announce that Deputy Managing Editor Scott Kraft, one of our most gifted editors, is taking on an expanded role at the heart of our digital mission.
Scott has guided Page One and much of our signature enterprise work for the last few years. Effective immediately, he will shift his focus to identify, shepherd and polish the top stories of the day for latimes.com. He’ll work with the social media team, the Home Page and editors in all departments to ensure that our best stories, both news and enterprise, reach the largest possible audience.
Scott will help us with our key objective: to publish first and most comprehensively online, then print a terrific daily newspaper. He’ll also continue to work with the Column One team on our “Great Reads.”
Most of you are familiar with Scott’s reporting and editing experience but it bears repeating: He spent 12 years as a national and foreign correspondent, received the SPJ Distinguished Service Award for Foreign Correspondence and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. During his decade as National Editor, his reporters won four Pulitzer Prizes.
Please join us in congratulating him on his new responsibilities.
--Davan
h/t LAObserved
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Los Angeles Times Retirees Breakfast
Los Angeles Times Retirees Breakfast, a set on Flickr.
The retirees from the Los Angeles Times will be getting together for breakfast on October 21st, 2015 at 9:30 A.M. in Diamond Bar, come on down and say hello as everyone is welcome.
Where: Bob's Big Boy Restaurant
Address: 21090 E. Colima Rd, Diamond Bar, CA 91789
Phone: (909) 595-9170
When and time: October 21st @ 9:30am
RSVP: Emmett Jaime
Address: 21090 E. Colima Rd, Diamond Bar, CA 91789
Phone: (909) 595-9170
When and time: October 21st @ 9:30am
RSVP: Emmett Jaime
Today in Labor History
September 23 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
The Workingman's Advocate of Chicago publishes the first installment of The Other Side, by Martin A. Foran, president of the Coopers' Int’l Union. Believed to be the first novel by a trade union leader and some say the first working-class novel ever published in the U.S. - 1868
A coalition of Knights of Labor and trade unionists in Chicago launch the United Labor party, calling for an 8-hour day, government ownership of telegraph and telephone companies, and monetary and land reform. The party elects seven state assembly men and one senator - 1886
A 42-month strike by Steelworkers at Bayou Steel in Louisiana ends in a new contract and the ousting of scabs - 1996
California Gov. Gray Davis (D) signs legislation making the state the first to offer workers paid family leave - 2002
The Workingman's Advocate of Chicago publishes the first installment of The Other Side, by Martin A. Foran, president of the Coopers' Int’l Union. Believed to be the first novel by a trade union leader and some say the first working-class novel ever published in the U.S. - 1868
A coalition of Knights of Labor and trade unionists in Chicago launch the United Labor party, calling for an 8-hour day, government ownership of telegraph and telephone companies, and monetary and land reform. The party elects seven state assembly men and one senator - 1886A 42-month strike by Steelworkers at Bayou Steel in Louisiana ends in a new contract and the ousting of scabs - 1996
California Gov. Gray Davis (D) signs legislation making the state the first to offer workers paid family leave - 2002
Tribune Publishing is in a panic
This 1-year stock chart probably explains more than any one thing why Tribune Publishing is in a panic.
Tribune Publishing Company Stock Quote & Summary Data
If the LA Times were sold, Tribune Publishing would be cash rich
If Eli Broad is so horny to own the LA Times, why doesn't he buy Tribune Publishing, spin the LAT off to himself, and sell the spare parts?24/7 Wall Street reports that Tribune Publishing is a prime takeover target now that it is worth only $218 million, down from $1 billion a year ago. Despite the low valuation, selling LAT for $300 to $500 million would be a large cash infusion for the surviving company if a sale is completed.
If the LA Times were sold, Tribune Publishing would be cash rich. That could trigger a special dividend or share buyback.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Roger Morrisette Rest in Peace
Pictured from the left, Roger Morrisette, Gary Weaver, and Gilbert Shea
Just heard former Los Angeles Times Pressman Roger Morrisette 74 passed this morning.
Roger loved working in the pressroom and would have still been working if he wasn't tapped on the shoulder. He was a very hard worker that seldom refused to work overtime, and always gave 100%.
When I learn of his services I will share with everyone.
Today in Labor History
September 22 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Emancipation Proclamation signed - 1862
Eighteen-year-old Hannah (Annie) Shapiro leads a spontaneous walkout of 17 women at a Hart Schaffner & Marx garment factory in Chicago. It grows into a months-long mass strike involving 40,000 garment workers across the city, protesting 10-hour days, bullying bosses and cuts in already-low wages - 1910
Great Steel Strike begins; 350,000 workers demand union recognition. The AFL Iron and Steel Organizing Committee calls off the strike, their goal unmet, 108 days later - 1919
Martial law rescinded in Mingo County, W. Va., after police, U.S. troops and hired goons finally quell coal miners' strike - 1922
U.S. Steel announces it will cut the wages of 220,000 workers by 10 percent - 1931
United Textile Workers strike committee orders strikers back to work after 22 days out, ending what was at that point the greatest single industrial conflict in the history of American organized labor. The strike involved some 400,000 workers in New England, the mid-Atlantic states and the South - 1934
Some 400,000 coal miners strike for higher wages in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois and Ohio - 1935
The AFL expels the Int’l Longshoremen's Association for racketeering; six years later the AFL-CIO accepted them back into the house of labor - 1953
OSHA reaches its largest ever settlement agreement, $21 million, with BP Products North America following an explosion at BP's Texas City, Texas, plant earlier in the year that killed 15 and injured 170 - 2005
Eleven Domino's employees in Pensacola, Fla., form the nation's first union of pizza delivery drivers - 2006
San Francisco hotel workers end a 2-year contract fight, ratify a new 5-year pact with their employers - 2006
Emancipation Proclamation signed - 1862
Eighteen-year-old Hannah (Annie) Shapiro leads a spontaneous walkout of 17 women at a Hart Schaffner & Marx garment factory in Chicago. It grows into a months-long mass strike involving 40,000 garment workers across the city, protesting 10-hour days, bullying bosses and cuts in already-low wages - 1910Great Steel Strike begins; 350,000 workers demand union recognition. The AFL Iron and Steel Organizing Committee calls off the strike, their goal unmet, 108 days later - 1919
Martial law rescinded in Mingo County, W. Va., after police, U.S. troops and hired goons finally quell coal miners' strike - 1922
U.S. Steel announces it will cut the wages of 220,000 workers by 10 percent - 1931
United Textile Workers strike committee orders strikers back to work after 22 days out, ending what was at that point the greatest single industrial conflict in the history of American organized labor. The strike involved some 400,000 workers in New England, the mid-Atlantic states and the South - 1934
Some 400,000 coal miners strike for higher wages in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois and Ohio - 1935
The AFL expels the Int’l Longshoremen's Association for racketeering; six years later the AFL-CIO accepted them back into the house of labor - 1953
OSHA reaches its largest ever settlement agreement, $21 million, with BP Products North America following an explosion at BP's Texas City, Texas, plant earlier in the year that killed 15 and injured 170 - 2005
Eleven Domino's employees in Pensacola, Fla., form the nation's first union of pizza delivery drivers - 2006
San Francisco hotel workers end a 2-year contract fight, ratify a new 5-year pact with their employers - 2006
Tuesday Afternoon in the Blogosphere
Tribune Publishing Company is sinking quickly
Tribune Publishing pleads its case with investors - Poynter
New Bidders May Emerge for Los Angeles Times - SFVBJ
Why I Quit My Dream Newspaper Job After Four Months - Jezebel
Robo-journalism: The future is arriving quickly - The Media Briefing
Tribune Publishing Lowers Its Profit Expectations - New York Times
She hated life as a young female editor at the LA Times - LAObserved
ABC new household distribution audit 'good news for print' - Print Week
Could Beutner return, with Broad in tow, to the LA Times? - Capital New York
Tribune Publishing CEO discusses leadership change at the L.A. Times - L.A. Times
Los Angeles Times plan to reinvent the newsroom
From: Maharaj, Davan
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2015 12:22 PM
To: yyeditall
Subject: Moving forward
Comrades,
Over the last several years, our newsroom has embraced change -- a lot of it. The ways that our readers learn about their communities, this state and the world continue to change even faster. To stay vital to their lives, we need to accelerate our evolution.
Over the next couple of months, we will begin organizing our newsroom to meet that challenge, drawing upon discussions and strategy sessions that have been ongoing since early this year.
Our goal is to build a newsroom around the needs of our audience. We must recognize that they are mobile, diverse and voracious consumers. That means being faster and more flexible in making coverage decisions. That means publishing news in real time and employing varied forms of storytelling, including narrative, analysis, video, photography and graphics. That means recruiting everyone, not only newcomers to the newsroom but also our best and most experienced reporters and editors, in putting our work online when readers are looking for it.
Organizing ourselves for the online world also means realizing that nearly all the world’s journalism, the stories we read every day, are available through a variety of news outlets and accessible to readers with merely a click. That’s a liberating fact. By selecting the stories we must be competitive on, we will be free to use our resources for work that is original, high quality and focused on the interests and needs of California and its communities.
Here’s what will not change: Our commitment to accountability journalism, our determination to be the preeminent source of news for and about California, our ambition to meet the highest standards of quality, accuracy and fairness, and our goal of making readers smarter, better informed citizens.
Here’s what we must leave behind: Stories that have no public-service purpose, routine news stories that merely duplicate work that is available elsewhere -- and publishing practices that no longer serve an increasingly digital audience.
Yes, we have seen a lot of change, and we continue to have one of the country’s great news organizations. Maintaining our tradition and securing our future require meeting these goals with a sense of urgency and determination.
Over the next few days, we will announce changes in how we deploy personnel, schedule stories and plan coverage. I am keenly aware of, and deeply grateful for, how much everyone has done to make this a 24/7 operation. Now we need your help more than ever.
--Davan
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2015 12:22 PM
To: yyeditall
Subject: Moving forward
Comrades,
Over the last several years, our newsroom has embraced change -- a lot of it. The ways that our readers learn about their communities, this state and the world continue to change even faster. To stay vital to their lives, we need to accelerate our evolution.
Over the next couple of months, we will begin organizing our newsroom to meet that challenge, drawing upon discussions and strategy sessions that have been ongoing since early this year.
Our goal is to build a newsroom around the needs of our audience. We must recognize that they are mobile, diverse and voracious consumers. That means being faster and more flexible in making coverage decisions. That means publishing news in real time and employing varied forms of storytelling, including narrative, analysis, video, photography and graphics. That means recruiting everyone, not only newcomers to the newsroom but also our best and most experienced reporters and editors, in putting our work online when readers are looking for it.
Organizing ourselves for the online world also means realizing that nearly all the world’s journalism, the stories we read every day, are available through a variety of news outlets and accessible to readers with merely a click. That’s a liberating fact. By selecting the stories we must be competitive on, we will be free to use our resources for work that is original, high quality and focused on the interests and needs of California and its communities.
Here’s what will not change: Our commitment to accountability journalism, our determination to be the preeminent source of news for and about California, our ambition to meet the highest standards of quality, accuracy and fairness, and our goal of making readers smarter, better informed citizens.
Here’s what we must leave behind: Stories that have no public-service purpose, routine news stories that merely duplicate work that is available elsewhere -- and publishing practices that no longer serve an increasingly digital audience.
Yes, we have seen a lot of change, and we continue to have one of the country’s great news organizations. Maintaining our tradition and securing our future require meeting these goals with a sense of urgency and determination.
Over the next few days, we will announce changes in how we deploy personnel, schedule stories and plan coverage. I am keenly aware of, and deeply grateful for, how much everyone has done to make this a 24/7 operation. Now we need your help more than ever.
--Davan
h/t LAObserved
Monday, September 21, 2015
Tribune Publishing Stock in free fall
Tribune Publishing Co
NYSE: TPUB - Sep 21 4:36 PM EDT
8.75
1.83 (17.30%)
1.83 (17.30%)Today in Labor History
September 21 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Militia sent to Leadville, Colo., to break miners’ strike - 1896
Mother Jones leads a march of miners' children through the streets of Charleston, W. Va. - 1912
(Mother Jones Speaks: Speeches and Writings: You can read here the actual speech Jones made on this day in 1912 to striking coal miners in Charleston, WV: “…this crime, starvation and murder of the innocents, so they can fill the operators’ pockets, and build dog kennels for the workers. Is it right?” Admirers of Mother Jones will want this comprehensive collection of her speeches, letters, articles, interviews and testimony before Congressional committees. In her own words, this brave and determined heroine, active from the end of the Civil War until shortly before her death in 1930, explains her life, her mission, her passion on behalf of working people.)
National Football League Players Association members begin what is to become a 57-day strike, their first regular-season walkout ever - 1982
Members of five unions at the Frontier Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas begin what was to become the longest
successful hotel strike in U.S. history. All 550 workers honored the picket line for the entirety of the 6-year, 4-month, 10-day fight against management’s insistence on cutting wages and eliminating pensions - 1991
Militia sent to Leadville, Colo., to break miners’ strike - 1896
Mother Jones leads a march of miners' children through the streets of Charleston, W. Va. - 1912
(Mother Jones Speaks: Speeches and Writings: You can read here the actual speech Jones made on this day in 1912 to striking coal miners in Charleston, WV: “…this crime, starvation and murder of the innocents, so they can fill the operators’ pockets, and build dog kennels for the workers. Is it right?” Admirers of Mother Jones will want this comprehensive collection of her speeches, letters, articles, interviews and testimony before Congressional committees. In her own words, this brave and determined heroine, active from the end of the Civil War until shortly before her death in 1930, explains her life, her mission, her passion on behalf of working people.)National Football League Players Association members begin what is to become a 57-day strike, their first regular-season walkout ever - 1982
Members of five unions at the Frontier Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas begin what was to become the longest
successful hotel strike in U.S. history. All 550 workers honored the picket line for the entirety of the 6-year, 4-month, 10-day fight against management’s insistence on cutting wages and eliminating pensions - 1991
Monday Morning in the Blogosphere
Los Angeles Times pressman Ron Williams
paid the food bank a visit to see what we do
Tribune Publishing cuts revenue, earnings estimates - Crain's
Rentals approved for U-T property - San Diego Union-Tribune
Inside the publishing tragedy of the Los Angeles Times - Salon
Trib's top shareholder drawn into fight over LA Times - LAObserved
Tribune Publishing CEO defends firing LA Times boss - Chicago Tribune
A Firing at The Los Angeles Times Focuses Discontent - New York Times
At the Times, the need for a private owner is L.A. consequential - Nieman Lab
Tribune's top shareholder to help with possible LA Times bid - Chicago Business
Sudanese security confiscates copies of a newspaper over cartoon - Sudan Tribune
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Problems at the Los Angeles Times last night
After ending an eighteen years run as a subscriber to the Los Angeles Times, I was unaware of today's delivery issue, which was brought to my attention by another former employee.
So don't bother calling the Philippines to report a missing newspaper, it will arrive eventually.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Today in Labor History
September 18 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
The Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) is formally founded at an Ohio convention, during a period of serious corruption in the union. Two years earlier at an IBT convention in Las Vegas, a union reform leader who (unsuccessfully) called for direct election of officers and a limit on officers’ salaries had been beaten by thugs - 1978
Nine strikebreakers are killed in an explosion at Giant (gold) Mine near Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Miner Roger Warren confessed that he planted the explosives that caused the deaths. He recanted the confession but later confessed once again - 1992
A 20-month illegal lockout of 2,900 Steelworkers members at Kaiser Aluminum plants in three states ends when an arbitrator orders a new contract. Kaiser was forced to fire scabs and fork over tens of millions of dollars in back pay to union members - 1999
One week after the September 11, 2001, attacks, anthrax spores are mailed by an unknown party to several news media offices and two U.S. senators. Five people exposed to the spores died, including two workers at Washington, D.C.’s USPS Brentwood facility: Thomas Morris, Jr. and Joseph Curseen, who were to die of their exposure within the month – 2001
September 17
Seventy-five workers die in explosion at Allegheny Arsenal, Pittsburgh, Pa. - 1862
At a New York convention of the National Labor Congress, Susan B. Anthony calls for the formation of a Working Women's Association. As a delegate to the Congress, she persuaded the committee on female labor to call for votes for women and equal pay for equal work. But male delegates deleted the reference to the vote - 1868
One hundred thousand Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners go on strike. Their average annual wage is $250. They are paid by the ton, defined by Pennsylvania as 2,400 pounds, but which mine operators have increased to as much as 4,000 pounds - 1900
National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) formed at a convention in Washington, D.C. In 1999 it became part of the Int’l Association of Machinists (IAM) - 1917
Some Depression-era weekly paychecks around the New York area: physician, $55.32; engineer, $40.68;
clerk, $22.15; salesman, $25.02; laborer, $20; typist, $15.09 - 1933
Southern employers meeting in Greenville, N.C., ready their big counter-offensive to break the textile labor strikes that have hit the Eastern seaboard. Ultimately they deploy 10,000 national guardsmen and 15,000 deputies, but fail to drive hundreds of thousands of strikers back to work - 1934
A Southern Pacific train loaded with sugar beets strikes a makeshift bus filled with 60 migrant workers near Salinas, Calif., killing 32. The driver said the bus was so crowded he couldn't see the train coming - 1963
A total of 98 United Mine Workers of America members and a minister occupy the Pittston Coal Company's Moss 3 preparation plant in Carbon, Va., beginning a year-long strike. Among other issues: management demands for drastic limitations in health and pension benefits for retired and disabled miners and their dependents and beneficiaries - 1989
(In Reviving the Strike, labor lawyer Joe Burns draws on economics, history and current analysis in arguing that the labor movement must redevelop an effective strike based on the now outlawed traditional labor tactics of stopping production and workplace-based solidarity. The book challenges the prevailing view that tactics such as organizing workers or amending labor law can save trade unionism in this country. Instead, Reviving the Strike offers a fundamentally different solution to the current labor crisis, showing how collective bargaining backed by a strike capable of inflicting economic harm upon an employer is the only way for workers to break free of the repressive system of labor control that has been imposed upon them by corporations and the government for the past seventy-five years.)
The Occupy Wall Street movement is launched with an anti-Wall Street march and demonstration that
ended up as a 2-month encampment in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. The event led to protests and movements around the world, with their focus on economic inequality, corruption, greed and the influence on government of monied interests. Their slogan: “We are the 99%.” - 2011
September 16
More than 43,000 oil workers strike in 20 states, part of the post-war strike wave - 1945
A player lockout by the National Hockey League begins, leading to cancellation of what would have been the league’s 88th season. The lockout, over owner demands that salaries be capped, lasted 310 days - 2004
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee wins a signed contract with the Mount Olive Pickle Co. and growers, ending a 5-year boycott. The agreement marked the first time an American labor union represented guest workers - 2004
Richard Trumka is elected president of the AFL-CIO at the federation’s convention in Pittsburgh. He had served as the secretary-treasurer under predecessor John Sweeney from 1995 to 2009, and prior to that was president of the United Mine Workers for 13 years - 2009
The Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) is formally founded at an Ohio convention, during a period of serious corruption in the union. Two years earlier at an IBT convention in Las Vegas, a union reform leader who (unsuccessfully) called for direct election of officers and a limit on officers’ salaries had been beaten by thugs - 1978
Nine strikebreakers are killed in an explosion at Giant (gold) Mine near Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Miner Roger Warren confessed that he planted the explosives that caused the deaths. He recanted the confession but later confessed once again - 1992
A 20-month illegal lockout of 2,900 Steelworkers members at Kaiser Aluminum plants in three states ends when an arbitrator orders a new contract. Kaiser was forced to fire scabs and fork over tens of millions of dollars in back pay to union members - 1999
One week after the September 11, 2001, attacks, anthrax spores are mailed by an unknown party to several news media offices and two U.S. senators. Five people exposed to the spores died, including two workers at Washington, D.C.’s USPS Brentwood facility: Thomas Morris, Jr. and Joseph Curseen, who were to die of their exposure within the month – 2001
September 17
Seventy-five workers die in explosion at Allegheny Arsenal, Pittsburgh, Pa. - 1862
At a New York convention of the National Labor Congress, Susan B. Anthony calls for the formation of a Working Women's Association. As a delegate to the Congress, she persuaded the committee on female labor to call for votes for women and equal pay for equal work. But male delegates deleted the reference to the vote - 1868One hundred thousand Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners go on strike. Their average annual wage is $250. They are paid by the ton, defined by Pennsylvania as 2,400 pounds, but which mine operators have increased to as much as 4,000 pounds - 1900
National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) formed at a convention in Washington, D.C. In 1999 it became part of the Int’l Association of Machinists (IAM) - 1917
Some Depression-era weekly paychecks around the New York area: physician, $55.32; engineer, $40.68;
clerk, $22.15; salesman, $25.02; laborer, $20; typist, $15.09 - 1933Southern employers meeting in Greenville, N.C., ready their big counter-offensive to break the textile labor strikes that have hit the Eastern seaboard. Ultimately they deploy 10,000 national guardsmen and 15,000 deputies, but fail to drive hundreds of thousands of strikers back to work - 1934
A Southern Pacific train loaded with sugar beets strikes a makeshift bus filled with 60 migrant workers near Salinas, Calif., killing 32. The driver said the bus was so crowded he couldn't see the train coming - 1963
A total of 98 United Mine Workers of America members and a minister occupy the Pittston Coal Company's Moss 3 preparation plant in Carbon, Va., beginning a year-long strike. Among other issues: management demands for drastic limitations in health and pension benefits for retired and disabled miners and their dependents and beneficiaries - 1989
(In Reviving the Strike, labor lawyer Joe Burns draws on economics, history and current analysis in arguing that the labor movement must redevelop an effective strike based on the now outlawed traditional labor tactics of stopping production and workplace-based solidarity. The book challenges the prevailing view that tactics such as organizing workers or amending labor law can save trade unionism in this country. Instead, Reviving the Strike offers a fundamentally different solution to the current labor crisis, showing how collective bargaining backed by a strike capable of inflicting economic harm upon an employer is the only way for workers to break free of the repressive system of labor control that has been imposed upon them by corporations and the government for the past seventy-five years.)The Occupy Wall Street movement is launched with an anti-Wall Street march and demonstration that
ended up as a 2-month encampment in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. The event led to protests and movements around the world, with their focus on economic inequality, corruption, greed and the influence on government of monied interests. Their slogan: “We are the 99%.” - 2011September 16
More than 43,000 oil workers strike in 20 states, part of the post-war strike wave - 1945
A player lockout by the National Hockey League begins, leading to cancellation of what would have been the league’s 88th season. The lockout, over owner demands that salaries be capped, lasted 310 days - 2004
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee wins a signed contract with the Mount Olive Pickle Co. and growers, ending a 5-year boycott. The agreement marked the first time an American labor union represented guest workers - 2004
Richard Trumka is elected president of the AFL-CIO at the federation’s convention in Pittsburgh. He had served as the secretary-treasurer under predecessor John Sweeney from 1995 to 2009, and prior to that was president of the United Mine Workers for 13 years - 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Today in Labor History
September 15 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Some 5,000 female cotton workers in and around Pittsburgh, Pa., strike for a 10-hour day. The next day, male trade unionists become the first male auxiliary when they gather to protect the women from police attacks. The strike ultimately failed - 1845
President Kennedy signs off on a $900 million public-works bill for projects in economically depressed areas - 1962
More than 350,000 members of the United Auto Workers begin what is to become a 69-day strike against General Motors - 1970
Int’l Association of Siderographers merges with Int’l Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers - 1992
September 14
The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers union calls off an unsuccessful 3-month strike against U. S. Steel Corporation subsidiaries - 1901
Gastonia, N.C., textile mill striker and songwriter Ella May Wiggins, 29, a mother of five, is killed when local vigilantes and thugs force the pickup truck in which she is riding off the road and begin shooting – 1929
A striker is shot by a bog owner (and town-elected official) during a walkout by some 1,500 cranberry pickers, members of the newly-formed Cape Cod Cranberry Pickers Union Local 1. State police were called, more strikers were shot and 64 were arrested. The strike was lost - 1933
Congress passes the Landrum-Griffin Act. The law expands many of the anti-labor provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act, increasing union reporting requirements and restricting secondary boycotting and picketing - 1959
(The Essential Guide To Federal Employment Laws, 4th edition: This is a well-indexed book, updated in 2013, offering the full text of 20 federal laws affecting workers’ lives, along with plain-English explanations of each. An entire chapter is devoted to each law, explaining what is allowed and prohibited and what businesses must comply with.)
Some 5,000 female cotton workers in and around Pittsburgh, Pa., strike for a 10-hour day. The next day, male trade unionists become the first male auxiliary when they gather to protect the women from police attacks. The strike ultimately failed - 1845
President Kennedy signs off on a $900 million public-works bill for projects in economically depressed areas - 1962
More than 350,000 members of the United Auto Workers begin what is to become a 69-day strike against General Motors - 1970Int’l Association of Siderographers merges with Int’l Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers - 1992
September 14
The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers union calls off an unsuccessful 3-month strike against U. S. Steel Corporation subsidiaries - 1901
Gastonia, N.C., textile mill striker and songwriter Ella May Wiggins, 29, a mother of five, is killed when local vigilantes and thugs force the pickup truck in which she is riding off the road and begin shooting – 1929A striker is shot by a bog owner (and town-elected official) during a walkout by some 1,500 cranberry pickers, members of the newly-formed Cape Cod Cranberry Pickers Union Local 1. State police were called, more strikers were shot and 64 were arrested. The strike was lost - 1933
Congress passes the Landrum-Griffin Act. The law expands many of the anti-labor provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act, increasing union reporting requirements and restricting secondary boycotting and picketing - 1959
(The Essential Guide To Federal Employment Laws, 4th edition: This is a well-indexed book, updated in 2013, offering the full text of 20 federal laws affecting workers’ lives, along with plain-English explanations of each. An entire chapter is devoted to each law, explaining what is allowed and prohibited and what businesses must comply with.)
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