Today in Labor History February 15

 

Susan B. Anthony, suffragist, abolitionist, labor activist, was born in Adams, Massachusetts. – 1820

Susan B. Anthony and Baldemar Velasquez were born, The Uprising of the Twenty Thousand ended, the Civil Works Emergency Relief Act passed and more.CLICK TO TWEET

“The Uprising of the Twenty Thousand”, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union Shirtwaist strike that began September 27, was declared officially over on this date by the ILGWU. By this date, 339 manufacturing firms had reached agreements with the union. Thirteen firms, including the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, did not settle. One of the demands had been for adequate fire escapes and for open doors to the streets for emergencies. In 1911, 146 girls and women were killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. – 1910

U.S. legislators passed the Civil Works Emergency Relief Act, providing funds for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The Administration funneled money to states plagued by Depression-era poverty and unemployment and oversaw the subsequent distribution and relief efforts. – 1934

Union activist and co-founder and president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) Baldemar Velasquez was born. His experiences with miserable housing, bad working conditions, low wages, and wage theft as a child migrant farm worker propelled him to organize migrant farm workers in northwest Ohio in 1967. – 1947

The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) expelled the Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers; the Food, Tobacco & Agricultural Workers; and the United Office & Professional Workers for “Communist tendencies”. Other unions expelled for the same reason (dates uncertain): Fur and Leather Workers, the Farm Equipment Union, the International Longshoremen’s Union, and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. – 1950

Today in Labor History February 14

Jimmy Hoffa

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but Douglass chose to celebrate February 14 as his birthdate. “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” – 1818

The Western Federation of Miners struck for 8-hour day. – 1903

Frederick Douglass and Jimmy Hoffa were born, Western Federation of Miners struck and more.CLICK TO TWEET

President Theodore Roosevelt created the Department of Commerce and Labor. It was divided into two separate government departments ten years later. – 1903

Jimmy Hoffa was born in Brazil, Indiana, son of a coal miner. He disappeared July 30, 1975, and was declared dead seven years later. – 1913

8,000 to 10,000 unemployed workers rallied at Gateway Park, Minneapolis in sleet and slush. – 1915

Out since the previous July, striking workers at Detroit’s newspapers offered to return to work. The offer was accepted five days later but the newspapers vowed to retain some 1,200 scabs. A court ruling the following year ordered as many as 1,100 former strikers reinstated. – 1996