Today in Labor History April 13

 

Jimmy Hoffa

'“I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them.' - Jimmy HoffaCLICK TO TWEET

The Great Northern rail strike began in Helena, Montana, spreading to St. Paul within a few days. The strike was led by Eugene V. Debs, president of the American Railway Union, and succeeded in shutting down critical rail links, resulting in a settlement giving in to nearly all of the union’s demands. The successful strike led to thousands of rail workers joining the new union. – 1894

The International Hod Carriers & Building Laborers’ Union (today’s Laborers’ Int’l Union) was founded, as 25 delegates from 23 Local Unions in 17 cities representing 8,186 Laborers, met in Washington DC. – 1903

The Great Northern rail strike begins, Eugene V Debs goes to jail again, and 17-year old Jimmy Hoffa begins he labor career.CLICK TO TWEET

Labor leader and Socialist Party founder Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned for opposing American entry into World War I.  While in jail he ran for president and received one million votes. – 1919

A 17-year-old Jimmy Hoffa led his co-workers at a Kroger warehouse in Clinton, Indiana in a successful job action. By refusing to unload a shipment of perishable strawberries, they forced the company to give in to their demands. The “strawberry boys” had to report to work at 4:30 a.m., stay on the job for 12 hours and were paid 32¢ an hour only if growers arrived with berries to unload. Plus, they were required to spend three-fourths of any earnings buying goods from Kroger. – 1930

Today in Labor History April 12

Florence Reece

Which side are you on? - Florence ReeceCLICK TO TWEET

A group of “puddlers”,  craftsmen who manipulate pig iron to create steel, met in a Pittsburgh bar and formed The Iron City Forge of the Sons of Vulcan. It was the strongest union in the U.S. in the 1870s, later merging with two other unions to form what was to be the forerunner of the United Steel Workers. – 1858

Florence Reece was born, The Union Label and Service Trades Department was founded, The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, upheld the Wagner Act and more.CLICK TO TWEET

Florence Reece, an activist in the Harlan County, Kentucky coal strikes, and author of the song Which Side Are You On? was born on this date. The song was written in 1931 during a UMW strike in which sheriff Blair led a gang of thugs in a rampage, beating and murdering union leaders. Florence wrote the song on an old wall calendar while her home was being ransacked by Blair’s goons. – 1900

Which Side Are You On?  

      Come all of you good workers
      Good news to you I’ll tell
      Of how that good old union
      Has come in here to dwell

      Chorus
      Which side are you on?
      Which side are you on?
      Which side are you on?
      Which side are you on?

      My daddy was a miner
      And I’m a miner’s son
      And I’ll stick with the union
      Till every battle’s won

      They say in Harlan County
      There are no neutrals there
      You’ll either be a union man
      Or a thug for J.H. Blair

      Oh, workers can you stand it?
      Oh, tell me how you can
      Will you be a lousy scab
      Or will you be a man?

      Don’t scab for the bosses
      Don’t listen to their lies
      Us poor folks haven’t got a chance
      Unless we organize

The Union Label and Service Trades Department was founded by the American Federation of Labor. Its mission was to promote the products and services of union members. – 1909

Attempting to relieve striking pickets at the Garfield, New Jersey mill of Forstmann and Huffmann, twenty “girl millworkers were beaten when they did not move fast enough to suit” thirty special deputies who ordered them off the site, according to a news report. – 1912

Chris Turner was born in Floyd, Virginia. He went on to become a NASCAR driver and attempted, along with Fireball Roberts and Tim Flock, to organize the other drivers into a union in 1961 in the hope of better purses, a share in broadcasting rights and retirement benefits for the drivers. He was banned by NASCAR and was unsuccessful when he sued for reinstatement. The court said he was an individual contractor, not an employee of NASCAR or any track. – 1924

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, upheld the Wagner Act in a series of decisions involving five separate cases. The most significant was probably the case involving Jones & Laughlin Steel Company, in which Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote the majority decision approving the Wagner Act as falling under the Congress’ constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce. The Wagner Act, also known as the National Labor Relations Act, created the structure for collective bargaining in the United States. – 1937

Today in Labor History April 11

Police confront strikers during 1985 Hormel strike

Frank Norman, who had the gall to organize all citrus workers regardless of their race, was kidnapped from his home in Florida and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. – 1934

Richard Whitney, five-term president of the New York Stock Exchange, was sentenced to 5-10 years for grand larceny. – 1938

Ford Motor Company signed its first contract with United Auto Workers. – 1941

Jackie Robinson, the first black ballplayer hired by a major league team, played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. – 1947

Ford signs its first contract with the UAW, Civil Right Act of 1968 signed, UMW President Tony Boyle found guilty in Yablonski's murder, 34,000 NYC Transit Authority workers strike for better pay, and moreCLICK TO TWEET

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed into law barring racial discrimination in housing and other areas. The Act also made it a crime to cross state lines with the intent to incite a riot, giving the government a new tool to prosecute labor and other protest organizers. – 1968

United Mine Workers President W. A. “Tony” Boyle was found guilty of first-degree murder, for ordering the 1969 assassination of union reformer Joseph A. “Jock” Yablonski. Yablonski and his wife and daughter were murdered on December 30, 1969. Boyle had defeated Yablonski in the UMW election earlier in the year, an election marred by intimidation and vote fraud. That election was set aside and a later vote was won by reformer Arnold Miller. – 1974

An eleven-day strike by 34,000 New York City Transit Authority workers for higher wages ended with management agreeing to a 9% raise in the first year and 8% in the second year. During this same year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission prohibited sexual harassment of workers by supervisors in the workplace. – 1980

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued regulations prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by supervisors in the workplace. – 1980

Seventeen were arrested on felony riot charges after police tear-gassed striking Hormel meatpacking workers in Austin, Minnesota. The following day, 6,000 people demonstrated against Hormel and the police (nearly one-third of the city’s entire population). The strike was eventually suppressed by Hormel, with the collaboration of the state, and the workers’ own union. – 1986

Some 25,000 marchers in Watsonville, California showed support for the United Farm Workers organizing campaign among strawberry workers. – 1997

31,000 Stop & Shop workers in New England struck for 11 days costing the company up to $110 million in profits. Workers went back to work after ratifying a contract that preserved their health and pension benefits and raised employee pay. – 2019