Today in Labor History June 20th & 21st

 Molly Maguires

Ten miners accused of being militant “Molly Maguires” were hanged in Pennsylvania. Many historians argue that the Molly Maguires, a secret miners’ organization allegedly responsible for violence and social conflict in the coal regions, never really existed. A private corporation initiated the investigation of the ten accused miners through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested them, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. “The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows,” a judge said many years later. – 1877

The US Supreme Court upheld the right of unions to publish statements urging members to vote for a specific congressional candidate, ruling that such advocacy is not a violation of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act. – 1948

The UAW began a strike at Illinois Caterpillar plants in Peoria, Decatur, and Pontiac. – 1994

100,000 unionists and other supporters marched in solidarity with striking Detroit News and Detroit Free Press newspaper workers. – 1997

Today in Labor History June 20, 2021

Eugene V. Debs

Eugene Debs formed the American Railway Union (ARU), one of the earliest unions to organize by industry and regardless of race or ethnicity (see Knights of Labor and IWW). Within a few months, the union was leading an 18-day strike against the Great Northern Railroad, successfully forcing management to reverse three wage cuts despite the fact that the nation was in the midst of a terrible depression. The victory set the union on a remarkable course in which it averaged 2,000 new members a day. – 1893

Police shot 14 Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World) during a labor clash in Butte, Montana. In April, company guards at the Anaconda mine fired on striking Wobblies, killing one. Vigilantes or company goons lynched IWW organizer Frank Little in Butte in 1917. – 1920

A newspaper strike halted publication of The Butte Miner, the Anaconda Standard, and the Butte Daily Post until July 4. – 1927

Henry Ford recognized the United Auto Workers and signed the first-ever contract for workers at the River Rouge plant. – 1941

Striking African-American auto workers were attacked by the KKK, National Workers League, and armed white workers at Belle Isle amusement park in Detroit. Two days of riots followed, 34 people were killed and more than 1,300 arrested. – 1943

The Taft-Hartley Labor Management Relations Act that curbed strikes was vetoed by President Harry S Truman. The veto was overridden three days later by a Republican-controlled Congress. – 1947

Oil began traveling through the Alaska pipeline. Seventy thousand people worked on building the pipeline, history’s largest privately-financed construction project. – 1977

Evelyn Dubrow, described by the New York Times as organized labor’s most prominent lobbyist at the time of its greatest power, died at age 95. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union lobbyist once told the Times that “she trudged so many miles around Capitol Hill that she wore out 24 pairs of her size 4 shoes each year.” She retired at age 86. – 2006