Today in Labor History September 29, 2025

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 eight-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

Three members of the United Mine Workers of America were shot to death by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Saskatchewan. The RCMP had fired into a miners’ parade. During the course of the strike, 400 miners and their families clashed with police. – 1931

A report by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the average weekly take-home pay of a factory worker with three dependents is $94.87 – 1962

Tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets of Europe, striking against government austerity measures. Workers in more than a dozen countries participate, including Spain, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia, and Lithuania, protesting job losses, retirement deferments, pension reductions, and cuts to schools, hospitals, and welfare services. - 2010