Today in Labor History

January 07  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

An explosion at Osage Coal and Mining Company’s Mine Number 11 near Krebs, Okla., kills 100, injures 150 when an untrained worker accidentally sets off a stash of explosives - 1892
 
Wobbly Tom Mooney, accused of a murder by bombing in San Francisco, pardoned and freed after 22 years in San Quentin - 1939
 
The presidents of 12 of the nation’s largest unions meet and call for reuniting the American labor movement, which split into two factions in 2005 when seven unions left the AFL-CIO and formed a rival federation. The meeting followed signals from President-elect Barack Obama that he would prefer dealing with a united movement, rather than a fractured one that often had two competing voices. Unions from both sides of the split participated in the meeting. The reunification effort failed, but by mid-2013 four of the unions had rejoined the AFL-CIO - 2009

January 06

The Toronto Trades and Labour Council endorses the principle of equal pay for equal work between men and women - 1882
 
Eight thousand workers strike at Youngstown Sheet & Tube. The following day the strikers’ wives and other family members join in the protest. Company guards use tear gas bombs and fire into the crowd; three strikers are killed, 25 wounded - 1916

Jill Stewart to leave LA Weekly and more media notes - LA Observed

Jill Stewart to leave LA Weekly and more media notes - LA Observed

Thursday Morning in the Blogosphere

Seen outside the former headquarters of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Evolution of American Newspapers - Greenwich Post

Books and newspapers will do just fine in 2016 - Quartz

Newspapers: The struggle to reinvent goes on - Media Life

Globe turns to former distributor to get back on track - Boston Globe

Charlie Hebdo: anniversary reveals more cautious French press - Editors Weblog

Support Grows For 'Los Angeles Times' To Return To Local Ownership - WCQS

Hearst Taps Former Yahoo Exec to Run Digital for Newspapers Division - WWD

Hey, Donald: Newspaper circulation is dropping plenty already - Washington Post

Newspaper editor quits journalism to battle LA ‘mega developments’ - My News LA

Millennials’ views of news media, religious organizations grow more negative - Fact Tank

Judge now vacates ALL of T.J. Simers' jury award - LA Observed

Judge now vacates ALL of T.J. Simers' jury award - LA Observed

Globe delivery fiasco illustrates challenges of digital era

Globe delivery fiasco illustrates challenges of digital era

Daily newspapers in Fredericksburg and Fairbanks sold over the holidays

Daily newspapers in Fredericksburg and Fairbanks sold over the holidays

Today in Labor History

January 05  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.
 The nation’s first labor convention of Black workers was held in Washington, D.C., with 214 delegates forming the Colored National Labor Union - 1869

Ford Motor Company raises wages from $2.40 for a 9-hour day to $5 for an 8-hour day in effort to keep the unions out - 1914

Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins. Ten of the 11 deaths on the job came when safety netting beneath the site—the first-ever use of such equipment—failed under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen. Nineteen other workers were saved by the net over the course of construction. They became members of the (informal) Halfway to Hell Club - 1933

January 04

Angered by increasing farm foreclosures, members of Iowa's Farmers Holiday Association threaten to lynch banking representatives and law officials who institute foreclosure proceedings for the duration of the Great Depression - 1933
 
What many believe to be the longest strike in modern history, by Danish barbers’ assistants, ends after 33 years - 1961
 
Eight thousand New York City social workers strike, demand better conditions for welfare recipients - 1965
 
United Paperworkers Int’l Union merges with Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Int’l Union to form Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers Int’l Union, itself later to merge with the Steelworkers - 1999

Delivering the Globe, one street at a time

\

By Kevin Cullen

The last time I delivered newspapers, I was 12 years old, standing on the porch of one of my neighbors on Linden Avenue in Malden. It was collection day.

Mr. Daly was a nice man and paid me promptly. Exact amount owed, to the penny. When I lingered on the porch, he turned back and sized me up.

“What do you want?” he said. “A tip?”

I shrugged.

“Here’s a tip,” Mr. Daly said. “Stay in school, kid.”

Los Angeles Times Offering Employees a Bounty

If you or someone you know is seeking employment as a press-person, please contact me so I can refer you through a former colleague.

Not certain if this was brought on by previous buyouts, retirements, or employees departing due too illness?

Maybe the Orange County Register deal is around the corner and additional employees will be needed to produce additional newspapers?

Stay tuned...

Sheldon Adelson distances himself from purchase of Las Vegas Review-Journal

Sheldon Adelson distances himself from purchase of Las Vegas Review-Journal

Los Angeles Times Price Increase

As of January 1st, 2016 the cost of purchasing a single issue of the daily Los Angeles Times (Monday through Saturday) increased from $1.50 to $2.00, with the Sunday edition at $3.00 from $2.00.

As advertisers and readers seek alternatives to the hard copy of the newspaper, costs of producing the paper will be passed onto the consumers.

Judge cuts $2.1 million from TJ Simers' jury award - LA Observed

Judge cuts $2.1 million from TJ Simers' jury award - LA Observed

3 media business trends to watch for in 2016

3 media business trends to watch for in 2016

Today in Labor History

January 02  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.
 
Conference of 23 industrial unionists in Chicago leads to formation of IWW, the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as Wobblies - 1905

In what became known as Palmer Raids, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer arrests 4,000 foreign-born labor agitators. He believed Communism was “eating its way into the homes of the American workman,” and Socialists were causing most of the country’s social problems - 1920

An underground explosion at Sago Mine in Tallmansville, W. Va., traps 12 miners and cuts power to the mine. Eleven men die, mostly by asphyxiation. The mine had been cited 273 times for safety violations over the prior 23 months - 2006


January 01

Women weavers form union, Fall River, Mass. - 1875

John L. Lewis is elected president of the United Mine Workers. Fifteen years later he is to be a leader in the formation of what was to become the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) - 1920

With the Great Depression in full force, the year 1932 opens with 14 million unemployed, national income down by 50 percent, breadlines that include former shopkeepers, businessmen and middle-class housewives. Charity is overwhelmed: only one-quarter of America’s unemployed are receiving any help at all - 1932

Workers begin to acquire credits toward Social Security pension benefits. Employers and employees became subject to a tax of one percent of wages on up to $3,000 a year - 1937

Adolph Strasser, head of the Cigar Maker’s Union and one of the founders of the AFL in 1886, died on this day in Forest Park, Ill. - 1939

Members of the Transport Workers Union and Amalgamated Transit Union working for the New York transit system begin what is to be a successful 12-day strike. Fiery TWU leader Mike Quill, jailed for several days during the strike, then hospitalized, died three days after his release from the hospital - 1966

The federal minimum wage rises to $2.65 an hour - 1978

Int’l Typographical Union, the nation’s oldest union, merges with Communications Workers of America - 1987

United Furniture Workers of America merges with Int’l Union of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, Salaried & Machine Workers to become Int’l Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine & Furniture Workers, now a division of CWA - 1987

National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians merges with Communications Workers of America - 1994

Int’l Union of Allied & Industrial Workers of America merges with United Paperworkers Int’l. Later merged into the Steelworkers - 1994

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) takes effect, despite objections by labor - 1994

Bakery, Confectionery & Tobacco Workers Int’l Union merges with American Federation of Grain Millers to form Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers Int’l Union - 1999

Happy New Year

A special look back at 2015 in Los Angeles - Mayor Eric Garcetti

Hi Edward, 2015 was a big year. We laughed together, cried together and worked together to make our city better. Just in time for the New Year, check out this short video we made to celebrate all that Los Angeles has accomplished over the last 12 months. Can't wait to see how we'll outdo ourselves in 2016!   As always, I'd love to get your feedback on how we are doing on Facebook, Twitter, and on my website. Happy New Year! - Eric Garcetti   Mayor

Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti 200 N Spring St, 300, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States

Memorial Service for Hal Siep

A memorial service for former Los Angeles Times pressman Hal Siep will take place on Saturday, January 2nd, 2016 at 2:00 P.M.

First Presbyterian Church
521 Olive Avenue
Burbank, CA. 91501

818-842-5103

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

Romans 11:33

After working for the Los Angeles Times for forty-five years, Chuck Lee has retired

(left to right) Mike Chavez, Chuck Lee, and Tony Domingo

Chuck Lee has taken the latest buyout after spending forty-five years working as a machinist for the Los Angeles Times. Chuck has witnessed the heyday at the newspaper first hand, and also experienced the large drop in circulation. It may take a few weeks but his ink stained hands will come clean within a few weeks.

Chuck was never afraid of hard work or getting into the printing units, coming out covered with ink from head to toe. His expertise in making repairs to the machinery will definitely have a negative impact on production at the newspaper.

Chuck's wife, Betty Ann Lee, is also a former employee of the Los Angeles Times, and I'm certain she has a honey do list to keep Chuck busy in retirement.

Enjoy retirement Chuck

If U.S. fumbling battle over image with ISIS, Edward R. Murrow wouldn’t be surprised, new memo reveals

If U.S. fumbling battle over image with ISIS, Edward R. Murrow wouldn’t be surprised, new memo reveals

Today in Labor History

December 31  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Sixty thousand unemployed workers rally at a Pittsburgh stadium - 1931

United Mine Workers reformer Joseph "Jock" Yablonski, his wife and daughter are murdered by hit men hired by union president Tony Boyle, who was to be convicted of the crime and eventually die in prison - 1969

OSHA adopts a grain handling facilities standard to protect 155,000 workers at nearly 24,000 grain elevators from the risk of fire and explosion from highly combustible grain dust - 1987

December 30

Gathering in the back room of Behrens’ cigar shop in Sedalia, Mo., 33 railroad clerks form Local Lodge Number 1 of a union they named the Order of the Railroad Clerks of America - 1899

Idaho Gov. Frank Steunenberg, who had brutally suppressed the state’s miners, is killed by an assassin's bomb. Legendary Western Federation of Miners and IWW leader William "Big Bill" Haywood and two other men were put on trial for the death but were ultimately declared innocent - 1905

GM sit-down strike spreads to Flint, Mich., will last 44 days before ending in union victory - 1936

December 29

After years of intensive lobbying by the labor movement, a comprehensive national safety law is enacted as President Nixon signs the Occupational Safety & Health Act of 1970, creating the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) - 1970

More than 15,000 United Steel Workers members at 16 Goodyear Tire & Rubber plants end an 86-day strike, ratify 3-year contract - 2006

December 28

The coffee percolator is patented by James H. Mason of Franklin, Mass., placing himself forever in the debt of millions of caffeine-dependent working people – 1865

Auto workers begin sit-down strike for union recognition at GM’s Fisher Body plant in Cleveland - 1936

Country music legend Hank Williams attends what is to be his last musicians’ union meeting, at the Elite (pronounced E-light) café in Montgomery, Ala.  He died of apparent heart failure three days later in the back seat of a car driving north.  He was 29 - 1952

After thirty-eight years Dana Custer has retired from the Los Angeles Times

Dana Custer began his career at the Los Angeles Times, in the electronics department, on June 6th, 1977, and left yesterday December 30th, 2015 through one of the many buyouts the company has offered over the years. Dana worked at Times Mirror Square from 1977 to 1985, at which time he transferred to the Chatsworth Production Facility. When it was announced that the Valley Plant was to be shuttered he moved to the Olympic Production Facility in 2005. Dana spent ten years working at the Los Angeles Facility before retiring.

Always a happy go lucky person, Dana was a pleasure to work with, he will be sorely missed by his colleagues at the newspaper.

Enjoy your free time Dana

The best-read digital story of 2015? It’s The Atlantic’s ‘What ISIS Really Wants.’

The best-read digital story of 2015? It’s The Atlantic’s ‘What ISIS Really Wants.’

Register and author go inside OC's snitch tank - LA Observed

Register and author go inside OC's snitch tank - LA Observed

Highlights and lowlights of journalism innovation in 2015

Highlights and lowlights of journalism innovation in 2015

50 states, 50 public records stories

50 states, 50 public records stories

Today in Labor History

December 27 - Union Communications Services, Inc.

President Roosevelt seizes the railroads to avert a nationwide strike. His decision to temporarily place the railroads under the “supervision” of the War Department prompts the five railroad brotherhoods to agree to his offer to arbitrate the wage dispute - 1943


December 26
 
Knights of Labor founded. Constitution bars from membership “parasites,” including stockbrokers and lawyers - 1869
 
Workingmen’s Party is reorganized as the Socialist Labor Party - 1877

December 25

A dynamite bomb destroys a portion of the Llewellyn Ironworks in Los Angeles, where a bitter strike was in progress – 1910

Fourteen servicemen from military bases across the U.S., led by Pvt. Andrew Stapp, form The American Servicemen’s Union (ASU). The union, which never came close to being recognized by the government, in its heyday during the Viet Nam war claimed tens of thousands of members and had chapters at bases, on ships and in Viet Nam. ASU demands included the right to elect officers - 1967

December 24

Seventy-two copper miners’ children die in panic caused by a company stooge at Calumet, Mich., who shouted “fire” up the stairs into a crowded hall where the children had gathered.  They were crushed against closed doors when they tried to flee - 1913

December 23

AFL officers are found in contempt of court for urging a labor boycott of Buck's Stove and Range Co. in St Louis, where the Metal Polishers were striking for a 9-hour day - 1908
 
Construction workers top out the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world - 1970
 
Walmart Stores Inc., the nation's largest employer, with 1.4 million "associates," agrees to settle 63 wage and hour suits across the U.S., for a grand total of between $352 million and $640 million. It was accused of failure to pay overtime, requiring off-the-clock work, and failure to provide required meal and rest breaks - 2008

Departing Review-Journal editor: ‘It’s been a privilege’

Departing Review-Journal editor: ‘It’s been a privilege’

From robots to medicine to space travel, 2015 was a huge year for science

2015 Was An Amazing Year For Science And Technology

From robots to medicine to space travel, 2015 was a huge year for science and technology (via NowThis Future)

Posted by NowThis on Wednesday, December 23, 2015

SPJ's distinguished journalists of the year in LA - LA Observed

SPJ's distinguished journalists of the year in LA - LA Observed

A look at the front pages of 2015

A look at the front pages of 2015

Tuesday Night in the Blogosphere

It's Called Reporting - Niemanlab

Bezos Takes Hands-On Role at Washington Post - WSJ

A guide to negotiating a buyout offer - Washington Post

Newspapers continue to play vital role in society - LJ World

Hunger, homelessness on the rise in major US cities - Al Jazeera

Do you have a brilliant idea to improve journalism? - Editors Weblog

Union-Tribune executive takes company buyout - San Diego Union-Tribune

US Treasury Sanctions Mexican Newspapers for Links to Cartel - ABC News

Fairbanks, Kodiak newspapers purchased by nonprofit - Alaska Dispatch News

Trib Total Media will close McKeesport, Monessen newspapers - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When Santa visited the LA Times - Native Intelligence

When Santa visited the LA Times - Native Intelligence

Today in Labor History

December 22  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

A group of building trades unions from the Midwest meet in St. Louis to form the National Building Trades Council. The Council disbanded after several years of political and jurisdictional differences - 1897
 
Twenty-one Chicago firefighters, including the chief, died when a building collapsed as they were fighting a huge blaze at the Union Stock Yards.  By the time the fire was extinguished, 26 hours after the first alarm, 50 engine companies and seven hook-and-ladder companies had been called to the scene. Until September 11, 2001, it was the deadliest building collapse in American history in terms of firefighter fatalities - 1910
 
Amid a widespread strike for union recognition by 395,000 steelworkers, approximately 250 alleged “anarchists,” “communists,” and “labor agitators” were deported to Russia, marking the beginning of the so-called “Red Scare” - 1919
(Mobilizing Against Inequality: Unions, Immigrant Workers, and the Crisis of Capitalism: Are immigrant workers themselves responsible for low wages and shoddy working conditions? Should unions expend valuable time and energy organizing undocumented workers? Unions in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States have taken various approaches to confront the challenges of this significant segment of the workforce. As U.S. immigration policy is debated, readers will gain insight into how all workers benefit when wages and working conditions for immigrant workers are improved.)

December 21

Powered by children seven to 12 years old working dawn to dusk, Samuel Slater’s thread-spinning factory goes into production in Pawtucket, R.I., launching the Industrial Revolution in America. By 1830, 55 percent of the mill workers in the state were youngsters, many working for less than $1 per week - 1790
 
Supreme Court rules that picketing is unconstitutional. Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft declared that picketing was, in part, "an unlawful annoyance and hurtful nuisance..." - 1921

The funny, the weird, the elaborate, the terrible – 33 media errors from 2015

The funny, the weird, the elaborate, the terrible – 33 media errors from 2015

Will Sheldon Adelson pursue a personal agenda at his Las Vegas paper? He may already have.

Will Sheldon Adelson pursue a personal agenda at his Las Vegas paper? He may already have.

Buyouts hit The Seattle Times

Buyouts hit The Seattle Times

Dean Baquet: San Bernardino shooting coverage revealed systemic failure at The New York Times

Dean Baquet: San Bernardino shooting coverage revealed systemic failure at The New York Times

Today in Labor History

December 19  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

An explosion in the Darr Mine in Westmoreland Co., Pa., kills 239 coal miners. Seventy-one of the dead share a common grave in Olive Branch Cemetery. December 1907 was the worst month in U.S. coal mining history, with more than 3,000 dead - 1907
 
A 47-day strike at Greyhound Bus Lines ends with members of the Amalgamated Transit Union accepting a new contract containing deep cuts in wages and benefits. Striker Ray Phillips died during the strike, run over on a picket line by a scab Greyhound trainee - 1983
 
Twenty-six men and one woman are killed in the Wilberg Coal Mine Disaster near Orangeville, Utah. The disaster has been termed the worst coal mine fire in the state’s history. Federal mine safety officials issued 34 safety citations after the disaster but had inspected the mine only days before and declared it safe - 1984
 
December 20
Delegates to the AFL convention in Salt Lake City endorse a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote - 1899
 
The first group of 15 Filipino plantation workers recruited by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association arrive in Hawaii. By 1932 more than 100,000 Filipinos will be working in the fields - 1906
 Thousands of workers began what was to be a 2-day strike of the New York City transit system over retirement, pension and wage issues. The strike violated the state’s Taylor Law; TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint was jailed for ten days and the union was fined $2.5 million - 2005

December 18

General Motors announces it is closing 21 North American plants over the following four years and slashing tens of thousands of jobs - 1991






December 17

Int’l Union of Aluminum, Brick & Glass Workers merges with United Steelworkers of America - 1996

December 16

The National Civic Federation is formed by business and labor leaders, most prominently AFL president Sam Gompers, as a vehicle to resolve conflicts between management and labor. Not all unionists agreed with the alliance. The group turned increasingly conservative and labor withdrew after Gompers’ 1924 death - 1900
 
New York City’s Majestic Theater becomes first in the U.S. to employ women ushers - 1902
 
The Bagel Bakers of America union is continuing a work slowdown at 32 of New York’s 34 bagel bakeries in a dispute over health and welfare fund payments and workplace sanitation, the New York Times reports.  Coincidentally—or not—lox sales were down 30 percent to 50 percent as well.  The effect on the cream cheese market was not reported - 1951
 
Four railway unions merge to become the United Transportation Union: Trainmen, Firemen & Enginemen, Switchmen, and Conductors and Brakemen - 1968

Eight female bank tellers in Willmar, Minn., begin the first strike against a bank in U.S. history. At issue: they were paid little more than half what male tellers were paid. The strike ended in moral victory but economic defeat two years later - 1977
(United Apart: Gender and the Rise of Craft Unionism: At the turn of the twentieth century, American factory workers were often segregated by sex—males did heavier, dirtier, and better paid, work while women might be employed in a separate area performing related, lighter work. Men might cut bolts of fabric, for example, while women stitched cuffs onto sleeves. How this division of labor played out when an occupational group comprised of one sex went on strike is the subject of this book.)

L.A. on Cloud9

Get your day started with a great story. Like this one about the leader of a non-profit organization who created a simple system of care for the homeless community – a community to which she once belonged. Share your own story of how you impacted your community and use #ShareKleenexCare
Posted by Kleenex on Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Community publisher snowed under and files for bankruptcy

Community publisher snowed under and files for bankruptcy

The Nevada newspaper mystery — a business perspective

The Nevada newspaper mystery — a business perspective

Today in Labor History

December 15  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

AFL convention passes a 1¢ per capita assessment to aid the organization of women workers (Exact date uncertain) - 1913
 
The Kansas National Guard is called out to subdue from 2,000 to 6,000 protesting women who were going from mine to mine attacking non-striking miners in the Pittsburg coal fields. The women made headlines across the state and the nation: they were christened the "Amazon Army" by the New York Times - 1921
 
Eight days after the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, the AFL pledges that there will be no strikes in defense-related plants for the duration of World War II - 1941
 
Meeting in its biennial convention, the AFL-CIO declares “unstinting support” for “measures the Administration might deem necessary to halt Communist aggression and secure a just and lasting peace” in Vietnam - 1967
 
The U.S. Age Discrimination in Employment Act becomes law. It bars employment discrimination against anyone aged 40 or older - 1967
(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.)

California's longest nurses’ strike ended after workers at Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo and Pinole approved a new contract with Tenet Healthcare Corp., ending a 13-month walkout - 2003

Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers union organizer Clinton Jencks, who led New Mexico zinc miners in the strike depicted in the classic 1954 movie Salt of the Earth, dies of natural causes in San Diego at age 87 - 2005

David Ulin adds name to LA Times buyout list - LA Observed

David Ulin adds name to LA Times buyout list - LA Observed

Majority of jailed journalists worldwide work online, report finds

Majority of jailed journalists worldwide work online, report finds

Reuters picks up two LA Times buyout-ees - LA Observed

Reuters picks up two LA Times buyout-ees - LA Observed

The Erie Times-News, family-owned since its founding, is sold

The Erie Times-News, family-owned since its founding, is sold

Today in Labor History

December 13  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Death in San Antonio, Texas, of Samuel Gompers, president and founder of the American Federation of Labor - 1924

December 12

A U.S. immigration sweep of six Swift meat plants results in arrests of nearly 1,300 undocumented workers - 2006

Bloomberg Business made some data journalism out of ‘Star Wars’

Bloomberg Business made some data journalism out of ‘Star Wars’

Dean French Rest in Peace

Long time Los Angeles Times Composing Room employee, Dean French, passed away on Wednesday, December 9th from COPE. Dean was a very jovial man and had friends from many different departments at the newspaper. And he would join the pressmen at Anthony's on First Street for a few beers, or the writers at the Redwood on Second Street.

An avid fan of the annual USC-UCLA football game, he mustered up enough strength to root his team on.  

As per Dean's request, there will be no funeral service.

If you would like to send his wife a sympathy card, please let me know so I can supply her address.

Hal Siepe Rest in Peace

Hal Siepe, front row third from the left.

Former pressman at the Los Angeles Times for many decades, Hal Siepe, passed away on December 3rd, 2015 from an apparent heart attack. Hal was a gentle man that was very quiet and did his job well at the newspaper. Hal left the newspaper through one of the numerous buyouts offered through the past twenty three years.

I currently have no further information at this time.  

Canadian newspaper corrects itself on love, hatred and Trump

Canadian newspaper corrects itself on love, hatred and Trump

Today in Labor History

December 11

Union Communications Services, Inc.

A small group of Black farmers organize the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Cooperative Union in Houston County, Texas. They had been barred from membership in the all-White Southern Farmers’ Alliance. Through intensive organizing, along with merging with another Black farmers group, the renamed Colored Alliance by 1891 claimed a membership of 1.2 million - 1886
 
Ten days after an Illinois State mine inspector approved coal dust removal techniques at New Orient mine in West Frankfort, the mine exploded, apparently due to accumulated methane gas, killing 119 workers - 1951
 
The U.S. Department of Labor announces that the nation's unemployment rate had dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest mark in 15 years - 1968
 
Forty thousand workers go on general strike in London, Ontario—a city with a population of 300,000—protesting cuts in social services - 1995

Michigan becomes the 24th state to Adopt right-to-work legislation.  The Republican-dominated state Senate introduced two measures—one covering private workers, the other covering public workers—by surprise five days earlier and immediately voted their passage; the Republican House approved them five days later (the fastest it legally could) and the Republican governor immediately signed both bills - 2012

Billy Penn and Knight Foundation want to build ‘Yelp for mobile news’

Billy Penn and Knight Foundation want to build ‘Yelp for mobile news’

Ron Doerr Has Left the Los Angeles Times

After spending forty years working at the Los Angeles Times Ron Doerr decided to take the latest buyout offer from the newspaper. Ron worked in the Operations Department, keeping the thirsty presses quenched with newsprint. One of his favorite pastimes is buying and selling rare stamps at trade shows throughout Southern California, and hiking. I'm certain Ron will enjoy his retirement.