Labor History in 2:00

June 29 - Organizing Successes Bring Deportation

On this day in Labor History the year was 1936.  Jesus Pallares, a Chicano miner and union organizer was deported from the United States. He was charged with having communist sympathies, and declared an “undesirable alien.”  

June 28 - Labor Day Becomes a Federal Holiday

President Grover Cleveland had a growing problem. The nation was in the midst of a deep depression. 

Unrest amongst working people was mounting. The workers at the Chicago Pullman Palace Car factory had declared a boycott against the company.

June 27 - Locked Out at Staley

On this day in Labor History the year was 1993. That was the day that AE Staley locked out 763 workers at their corn processing plant in Decatur, Illinois. Labor Management relations grew increasingly hostile with foreign-owned Tate & Lile’s decision to bring in new managers. The new management ordered workers to disregarded safety regulations.  

June 26 - Have You Heard of Jennie Curtis?

On this day Labor History the year was 1894.  That was the day the American Railway union, led by Eugene Debs, voted to support the boycott of Chicago’s Pullman Palace Cars.  The nation was gripped by an economic depression. The Pullman workers were on strike, because the company had severely slashed wages.  But Pullman had not reduced the workers rent payments in his company town.

June 25 - FDR Signs the Fair Labor Standards Act

On this day in Labor History the year was 1938.  That was the day the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The night before he signed that landmark act, he addressed the nation in one his famous “fire side chats.”  

June 24 - Agnes Nestor

On this day in Labor History the year was 1880. Chicago labor leader Agnes Nestor was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her father had been a machinist and member of the Knights of Labor. Like many others families, the Nestor family moved to Chicago during the depression that swept the country in the mid-1890s.  

June 23 - Brown Lung

Chances are you have heard of “black lung,” the deadly disease that threatens coal miners. But have you ever heard of “brown lung?” On this day in Labor History the year was 1978. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA adopted standards to fight this workplace hazard.  

June 22 - United

On this day in Labor History the year was 1977. The eyes of the British Labor Movement were turned to the Grunwick Film Labor Processing Laboratories in northwest London.  Members of trade unions participated in a large demonstration at the factory.

June 21 - The Day of the Rope

On this day in Labor History the year was 1877. It became known in Pennsylvania labor history as “The Day of the Rope.” 

Twenty Irish miners were hung for allegedly belonging to a secret group of labor radicals known as the Molly Maguires. 

June 20 - The ARU is Founded

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893.  That was the day that Eugene V. Debs founded the American Railway Union.  The goal of the union was to organize railroad workers from different job classifications.  Previous railroad unions have been based on job type.