A daily, pocket-sized history of America’s working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.
On this day in Labor History the year was 1983. That was the day that began a three year struggle by copper workers in Arizona.
The contract for 13 unions in the mining towns that included Clifton and Morenci had expired. Many of the workers were Latino.
On this day in Labor History the year was 1998. If you were trying to drive to work on that Tuesday morning in mid-town Manhattan you were probably late. Forty thousand construction workers took to the streets in a massive protest. They shut down more than 200 building projects
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
