A daily, pocket-sized history of America's working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.
Episodes
Sunday Jun 30, 2019
Sunday Jun 30, 2019
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.
Saturday Jun 29, 2019
Saturday Jun 29, 2019
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.”
Friday Jun 28, 2019
Friday Jun 28, 2019
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.
Thursday Jun 27, 2019
Thursday Jun 27, 2019
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.
Wednesday Jun 26, 2019
Wednesday Jun 26, 2019
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.
Tuesday Jun 25, 2019
Tuesday Jun 25, 2019
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.”
Monday Jun 24, 2019
Monday Jun 24, 2019
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.
Sunday Jun 23, 2019
Sunday Jun 23, 2019
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.
Saturday Jun 22, 2019
Saturday Jun 22, 2019
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.
Friday Jun 21, 2019
Friday Jun 21, 2019
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.