Episodes
Friday Oct 11, 2019
October 11 - Resting in Peace and with Dignity
Friday Oct 11, 2019
Friday Oct 11, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1936. 50,000 people gathered in the small town of Mount Olive, in southern Illinois. They had come to commemorate a new memorial to renowned labor leader Mother Jones and to honor mine workers who had lost their lives. Five special trains and twenty-five Greyhound buses helped bring the crowd to the Union Miners Cemetery.
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
October 10 - Murder in the Fields
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1933. That was the day that forty armed cotton growers shot at a group of striking workers in the small town of Pixley, California. That year a wave of labor unrest had swept through the fields of California’s agriculture industry. Nearly 50,000 workers participated in strikes throughout the year.
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
October 9 - The United Hebrew Trades is Founded
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1888. That was the day that the United Hebrew Trades was founded in New York City. The new effort was patterned after the United German Trades. The goal was to organize Yiddish speaking workers.
Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
October 8 - The Not So Friendly Skies for Women
Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1986. Female flight attendants won an important legal victory. Can you imagine losing your job because you decided to get married? It might have happened if you were a flight attendant working in the mid-Twentieth century.
Monday Oct 07, 2019
October 7 - Happy Birthday Joe Hill
Monday Oct 07, 2019
Monday Oct 07, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1879. The man who came to be known as Joe Hill was born Joel Emmanuel Hagglund in Gavle, Sweden. Hill traveled the United States organizing for the grassroots labor organization the Industrial Workers of the World.
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
October 6 - Fighting for a Say in the Great White North
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1996 fifteen thousand workers at the General Motors Plant in Quebec walked off the job. Members of the Canadian Auto Workers union were frustrated with their wages. They were also angry about layoffs and GM’s moves to outsource some of the auto production to non-unionized labor.
Saturday Oct 05, 2019
October 5 - Solidarity
Saturday Oct 05, 2019
Saturday Oct 05, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1983. That was the day that Lech Walesa was awarded the Noble Peace prize for his work founding the Solidarity union of Poland. The son of a carpenter, Walesa worked as an electrician in a shipyard.
Friday Oct 04, 2019
October 4 - Truman Takes Control of the Nation’s Oil Refineries
Friday Oct 04, 2019
Friday Oct 04, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1945. That was the day President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9639. It ordered the US Navy to seize control of more than four dozen oil refineries across the country. As World War II was drawing to a close, workers in many industries were growing increasingly restless. They had seen company owners rake in record profits, and the workers felt they had not received their fair share.
Thursday Oct 03, 2019
October 3 - A Standard of Living That Is a Cut Above
Thursday Oct 03, 2019
Thursday Oct 03, 2019
On this day in Labor History the year was 1943. That was the day the United Packinghouse Workers of America was chartered under the CIO. The new union was the result of the CIO’s Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee. Started in 1937 the Organizing Committee was an effort to build a union that broke down barriers between races and crafts in the meatpacking industry.
Wednesday Oct 02, 2019
October 2 - A Shot of Opportunity Please
Wednesday Oct 02, 2019
Wednesday Oct 02, 2019
Did you enjoy a cup of coffee to start your day this morning? On this day in Labor History the year was 2007. That was the day that Starbucks agreed to post information about union rights on an employee bulletin board at its store in Grand Rapids Michigan. The Industrial Workers of the World were attempting to organize the baristas at that store.