Episodes
Tuesday Aug 11, 2020
August 11 - Workers Demands Fall on Deaf Ears
Tuesday Aug 11, 2020
Tuesday Aug 11, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1894.
That was the day that federal troops pushed “Kelly’s Industrial Army” out of Washington D.C and across the Potomac River.
The “army” was a group of unemployed men who had come to the capitol to protest government inaction.
The country was in the grip of an economic depression.
The nation’s Agricultural regions in the South and Great Plains were also hit by a drought.
Times were hard for American workers and families.
The call had gone out across the nation for the unemployed to make their way to the doorstep of Congress.
The goal was to petition for public infrastructure projects to put people back to work.
Businessman Jacob Coxey had organized a march of the unemployed from Ohio.
Charles T. Kelly and his group came from California.
They rode the rails and made it to Des Moines, Iowa where they encamped.
After a while the local residents decided the unemployed group had outstayed their welcome.
The Iowans provided lumber so the Industrial Army could build flatboats and be on their way.
By the time Charles Kelly and his men made it to D.C., Coxey had already been sentenced to twenty days in jail for trespassing on the Capitol lawn.
Yet unemployed men from across the country kept coming into the nation’s capital.
1,200 men arrived from different points across the country.
One of those in Kelly’s group was a young Jack London.
The wrote of the experience, “Across the “wild and wooly West,” clear from California, General Kelly and his heroes captured trains; but they fell down when they crossed the Missouri and went up against the effete East.”
The marchers’ protests earned no help from the capitol.
Monday Aug 10, 2020
August 10 - Safety in the Air
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Monday Aug 10, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1931.
That was the day that Air Line Pilots Association affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.
The need for pilots to organize became apparent as early as the mid-1920s.
The airline industry was new, and pilots often faced dangerous conditions.
They were often put under pressure to fly under adverse conditions, especially if they were tasked with delivering the mail.
As the Great Depression swept the country, pilots were asked to fly more and more hours for less money.
They organization of pilots started off small and in secret.
But soon it grew.
In 1930 the union got its unofficial start, holding its first convention the following year.
David Behncke was elected the first president.
Behncke had served as a flight instructor for the Army.
He then led the Behncke’s Flying Circus, performing airshows across the Midwest.
Then he went to work for a private airmail service.
As union president, Behncke established the organization’s headquarters in Chicago.
Over the years as plane technology has changed, the union has fought to ensure the continued safety of the pilots.
Pilot fatigue, as well as security concerns, especially after the terrorist attacks of 911, have also been important issues for the union.
Today the Air Line Pilots Association represents more than 50,000 pilots flying for 31 airlines in the United States and Canada.
Their mission statement begins with the commitment to “promote and champion all aspects of aviation safety throughout all segments of the aviation community.”
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
August 9 - Workers Pay the Price for Bad Management
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1979.
That was the day that young women workers at the YH Trading Company in Seoul, South Korea staged a sit-in.
The women made wigs for export.
The company had been one of the leading exporters in the nation.
But then the managers began to move the profits from the wig company to a shipping company under the same ownership, as well as to a film production company.
This drained the profits from the wig factory and left it in debt.
The owner shut down the company without warning, firing all of the employees.
These women did not only lose their jobs.
Water and electricity were turned off at the factory dormitories where they lived.
A union represented the young women.
The union planned a strike at the building, but the police were called in to break it up.
The workers decided move their protest to the local headquarters of the New Democratic Party.
The party was in opposition to the leader of Seoul, President Park Chung Hee.
The fired women were welcomed at the New Democratic Party office.
There they decided to stage a sit-in to bring attention to their situation.
The worker’s sit-in only lasted three days.
Then 1,000 police stormed the building.
They overturned furniture and broke windows.
They dragged the women out of the building violently.
One woman, 21-year old Kim Kyong-sook died in the raid
She fell from the roof of the building in a clash with the police.
Four of the union leaders were sent to prison.
More than two hundred of the workers were expelled out of Seoul, back home to rural areas.
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
August 8 -Murdered for Standing Up
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1850.
That was the day that two tailors who were out on strike in New York City were killed in a confrontation with the police.
It is thought they were the first workers to die while participating in a strike in the United States.
They certainly would not be the last.
The United States has one of the bloodiest labor histories of any industrial nation.
It is estimated that at least 700 people have lost their lives to violence during a strike.
The vast majority of those slain were workers.
Some of the most-bloody conflicts included the Great Upheaval of 1877.
Across the country 100 workers lost their lives in an uprising of railway labor.
Then in the 1892 strike against Carnegie Steel in Homestead, Pennsylvania nine strikers and three Pinkerton agents died.
Two years later, thirty workers died across the country in a strike and boycott against the Pullman Palace Car Company.
One of the most infamous labor massacres occurred in Ludlow, Colorado in 1914.
During this coal mining strike gun thugs hired by the company rained machine gun bullets and fire down on a tent colony of the striking workers.
At least nineteen people were killed.
Eleven of them were children.
In 1937, ten workers died on Memorial Day at a demonstration against Republic Steel in Chicago.
These are just some of the battles, massacres and murders that shaped the American labor movement.
Too often the toll of this blood-shed is not taught in history classes.
Friday Aug 07, 2020
August 7 - Elizabeth Gurley Flynn is Born
Friday Aug 07, 2020
Friday Aug 07, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1890. That was the day that one of the heroines of the US labor movement, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was born in Concord, New Hampshire. Elizabeth learned her progressive politics at a young age. Her father was a socialist and her mother was a feminist
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
August 6 - The Baltimore Bank Riot
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1835. That was the day that began the “Baltimore Bank Riot.” The Bank of Maryland had failed in 1834. Thousands of people who had deposited money in the bank saw their savings vanish. For nearly a year-and-a-half the depositors waited for their money to be returned. Anger grew.
Wednesday Aug 05, 2020
August 5 - A Law for Family Values
Wednesday Aug 05, 2020
Wednesday Aug 05, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1993. That was the day that the Family Medical Leave Act went into effect. Union members worked hard to support this legislation, testifying before congress and holding rallies. It was an uphill battle to pass the bill. Starting in 1984 family medical leave was brought before Congress.
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
August 4 - Continuing the Push for Cheap, Exploitable Labor
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day that the United States and Mexico signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement. It became known as the Bracero Program. The word “bracero” can be translated into “one who works with his arms” and refers to farm workers.
Monday Aug 03, 2020
August 3 - The Wheatland Riot
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Monday Aug 03, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day that became known in California as the “Wheatland Riot.” The Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, were trying to organize hop pickers, who worked near the city of Wheatland in Northern California. Living conditions for the hop pickers were rough.
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
August 2 - The Hatch Act Enacted
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
On this day in Labor History the year was 1939. That was the day that the Hatch Act was enacted. The law was named after Senator Carl Hatch, a Democratic Senator from New Mexico. The Hatch Act limits political activity by federal employees. One of the reasons the law was passed was due to allegations of corruption by the Works Progress Administration.