Labor History in 2:00

September 23 - The Nixon Plan In Philadelphia

On this day in Labor History the year was 1969. President Richard Milhous Nixon issued the Philadelphia Plan. The goal of the plan was to require building trades unions to admit black members into their ranks. Nixon believed this would show him as a civil rights supporter without having to give in to the more radical demands of the civil rights movement. 

September 22 - A Large Pepperoni Pizza and a Union

On this day in Labor History the year was 2006. Eleven Domino’s pizza delivery drivers in Pensacola, Florida formed what is thought to be the first ever union of pizza delivery drivers. The American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers won recognition from the National Labor Relations Board as the bargaining agent for drivers at the Pensacola franchise. 

September 21 - The March of Mother Jones

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day that labor activist, Mother Jones, led a march of miners’ children through the streets of Charleston, West Virginia. Her aim was to illustrate the effects of poverty.  

September 20 - The Birth of a Working Class Voice

On this day in Labor History the year was 1878. That was the day that socialist author Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland. A prolific writer, Sinclair wrote nearly 100 books and other publications. Upton Sinclair’s father and father’s relatives had been wealthy Southerners. 

September 19 - The Solidarity March

On this day in Labor History the year was 1981. More than 400,000 union members marched in labor’s first Solidarity Day demonstration in Washington, D.C. The demonstration was called by the AFL-CIO to protest the Reagan administration’s policies and the firing of striking air traffic controllers.  

September 18 - The Horse Race

On this day in Labor History the year was 1830. That was the day that “Tom Thumb,” the first locomotive built in the U.S. raced a horse on a nine-mile course in Maryland.  

 

 

September 17 - A Fair Day’s Pay for a Fair Day’s Work

On this day in Labor History the year was 1868. That was the day that Susan B. Anthony, and a committee on female labor called for a vote for equal pay for equal work at the National Labor Congress. It was the second annual meeting of labor leaders from throughout the country. Anthony had begun publication of a newspaper, The Revolution. 

September 16 - The 1920 Bombing of Wall Street

On this day in Labor History the year was 1920. At noon, a horse-drawn wagon containing 100 pounds of dynamite pulled up across the street of the J.P. Morgan Chase Company on Wall Street in New York City. 500 pounds of cast-iron slugs were packed in with the dynamite.  

September 15 - Women and Children Fight for the 10-Hour Workday

On this day in Labor History the year was 1845.  5,000 female workers at the Allegheny Cotton Mills went on strike for a ten-hour day. The fast streams around Pittsburgh and Allegheny city were ideal to power cotton mills.  The mills were overheated and filled with dangerous dust.

September 14 - Congress Attacks, Handcuffs Workers

On this day in Labor History the year was 1959. The United States Congress passed the Landrum-Griffin Act. President Eisenhower signed the new law, which was also called the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. The new law had lasting consequences for the way unions operated.