Labor History in 2:00

On this day in Labor History the year was 1977. That was the day that members of AFSCME Local 1644 began their unsuccessful strike in Atlanta, Georgia. The union was made up of 1,300 mostly black sanitation workers. The city of Atlanta had elected its first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, in 1973. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 2002. That was the day that the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case Hoffman Plastic Compound, Inc. versus the National Labor Relations Board. This case had profound importance for undocumented workers in the United States.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1910. That was the day that Congress expanded the Immigration Act passed three years earlier. 

The new language prohibited “criminals, paupers, anarchists and diseased persons” from entering the nation.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, some nine million immigrants arrived on the shores of the United States.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1911. It was one the most tragic days in US labor history. 146, mostly Jewish and Italian, women died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City. The death toll was so high because exits were locked or blocked, and basic safety precautions were not taken in the sweatshop.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912.  That was the birthday of Dorothy Height, a Civil Rights leader and a champion for black women domestic workers. Domestic workers had largely been left out of the labor protections passed as part of the New Deal.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day that trial of 101 Industrial Workers of the World began in Chicago. Their alleged crime? Speaking out against US involvement in World War I. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. That was the day that the generators began to operate at one of the most massive construction projects ever built—the Grand Coulee Dam. The dam generates hydro-power from the Columbia River in Washington State.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1960. That was the day of the Sharpeville, Massacre in South Africa. Black South Africans were required to carry identification documents. These passes limited who could live or work in designated “white” areas of the country.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1854. That was the day that the founders of what became the Republican Party met in Ripon, Wisconsin. The idea was to form a new party, opposed to the Southern labor system based on slavery. That July the Republicans held their first convention in Michigan.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1834.  That was the day that six Englishmen, who would become known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sentenced to seven years “transportation” to the penal colony of Australia.  Their crime?  Forming a union.