Labor History in 2:00

November 19 - Joe Hill’s Final Words

On this day in Labor History the year was 1915.  On that sad day, Industrial Workers of the World organizer and songwriter, Swedish-born Joe Hill, was executed in Utah. In 1914, Hill was framed for the murder of a grocer and his son in Salt Lake City.  The evidence was circumstantial at best. 

November 18 - Atlanta Auto Workers Lead the GM Sit Down Wave

On this day in Labor History the year was 1936. That was the day workers at the General Motors plant in Atlanta, Georgia participated in a sit-down strike. This was part of a wave of labor organizing during the 1930s. Other GM plants in Kansas City, Mo. and Cleveland, Ohio went on strike.

November 17 - The Anti-Communist Witch-hunt Escalates

On this day in Labor History the year was 1947. That was the day that the Screen Actors Guild voted to make all SAG members take an anti-Communist loyalty oath. The late 1940s were the dawn of the US Cold War with the Soviet Union. Anti-Communist hysteria swept the country. 

November 16 - Using the Law to Crush Organizing

On this day in Labor History the year was 1798. On that day Kentucky became the first state to nullify an act of the United States Congress. The federal government had passed the Alien and Sedition Acts during the presidency of John Adams.  

November 15 - Founding of the AFL

On this day in Labor History the year was 1881. That was the day that trade unionists held the founding convention of the Federation of Trades and Labor Unions in Pittsburgh. This group later changed its name to the American Federation of Labor. During the 1880's it grew to replace the Knights of Labor as the most powerful labor union organization in the United States. 

November 14 - Founding of the Women's Trade Union League

On this day in Labor History the year was 1903. Working women from around the nation founded the National Women’s Trade Union League in Boston. The organization’s founders included female reformers, working class women, as well as women from wealthy families. 

November 13 - The Cherry Mine Disaster

On this day in Labor History the year was 1909. On this tragic day, 259 coal miners died in a mine in Cherry, Illinois. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad opened the mine in 1905 to supply coal for their trains. Most of the miners were immigrants, primarily Italian. Many could not speak English. 

November 12 - The Misery of Chainsaw Al

On this day in Labor History the year was 1996. That was the day that “Chainsaw”  Al Dunlap lived up to his nickname. Under his leadership, the Board of the Sunbeam Corporation agreed to eliminate half of the company's 6,000 employees and 87% of its products.  Dunlap had built a reputation for ruthlessly restructuring companies. His policy of implementing sweeping layoffs and plant closures earned him the nickname “Chainsaw Al.”

November 11 - Execution of the Haymarket Martyrs

On this day in Labor History the year was 1887. That was a tragic day for the labor movement. Four men were hung in Chicago for their alleged role in the bombing at a labor rally at the city’s Haymarket Square a year earlier.  In a sensational trial a total of eight men were convicted for Haymarket.

November 10 - The Benevolent Dictator

On this day in Labor History the year was 1933. That was the day that Hormel plant workers in Austin, Minnesota began a sit-down strike. Company head, Jay Hormel, boasted that his company was a benevolent dictatorship. Workers agreed that the company was a dictatorship but not very benevolent.