Labor History in 2:00

On this day in Labor History the year was 1909.  That was the day that a young garment worker by the name of Clara Lemlich made a speech that would have a resounding impact on the labor movement in New York City.  Lemlich was at a union meeting, where she sat listening to men discuss whether garment workers should call a general strike. Finally she asked to speak.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1831. That was the day that silk workers went on strike in Lyon, France. It was one of several strikes, known as the Canut revolts. Canut was a term used to describe Lyonnais silk workers. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1816. That was the day the Albany Typographical Society used the term “scab” to describe a strikebreaker. The word scab had been used in England for nearly three centuries as a slang meaning a rascal or scoundrel. By the late 1700s, laborers began to use the insult to refer to workmen who wouldn't join a union or a strike.  

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. 

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.

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. 

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.  

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. 

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. 

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.