Labor History in 2:00

September 7 - Actors Boycott the Enmys

On this day in Labor History the year was 1980. The 32^nd Annual Emmy Awards show took place despite 51 of the 52 nominated performers boycotting the event.  At issue was a strike by members of the Screen Actors Guild.  Powers Boothe was the only nominated actor to attend.  

September 6 - Packinghouse Workers Win Master Contract

On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. The Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee, part of the CIO, and Armour & Company signed a master contract.  This was the first such contract in the meatpacking industry. Within two years, three other major meatpackers also signed agreements with the union. 

September 5 - The First Labor Day

What are your plans for Labor Day weekend?  Are you going to enjoy a barbecue with friends or family, or maybe march with your union in a parade?  Do you know the history of this holiday? On this day in Labor History the year was 1882.

September 4 - Look for the Union Label

On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. At least 10,000 tailors went on strike to protest their sweatshop working conditions. The New York Times reported “contract tailors of New York and Brooklyn celebrated Labor Day yesterday by going on strike.”  Unemployed tailors pledged not to work as scabs. 

September 3 - The Day the Pictures Spoke

On this day in Labor History the year was 1928. 300 musicians working in Chicago went on strike against 250 movie theaters. They were protesting their impending replacement by talking pictures. This was part of a nationwide wave of protest by the American Federation of Musicians. 

September 2 - Division in the Mines

On this day in Labor History the year was 1885.White miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming planned to wipe out the town’s entire Chinese community. Chinese immigrants came to the United States looking for work, first in the California gold mines, then as laborers on the Transcontinental Railroad. 

September 1 - The First Overnight Sleeping Car Ride

On this day in Labor History the year was 1859. That was the day the first Pullman sleeping car made an overnight trip. The first Pullman sleeper was a renovated day coach. That first trip was made on the Chicago and Alton Railroad between Bloomington, Illinois and Chicago.  

August 31 - Why We March

On this day in Labor History the year was 1991. Three thousand five hundred buses rolled into Washington, D.C. 

They were loaded with protesters, there to participate in Solidarity Day.

August 30 - The Battle of Blair Mountain

On this day in Labor History the year was 1921. That was the day that one of most pitched battles in US labor history, the “Battle of Blair Mountain” began in West Virginia.  Coal fueled the engines of industry, keeping the trains moving and the steel mills humming.

August 29 - The Lusty Lady Organizes

On this day in Labor History the year was 1996.  That was the day that workers at the Lusty Lady strip club in San Francisco made their final push to make their case for the right to join a union. They made history by winning the union vote fifty-seven to fifteen.