Labor History in 2:00

On this day in Labor History the year was 1929. 

It was the first day of the strike at the Loray textile mill in Gastonia, North Carolina. 

Textile mill workers in the south were paid significantly less than workers in the north.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1933.  The nation was in the grips of the Great Depression. Long bread lines formed each day in major cities across the nation with at least one in four people out of work.  The crisis deepened as the Dust Bowl ravaged US farmland crippling farmers and limiting food production. 

The most important word in the language of the working class is ‘solidarity.’” 

Those inspiring words were spoken by labor leader Harry Bridges, who died on this day in Labor History the year was 1990.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1918 and someone was born who would forever change the retail industry in the United States.  His name was Sam Walton. 

Walton opened his first Walmart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas.  

This is the day in Memphis that marked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final march for Civil Rights. 

If you are a regular listener to Labor History in 2, last month you heard about how AFSCME sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike to win union recognition.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. Between six and seven thousand workers walked off the job, on strike against the Canadian Northern Railway.  Their issues included low pay, worker safety, and the poor quality of food and housing provided by the railroad. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1943.  

The United States was in the midst of fighting World War II. 

And by 1943 there were more than 9 million people serving as military personnel.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1911. Marking one the most tragic days in US labor history. 

 

146 women and girls died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1974. 

It was the final day of a ground-breaking gathering of more than 3,000 women union members in Chicago to found the Coalition of Labor Union Women, or CLUW.  

Do you know that it used to be legal for employers in their United States to make their employees sign a contract promising not join a union? 

Such agreements were often referred to as “Yellow Dog Contracts.”