Episodes

Friday Jun 13, 2025
June 9 - Gay? You’re Fired
Friday Jun 13, 2025
Friday Jun 13, 2025
On this day in Labor History the year was 1991. That was the day that a San Francisco man, Jeffrey Collins, received $5.3 million for wrongful termination from Shell Oil. The judge ruled the company had fired Jeffrey because they found out he was gay.

Thursday Jun 12, 2025
June 12 - Team Owners Attack Free Agency
Thursday Jun 12, 2025
Thursday Jun 12, 2025
In 1981 the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped the first two games of the World Series to their rivals, the New York Yankees. The Dodgers would come roaring back, sweeping the next four games. And so closed the curtain on one of the strangest seasons in baseball history.

Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
June 11 - The Banana Massacre
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
On this day in Labor History the year was 1913. Police in New Orleans shot at maritime workers striking against the United Fruit Company.
Two workers were wounded. A third laid dead in the street. At the time of the strike the port in New Orleans was one of the busiest U.S. ports for importing bananas.

Tuesday Jun 10, 2025
June 10 - The Equal Pay Act of 1963
Tuesday Jun 10, 2025
Tuesday Jun 10, 2025
On this day in Labor History the year was 1963. That was the day President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act.
The goal of the act was to end wage discrimination against women.

Monday Jun 09, 2025
June 9 - Birth of a Fighter
Monday Jun 09, 2025
Monday Jun 09, 2025
On this day in Labor History the year was 1865. Labor leader Helen Marot was born to a wealthy Quaker family in Philadelphia.
Helen grew up around the written word, as her father was a book binder and seller

Sunday Jun 08, 2025
June 8 - The Silent Skies
Sunday Jun 08, 2025
Sunday Jun 08, 2025
On this day in Labor History the year was 1966. That was the day that the roaring of the jet age grew quiet across the United States.
35,000 members of the International Association of Mechanics went out on strike.

Saturday Jun 07, 2025
June 7 - Workers Holiday in Michigan
Saturday Jun 07, 2025
Saturday Jun 07, 2025
On this day in Labor History the year was 1937. The leader of Lansing, Michigan’s United Auto Workers union, Lester Washburn, returned home, in the wee hours of the morning. He had been to Detroit for a meeting. At his home he found a disturbing scene.

Friday Jun 06, 2025
June 6 - Fighting Apartheid
Friday Jun 06, 2025
Friday Jun 06, 2025
On this day in Labor History the year was 1988. That was the day that between two and three million black workers went on strike in South Africa. The Congress of South African Trade Unions had called for three days of “national peaceful protest.”

Thursday Jun 05, 2025
June 5 - The UFCW is Founded
Thursday Jun 05, 2025
Thursday Jun 05, 2025
On this day in Labor History the year was 1979. That was the day that leaders from the Retail Clerks and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters unions began two-day special conventions to discuss merging their organizations. The result was the forming of the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
June 4 - Minimum Wage Through the Years
Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
In the past few years you may have seen news stories about efforts to raise the minimum wage. From the “Fight for Fifteen,” to various state-based campaigns, raising the minimum wage has become an important campaign for workers. But do you know where in the United States the minimum wage started?