
A daily, pocket-sized history of America's working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.
Episodes

Jan 7, 2026
Jan 7, 2026
1 min
On this day in Labor History the year was 1980. That was the day the President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act. The act allowed the federal government to guarantee up to one-and-a-half billion dollars in loans to aid the failing Chrysler corporation.

Jan 6, 2026
Jan 6, 2026
1 min
On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. That was the day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a speech that would become one of the defining moments of his presidency. The world was embroiled in the Second World War.

Jan 5, 2026
Jan 5, 2026
1 min
On this day in Labor History the year was 1933.
That was the day that construction on one of the most iconic landmarks in the United States—the Golden Gate Bridge, began.
The bridge was built during the height of the Great Depression.

Jan 4, 2026
Jan 4, 2026
1 min
On this day in Labor History the year was 1965. That was the day that 8,000 social workers went on strike in New York City. For twenty-eight days that bitter cold January these workers marched on the picket lines. They were members of AFSCME District Council 37 union and the Social Service Employees Union.

Jan 3, 2026
Jan 3, 2026
1 min
On this day in Labor History the year was 1917. That was the day the trial against labor leader Tom Mooney began.
Mooney stood accused of detonating a bomb at the "Preparedness Day," parade in San Francisco on July 22, 1916.

Jan 2, 2026
Jan 2, 2026
1 min
On this day in Labor History the year was 2006.
That was the day that a morning explosion at the Sago mine in West Virginia claimed the lives of twelve miners.
The federal Mine Safety and Health administration had cited the mine more than two hundred times the year before the disaster.

Jan 1, 2026
Jan 1, 2026
1 min
On this day in Labor History the year was 1831.
That was the day that William Lloyd Garrison published the first edition of “The Liberator.”
The purpose of the newspaper was to push for the end of slavery in the United States.

Dec 31, 2025
Dec 31, 2025
1 min
On this day in labor history the year was 1891. That was the day that an Irish teenager by the name of Annie Moore arrived on the shores of New York. She was travelling with her two younger brothers. They had taken a twelve-day sea voyage to be reunited with their parents, who were already in New York City.

Dec 30, 2025
Dec 30, 2025
1 min
On this day in labor history the year was 1899. That was the day that a group of thirty-three railway clerks gathered in the back room of Behrens’ cigar shop in Sedalia, Missouri. They called themselves the Order of Railway Clerks in America. They affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.

Dec 29, 2025
Dec 29, 2025
1 min
On this day in labor history the year was 2006. That was the day that United Steelworker members ended a nearly three-month strike against the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. The strike involved nearly 15,000 workers from sixteen different plants across the United States and Canada.
