Labor History in 2:00

On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. A little after three o’clock on that Monday, in Chicago, radical labor activist and newspaper man August Spies climbed onto a box car to give a speech about the fight for the eight hour day. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day the administration shut down the Paris University at Naterre. Student protests at the school had begun weeks before around the ideas of a sexual revolution, or the right of young people to sleep together if they chose to without adult interference or moralizing. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1886. This was the day that began events in Chicago that would make May First the most important day on the calendar for the labor movement across the world.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. A group of 400-500 unemployed men marched down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the US Capitol. In a buggy at the front of the march rode Jacob Coxey.  

When you stand up for Civil Rights and Workers Rights you never know how far the struggle may travel. This was the caseon this day in Labor History the year was 1963

On this day in Labor History the year was 1971. That was the day that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was founded. Since then OSHA rules have become a powerful tool for the protection of workers health and safety

You have probably heard about the Red Scare, when thousands of people lost their jobs in the 1950s for allegedly harboring Communist sympathies. But have you ever heard of the “Lavender Scare” that happened during those same years?  

In 1848 gold was discovered at John Sutter’s Mill in California. As word spread, fortune seekers from all across the United States and across the world flocked to California in what came to be known as the Gold Rush.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1969. 

The Governor of South Carolina sent 1,000 state troopers and National Guardsmen to Charleston.

They were sent there to deal with striking hospital workers who wanted union recognition.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 2013. 

That was the day of the deadliest workplace disaster in garment industry history. 

More than 1,100 workers lost their lives when a factory complex building collapsed in Bangladesh.