Labor History in 2:00

During this past year, there have been many news stories of students walking out of public schools to protest the practices of community policing.  This tactic has deep roots in the Civil Rights Movement. On this day in labor history, the year was 1964 with nearly a half a million African American and Puerto Rican students in New York City, participated in a one-day school boycot

Today in labor history, February 2, 1929 3,000 timber workers in New South Wales, Australia were locked out of their jobs.  Australia was in the midst of the Great Depression.  

Today in labor history, February 1, 1913 was the first day of the Paterson, New Jersey silk weavers strike.  During the strike than 20,000 silk weavers walked off the job. They strike started at the Doherty Silk Mill. 

Today in labor history, January 31, 1940 Ida May Fuller received a check from the U.S. government for $22.54.  That may seem like a small amount, but the check represented something much larger. 

“What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be.”  Those words were penned in the opening paragraph of the book Rules for Radicals, whose author, Saul Alinsky was born today in labor history January 30, 1909.

Sometimes you have to sit down in order to stand up for your rights as a worker.  That is what workers in the Firestone rubber plant proved in Akron, Ohio today in labor history, January 29, 1936.  Akron was the heart of the rubber industry in the United States, employing 40,000 at its peak.  

"The only people whose names are recorded in history are those who did something. The peaceful and indifferent are forgotten; they never know the fighting joy of living." Those words were spoken in Seattle by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, today in labor history, January 28,1917.  Flynn certainly embraced the “fighting joy of living,” as a leader in the Industrial Workers of the World.  She became a full time organizer for the IWW in 1907. 

Today in labor history, January 27, 1850, renowned labor leader Samuel Gompers was born to a Jewish family in London, England. His family immigrated to the United States in 1863, where Gompers learned the cigar-making trade from his father. 

Today in labor history, January 26, 1897 saw the charter of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union, formed out the merger of seven other unions. 

After an election, have you ever found yourself scratching your head, wondering why it seems that working people vote for candidates that do not represent their interests?  Well, that feeling is nothing new.  Back in 1912, Ernest Riebe of the Industrial Workers of the World created a comic strip character, Mr. Block.