Labor History in 2:00

November 27 - Workers Take Broadway by Storm

On this day in Labor History the year was 1937. That was the day the curtain first went up on the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union pro-labor production on Broadway. The show was called Pins and Needles. The revue played on Broadway until 1940 and was revived in 1978.  

November 26 - Revolutionizing the Rails

On this day in Labor History the year was 1867. That was the day that J.B. Sutherland of Detroit patented the first specialized refrigerated railroad car. Southerland’s design included ice tanks at both ends of the car and ventilation flaps on the floor, which used gravity to send a draft of cold air flowing throughout the car. 

November 25 - Striking for Better Schools

On this day in Labor History the year was 1946. That was the day that teachers in St. Paul, Minnesota went on strike. It was the first ever organized walkout of teachers in the United States. The strike was organized by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28. 

November 24 - Cigar Workers Organize

On this day in Labor History the year was 1875. That was the day that Samuel Gompers founded the Cigar Makers’ International Union Local 144 in New York City. The very first Cigar Marker’s Union local had been established in Baltimore in 1851 by craftsmen who opposed importation of lower-paid laborers from Germany. 

November 23 - Strike Like an Egyptian

On this day in labor history, we are going way, way, way back.  The year was 1170 B.C. So the exact date is a bit of an estimate.  Egyptian workers initiated what just might be the first recorded strike in world history. The workers were toiling on public works projects, including building tombs of the pharaohs, in the Valley of the Kings. 

November 22 - Clara Lemlich

On this day in Labor History the year was 1909.  That was the day that a young garment worker by the name of Clara Lemlich made a speech that would have a resounding impact on the labor movement in New York City.  Lemlich was at a union meeting, where she sat listening to men discuss whether garment workers should call a general strike. Finally she asked to speak.  

November 21 - The Canuts

On this day in Labor History the year was 1831. That was the day that silk workers went on strike in Lyon, France. It was one of several strikes, known as the Canutrevolts. Canut was a term used to describe Lyonnais silk workers. 

November 20 - The Scab

On this day in Labor History the year was 1816. That was the day the Albany Typographical Society used the term “scab” to describe a strikebreaker. The word scab had been used in England for nearly three centuries as a slang meaning a rascal or scoundrel. By the late 1700s, laborers began to use the insult to refer to workmen who wouldn't join a union or a strike.  

November 19 - Joe Hill’s Final Words

On this day in Labor History the year was 1915.  On that sad day, Industrial Workers of the World organizer and songwriter, Swedish-born Joe Hill, was executed in Utah. In 1914, Hill was framed for the murder of a grocer and his son in Salt Lake City.  The evidence was circumstantial at best. 

November 18 - Atlanta Auto Workers Lead the GM Sit Down Wave

On this day in Labor History the year was 1936. That was the day workers at the General Motors plant in Atlanta, Georgia participated in a sit-down strike. This was part of a wave of labor organizing during the 1930s. Other GM plants in Kansas City, Mo. and Cleveland, Ohio went on strike.