Labor History in 2:00

September 8 - Defying Nazi Occupation

On this day in Labor History the year was 1941.  

The ravages of World War II had swept across Europe.  

German troops had invaded Norway in April of 1940.  

The conditions of the Nazi occupation grew increasingly harsher.  

The Nazis began rationing milk, and important part of the diet of Norwegian children and workers.  

The rationing however did not apply to the German occupiers.  

Angered shipyard workers in Oslo walked off the docks in protest.  

Workers from other industries joined them.  

20,000 workers from 50 factories and work sites participated in the strike.  

The Nazi response to the uprising was predictably swift and brutal.  

200 labor leaders were arrested and new Nazi chosen leaders put in their places.  

Twenty-seven of the arrested labor leaders and strikers were brought before a court-martial trial.  

Rolf Wickstrom, a welder and union steward and Harald Viggo Hansteeen a labor lawyer were sentenced to death for their involvement in the strike and executed. 

The remaining twenty-five were convicted and sentenced to long prison sentences. 

Ludvik Buland, a union railway worker died while serving his sentence in prison. 

So did Harry Vestli, a factory worker.  

Journalists were fired or arrested.  

Even groups like the Boy Scouts were banned.  

Listening to foreign broadcasts on the radio was expressly forbidden.  

Then radios were confiscated. 

In Sweden, Trade Unionists issued a statement in support of their fellow Scandinavian workers.  

“Norwegian trade unionists have fallen in the battle for Norway’s Freedoms and for the right of the Norwegian working class to decide for itself its own action with the limits of Norwegian law.  We honor their memory.” 

In 1948 a memorial was placed to honor the deaths of Wickstrom and Hansteen and the workers who stood up for their country.

September 7 - The Federal Employees Compensation Act

On this day in Labor History the year was 1916. 

That was the day that the Federal Employees Compensation Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. 

The act was sponsored by Senator John Kern, a Democrat from Indiana, and Daniel McGillicuddy, a Democratic Congressman from Maine. 

The act provided compensation for federal civil service employees that lost wages because they were hurt or killed on the job.  

There was great debate at the time over whether employees injured at work deserved to be compensated.  

Before the turn of the twentieth century, those who sustained workplace injuries had little recourse. 

Employers blamed workers for accidents and typically refused compensation leaving families destitute.  

Edward Gainor, the President of the National Association of Letter Carriers explained the debate around the 1916 proposal saying, “The only question, the fundamental question, involved in this discussion is whether or not society should bear the burden of the injured worker in any industry.” 

Increasingly, some lawmakers were beginning to make the case that society should indeed bear that burden. 

Workers and labor leaders organized around issues of work place safety and demanded a compensation if they were injured on the job. 

The law providing such a safety net for federal employees passed through the House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin of 288 to 6. 

Although the Act only applied to federal employees, it was an important step forward in recognizing that all workers deserved to be compensated for workplace injuries.    

The federal Office of Workers Compensation Programs that operates today traces its history directly back to the 1916 act. 

And because of this 1916 act some Three million federal employees and their families are covered under the acts protections. 

September 6 - Jane Addams is Born

On this day in Labor History the year was 1860. 

That was the day that Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois. 

Her family was wealthy and her father served as a state senator. 

In 1881, Jane Adams visited London with her friend Ellen Gates Starr. 

There the two women were inspired by Toynbee Hall, a settlement house which worked with the poor and working class in the city. 

They decided to establish a similar effort in Chicago. 

They founded Hull House in an immigrant neighborhood of Italian, Greek and Jewish workers. 

Hull House grew to become a complex of facilities that offered kindergarten, day care, lectures and cultural programs, and an important space for women trade unionists to hold meetings.

The women of Hull house became oneof the leading proponents for workplace safety in the nation, pushing for laws and reforms to help workers.  

During the 1894 Pullman workers strike, Jane Addams visited the community and had meals with the women workers.  

She was able to convince the workers’ strike committee to agree to sit down to arbitration, but the Pullman company officials staunchly refused to negotiate.

The refusal of the company to bargain, and the rising anger of the workers was an eye-opener for Jane.  

Later she reflected, “During all those dark days of the Pullman strike, the growth of class bitterness was most obvious.”

Before the strike, she wrote, “there had been nothing in my experience [that had]reveal[ed] that distinct cleavage of society which a general strike at least momentarily affords.” 

In 1931 Jane Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for her life-long advocacy for working class women and children and her strong stand for peace during World War I. 

September 5 - The First Labor Day Parade

On this day in Labor History the year was 1882. That was the day the first Labor Day celebration and parade took place in New York City. The New York Sun printed a vivid report of the parade of 10,000 marching workers.

The paper described “men wearing regalia, men with society aprons, and men with flags, musical instruments, badges and all the other paraphernalia of a procession.”

The article went on, “As far ahead as one could see and as far down the side streets as forms and faces could be distinguished the windows and roofs and even the lamp posts and awning frames were occupied by persons anxious to get a good view of the first parade in New York of workingmen of all trades united in one organization.  All along the line cheers were sent up.” 

The reporter described the colorful banners carried by each trade union, and noted that following the bricklayers came “two decorated wagons containing brick arches.  On each side of one of the wagons were the inscriptions: “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for recreation,” and “Get on to it the Union will never surrender.”

From New York the idea of setting aside a holiday for workers spread. 

Oregon became the first state to officially recognize the holiday in 1897. 

Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York established a Labor Day that year as well. 

By 1894 twenty-three more states celebrated the workers holiday.

It was that year, that President Grover Cleveland declared it a national holiday, in response to the Pullman Strike and Boycott that began in Chicago. 

Labor Day is day to honor the sacrifices made by labor fighting for safe and fair workplaces.

September 4 - The Peekskill Riots

On this day in Labor History the year was 1949. 

That was the day known in New York as the Peekskill Riots. 

Internationally renowned African American Paul Robeson was scheduled to give an open-air concert.  

He was known for his deep, moving voice singing iconic songs like Shenandoah and the Ballad of Joe Hill.

Robeson was active in the causes of civil and labor rights. 

In the Cold War hysteria after World War II, Robeson had been labeled a dangerous Communist. 

The New York concert was originally planned to benefit the Civil Rights Congress.

The group had been defending the “Trenton 6” a group of six black young men sentenced to die in New Jersey for allegedly killing a white shop keeper.

The case was rife with legal abuses.  

But protests over the concert led to its cancellation. 

It was rescheduled, and the tickets were distributed to trade unionists in New York City. 

On the day of the concert 2,500 union members made a human wall around the field to protect against protesters. 

Protesters gathered hurling anti-black and anti-Jewish racial epithets.

Pete Seeger opened the concert followed by Robeson. 

The real trouble came when the concert ended and people tried to leave. 

The protesters threw rocks at the passing cars, while policeman stood by and watched. 

145 people were injured.

 Other concerts were cancelled. 

Paul Robeson would continue to be harassed by the FBI. 

He was denied a passport due to his stance against anti-black discrimination in the United States and against colonialism in Africa.  

September 3 - Locked in to Die

On this day in Labor History the year was 1991.

That was the day that a fire killed twenty-five workers are the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. 

More than fifty workers were injured. 

The plant made chicken products for fast food restaurants and grocery stores. 

According to an article in the New York Times, the plant was “a warren of ramshackle buildings.”

The fire “started with hydraulic fluid from a ruptured line spraying in to gas flames that heated large, oil-filled cooking vats.”

Ninety workers were inside when the fire began. 

Some were able to escape out the main entrance or a loading bay. 

But the emergency exits of the plant were locked from the outside. 

A worker said that this was on the order of company owner Emmett J Roe, to stop workers from stealing chicken. 

A passerby, Sam Breeden was interviewed by the Associated Press.

He described the tragic scene “They were screaming: ‘let me out.” They were beating on the door.  The people could not force the door open.”

At the time of the fire, the company had not had a fire inspection in eleven years.

An inspection after the fire found 54 “willful” violations.

The company was fined more than $800,000.

Although this was the highest fine in the history of North Carolina, it was far less than federal fines for similar workplace disasters. 

That is because North Carolina has a state-run occupational health and safety program. 

At the time of the fire nearly half of the states in the country had state-run safety inspections. 

And for the company owner Emmett Roe?

He was convicted on twenty-five counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Serving just four years. 

September 2 - Protecting Pensions

On this day in Labor History the year was 1974. 

 

That was the day that President Gerald Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

 

The act was passed over growing concern about the mismanagement of private pension plans.

 

In 1963, the Studebaker Corporation closed its auto plant.

 

Its pension plan was in shambles nearly seven thousand workers received only fifteen percent of their pension or nothing at all.  

 

Across the country more and more workers were relying on private pensions.

 

In 1960 21.2 million workers had private pensions. 

 

By 1970 the number stood at thirty million. 

 

The funds in those pensions had nearly tripled in that same decade to $138 billion.

 

Ensuring the security of those pensions was essential for millions of workers and the stability of the economy.

 

At the bill signing, President Ford explained, “Dramatic growth in recent years has thrust private pension plans into a central role in determining how older Americans live in their retirement years. Yet, this same growth in pension plans has brought with it a host of new problems. Many workers have ultimately lost their benefits - even after relatively long service - because when they left jobs, they thereby gave up rights to hard-earned pension benefits. Others have sustained hardships because their companies folded with insufficient funds in the pension plan to pay promised pensions. In addition, some pension funds have been invested primarily for the benefit of the companies or plan administrators, not for the workers. It is essential to bring some order and humanity into this welter of different and sometimes inequitable retirement plans within private industry.”

 

President Ford signed the bill on Labor Day, and outlined minimum standards for private pensions.  

September 1 - The Boilermakers

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893. 

That was the day that the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron Ship Makers of America was founded in Chicago. 

This joined two earlier boilermaker unions into one. 

They decided to establish their headquarters in Kansas City, Kansas. 

Two years later, the Boilermakers affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.

The union represents members of 250 lodges in the United States and Canada.  

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Boilermakers had about 8,500 members. 

But the membership expanded, especially during World War II, as shipbuilding grew for the war. 

By 1944, there were more than 350,000 Boilermakers. 

In 1954, they merged with the International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, and expanded their name to include these groups of workers. 

But what exactly is a boilermaker? 

According to the union’s website the term can have many meanings. 

It might refer to a Purdue University student or alumni, whose football team started going by the name of the boilermakers in 1891. 

Or boilermaker might refer to dropping a shot of whiskey into a draft of beer, and drinking it all at once. 

But for the labor movement a boilermaker is someone that constructs and repairs boilers, and the other workers who are part of the union. 

These might include “blacksmiths, forgers, ship builders, cement workers, stove workers, metal polishers, or numerous other job descriptions.” 

The boilermaker’s union logo reflects these workers. 

It includes images of a ship, a worker working on a boiler, and a blacksmith’s anvil. 

Below the images are found the words “Unity, Progress and Protection” declaring the mission of the union and its members.

August 31 - The Battle of Blair Mountain

On this day in Labor History the year was 1921. 

On that day the “Battle of Blair Mountain” raged in Logan County, West Virginia. 

Members of the United Mine Workers of American were attempting to organize the minefields in the southern part of the state. 

The effort to bring workers the union was met with violent resistance. 

The miners armed themselves and marched south. 

As many as ten thousand joined the march. 

They met armed company men at Blair Mountain. 

In the battle that ensued, one million rounds were fired. 

The mine owners even hired private planes to drop bombs on the union miners. 

The US army intervened, and the battle ended. 

Despite not being successful in their march, the bloody battle brought national attention to the violence in the coal fields. 

But that was not the last Battle for Blair Mountain. 

In 2011, there was a proposal to bring mountain top removal mining to Blair Mountain. 

This type of mining blasts off large chunks of a mountains surface, to get at the coal seams below. 

Protestors stood against the proposal. 

They argued it would be environmentally devastating to the area. 

They also argued it would blast away one the most important sites of labor history in the nation. 

Some coal miners took exception to the protests. 

In a CNN documentary on the conflict, one union miner said, “Mountaintop removal is what built this house, sends that little girl to school, provides insurance for my wife…”

But another miner joined in the protest against removal.

He told CNN that miners had been “brainwashed to think, “Oh I can’t have a job unless it’s a mountaintop removal job.”

In 2014, the state prohibited surface mining at Blair Mountain……. for now, 

August 30 - Taxing the Rich

On this day in Labor History the years was 1935. 

That was the day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Revenue Tax Act, more popularly known as the “Wealth Tax.” 

The act reformed the federal income tax to raise rates on the wealthiest in the nation.

Those making over $5 million could pay taxes up to seventy-five percent. 

In a speech to Congress that summer, Roosevelt had explained his thoughts on wealth and taxes. 

The President said,

“Wealth in the modern world does not come merely from individual effort;

it results from a combination of individual effort and of the manifold uses to which the community puts that effort.

The individual does not create the product of his industry with his own hands;

he utilizes the many processes and forces of mass production to meet the demands of a national and international market.

Therefore, in spite of the great importance in our national life of the efforts and ingenuity of unusual individuals,

the people in the mass have inevitably helped to make large fortunes possible.

Without mass cooperation great accumulations of wealth would 'be 'impossible save by unhealthy speculation.

As Andrew Carnegie put it, "Where wealth accrues honorably, the people are · always silent partners."

Whether it be wealth achieved through the cooperation of the entire community or riches gained by speculation—in either case the ownership of such wealth or riches represents a great public interest and a great ability to pay.” 

Although President Roosevelt tried to win over the nation's wealthy by quoting industrialist Andrew Carnegie, he did not gain their support. 

Not surprisingly many of the national’s wealthy lobbied for and used tax loopholes to evade paying the new rates.