This week’s Labor History Today podcast: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly. Last week’s show: Remembering John Sweeney and Anne Feeney
February 26 Congress okays the Contract Labor Law, designed to clamp down on "business agents" who contracted abroad for immigrant labor. One of the reasons unions supported the measure: employers were using foreign workers to fight against the growing U.S. labor movement, primarily by deploying immigrant labor to break strikes - 1885 Bethlehem Steel workers strike for union recognition, Bethlehem, Penn. - 1941 A coal slag heap doubling as a dam in West Virginia’s Buffalo Creek Valley collapsed, flooding the 17-mile long valley. 118 died, 5,000 were left homeless. The Pittston Coal Co. said it was "an Act of God." - 1972 A 20-week strike by 70,000 Southern California supermarket workers ends, with both sides claiming victory - 2004 February 27 Birth of John Steinbeck in Salinas, Calif. Steinbeck is best known for writing “The Grapes of Wrath,” which exposed the mistreatment of migrant farm workers during the Depression and led to some reforms - 1902 Thirty-eight miners die in a coal mine explosion in Boissevain, Va. - 1932 Legendary labor leader and socialist presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs becomes charter member and secretary of the Vigo Lodge, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. Five years later he is leading the national union and in 1893 helps found the nation’s first industrial union, the American Railway Union - 1875 450 Woolworth’s workers and customers occupy store for eight days in support of Waiters and Waitresses Union, Detroit - 1937 The Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes, a major organizing tool for industrial unions, are illegal - 1939 Mine disaster kills 75 at Red Lodge, Mont. - 1943 February 28 U.S. Supreme Court finds that a Utah state law limiting mine and smelter workers to an eight-hour workday is constitutional - 1898 The minimum age allowed by law for workers in mills, factories, and mines in South Carolina is raised from twelve to fourteen - (Actually Leap Year Feb. 29) 1915 Members of the Chinese Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in San Francisco’s Chinatown begin what is to be a successful four-month strike for better wages and conditions at the National Dollar Stores factory and three retail outlets - 1938 In response to the layoff of 450 union members at a 3M factory in New Jersey, every worker at a 3M factory in Elandsfontein, South Africa, walks off the job in sympathy - 1986. click here for latest listings Union City Radio: 7:15am daily WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, February 25, 1pm – 2pm WPFW 89.3 FM or listen online Guests: EPI Policy Analyst Margaret Poydock on the 2020 decline in the number of striking workers; David Paul Kuhn on his book "THE HARDHAT RIOT Nixon, New York City, and the Dawn of the White Working-Class Revolution" Labor Committee on the Environment: Thu, February 25, 3:30pm – 4:30pm This committee will discuss labor's agenda to address climate change and ways to get workers a seat at the table on clean energy initiatives. Arlington Dems Labor Caucus: Thu, February 25, 6pm – 7pm Meeting of Arlington union members and community allies. Shenandoah Valley Labor Community Alliance: Thu, February 25, 7:30pm – 8:30pm Meeting of union members and community allies in the Shenandoah Valley. A Woman's Work: The NFL's Cheerleader Problem: Fri, February 26, 3:30pm – 5:00pm This week's Labor Radio Podcast Weekly: Belabored; The Rick Smith Show; RadioLabour; Solidarity Breakfast; UnionDues; Labor Radio on KBOO; Building Bridges; Empathy Media On its way out the door, the Trump administration filed a motion to dismiss AFGE’s lawsuit seeking hazard pay for federal workers who have been required to risk their health and safety by working in hazardous conditions in order to continue to perform the essential functions of the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. AFGE earlier this month opposed that motion, urging the court to deny the government’s request to dismiss the case. “The coronavirus pandemic made thousands of jobs more dangerous than they normally would be. Recognizing that federal employees are at times exposed to dangerous conditions their jobs do not normally entail, Congress provided for hazardous duty pay and/or environmental differential pay,” AFGE argued in opposition to the motion to dismiss. “As a result of these hazardous conditions and the Government’s failure to account for these conditions in Plaintiffs’ position classifications, Plaintiffs are entitled to hazardous duty pay, environmental differential pay, and additional overtime wages to compensate for their repeated and ongoing exposure to COVID-19.” Read more here. Workers in Morocco are denouncing efforts by a Peugeot Citroen factory to force union leaders to resign from the Moroccan Labor Union (UMT) or lose their jobs. Already, one union leader has been fired, according to the union. Last week, factory management forced 11 union activists to sign resignation letters after compelling them to spend three hours behind closed doors where union leaders say they were subjected to questioning and harassment that seriously injured one worker. Find out more at Solidarity Center.
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