Thanksgiving is a time to be spent with family and friends, and NOT a day to boost retail sales. This year, our friends over at Labor 411 wanted to thank the companies that have made the pro-working families decision to stay closed on Thanksgiving Day. Click here for the complete list, from Ace Hardware to TJ Maxx, and we've also got a link for a union-made Thanksgiving shopping list, from turkey to sides and, of course, dessert! Clara Lemlich, a 19-year old garment worker in New York City. On November 22, 1909, after sitting through two hours of speeches by men warning about the dangers of striking, Lemlich (right) took over the podium and said: “I have no further patience for talk as I am one of those who feels and suffers from the things pictured. I move that we go on a general strike...now!” The audience rose to their feet and cheered, then voted for a strike. Source “The Uprising of the 20,000.” Some 20,000 female garment workers are on strike in New York; Judge tells arrested pickets: “You are on strike against God.” The walkout, believed to be the first major successful strike by female workers in American history, ended the following February with union contracts bringing better pay and working conditions – 1909 The district president of the American Federation of Labor and two other Caucasians are shot and killed in Bogalusa, La., as they attempt to assist an African-American organizer working to unionize African-American workers at the Great Southern Lumber Co. - 1919 President John F. Kennedy is assassinated. Generally considered a friend of labor, Kennedy a year earlier had issued Executive Order 10988, which authorized unionization and a limited form of collective bargaining rights for most federal workers (excluding the Department of Defense). Many states followed the example set by Kennedy - 1963 Compiled/edited by Union Communication Services For years now, Kristy Vance has seen managers, management trainees and loss prevention staff stocking shelves at her store, Kroger #402 in Blacksburg, VA. This not only violates the Kroger-Roanoke contract, which specifies that only bargaining unit members can stock shelves, but it also reduces the number of hours Local 400 members are scheduled to work. Kristy wasn’t going to tolerate it. This fall, she took photos and documented 24 hours of management doing shelf-stocking. She sent the photos and evidence to her representative, Mark Collins, and filed a grievance against Kroger. The company could not dispute what happened and Local 400 won a back pay award for part-time associate Alex Taylor. He was the most senior part-timer and had only worked 16 hours during the week in question, so he received a check for $250, covering the extra hours he should have been assigned. “I’m really pleased we got results because this has been a long time coming,” Kristy said. - excerpted from a report on the UFCW 400 website; photo: Vance (left), with Alex Taylor; photo courtesy UFCW Local 400 |