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May 11 Nationwide railway strike begins at Pullman, Ill. Nearly 260,000 railroad workers ultimately joined the strike to protest wage cuts by the Pullman Palace Car Co. - 1894 Seventeen crewmen on the iron ore freighter Henry Steinbrenner die when the ship, carrying nearly 7,000 tons of ore, sinks during a violent storm on Lake Erie. Another 16 crewmen survived - 1953 May 12 Laundry & Dry Cleaning Int’l Union granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1958 Int’l Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots merges with Longshoremen’s Association - 1971 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raid the Agriprocessors, Inc. slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrant workers. Some 300 are convicted on document fraud charges. The raid was the largest ever until that date. Several employees and lower and mid-level managers were convicted on various charges, but not the owner—although he later was jailed for bank fraud and related crimes - 2008 May 13 Western Federation of Miners formed in Butte, Mont. - 1893 The Canadian government establishes the Department of Labour. It took the U.S. another four years - 1909 Some 10,000 IWW dock workers strike in Philadelphia - 1913 UAW President Douglas A. Fraser is named to the Chrysler Corp. board of directors, becoming the first union representative ever to sit on the board of a major U.S. corporation - 1980 Thousands of yellow cab drivers in New York City go on a 1-day strike in protest of proposed new regulations. “City officials were stunned by the (strike’s) success,” The New York Times reported - 1998 Compiled/edited by Union Communication Services Comments are closed.
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