 Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. On this week’s show: the conclusion of our interview with labor historian Erik Loomis, and for our “Cool things from the George Meany Labor Archives” feature, Ben Blake has dug into the Sam Gompers boxes and come up with some intriguing items. Plus we remember the 1917 Bath Riots on the U.S.-Mexico border.
February 1 Led by 23-year-old Kate Mullany, the Collar Laundry Union forms in Troy, N.Y., and raises earnings for female laundry workers from $2 to $14 a week - 1864 Bricklayers begin working 8-hour days - 1867 Some 25,000 Paterson, N.J., silk workers strike for 8-hour work day and improved working conditions. Eighteen hundred were arrested over the course of the six-month walkout, led by the Wobblies. They returned to work on their employers’ terms - 1913 February 2 Three hundred newsboys organize to protest a cut in pay by the Minneapolis Tribune - 1917 Legal secretary Iris Rivera fired for refusing to make coffee; secretaries across Chicago protest - 1977 The 170-day lockout (although management called it a strike) of 22,000 steelworkers by USX Corp. ends with a pay cut but greater job security. It was the longest work stoppage in the history of the U.S. steel industry - 1987 February 3 The U.S. Supreme Court rules the United Hatters Union violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by organizing a nationwide boycott of Danbury Hatters of Connecticut - 1908 U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Wages and Hours (later Fair Labor Standards) Act banning child labor and establishing the 40-hour work week - 1941 An explosion at a Thiokol chemical plant near Woodbine, Georgia kills 29 workers, seriously injures 50. An investigation found that contributing factors to the explosion were mislabeled chemicals, poor storage procedures and insufficient fire protection - 1971 Comments are closed.
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