Today's Labor History

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.

Responding to unrest among Irish laborers building the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, President Andrew Jackson orders first use of American troops to suppress a labor dispute - 1834

Six thousand railway workers strike for a union and the end of 18-hour day - 1889

Sit-down strike helps establish United Rubber Workers as a national union, Akron, Ohio - 1936

Dolly Parton hits number one on the record charts with "9 to 5," her anthem to the daily grind - 1981

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is signed into law by President Obama. Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. at a wage rate much less than men doing the same job; the statute of limitations for filing a claim of discrimination expired by the time she learned of the unequal treatment. The Fair Pay Act stipulates that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action—2009
photo: Lily Ledbetter; courtesy Tory Burch Foundation

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