Today's Labor History

​Plumbers train vets; MoJo goes digital; Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. On this week’s show: The Plumbers celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Veterans in Piping Program, and Mother Jones goes digital!
 
July 31
Members of the National Football League Players Association begin what is to be a two-day strike, their first. The issues: pay, pensions, the right to arbitration and the right to have agents - 1970

Fifty-day baseball strike ends - 1981

August 1
The Great Shipyard Strike of 1999 ends after Steelworkers at Newport News Shipbuilding ratify a breakthrough agreement which nearly doubles pensions, increases security, ends inequality, and provides the highest wage increases in company and industry history to nearly 10,000 workers at the yard. The strike lasted 15 weeks - 1999

Sid Hatfield, police chief of Matewan, W. Va., a longtime supporter of the United Mine Workers union, is murdered by company goons. This soon led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, a labor uprising also referred to as the Red Neck War - 1921

Police in Hilo, Hawaii, open fire on 200 demonstrators supporting striking waterfront workers. The attack became known as "the Hilo Massacre" - 1938

The American Federation of Musicians begins a strike against the major American recording companies in a fight over royalty payments. Decca records settled with the union after one year, followed shortly by Capitol Records, while Victor and Columbia held out for another year before agreeing to the union’s terms. The strike did not affect musicians performing on live radio shows or in concerts. - 1942

A 17-day, company-instigated wildcat strike in Philadelphia (above) tries to bar eight African-American trolley operators from working. Transport Workers Union members stay on the job in support of the men - 1944

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