Today's Labor History

Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. On this week’s show: Working History’s Beth English interviews award-winning New York Times bestselling author Wiley Cash. His novel, The Last Ballad, explores the complexities of southern class, race, and gender relations against the backdrop of the 1929 Loray Mill strike, one of the most notable strikes in U.S. labor history. The Working History podcast is put out by the Southern Labor Studies Association.
 
March 15
Supreme Court approves 8-Hour Act under threat of a national railway strike - 1917

Bituminous coal miners begin nationwide strike, demanding adoption of a pension plan - 1948

March 16
The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is formed in New York to represent New York City public school teachers and, later, other education workers in the city - 1960

March 17
The leadership of the American Federation of Labor selects the Carpenters union to lead the 8-hour movement. Carpenters throughout the country strike in April; by May 1, some 46,000 carpenters in 137 cities and towns have achieved shorter hours - 1890

A U.S.-China treaty prevents Chinese laborers from entering the U.S. - 1894
 
Staffers at San Francisco progressive rock station KMPX-FM (photo) strike, citing corporate control over what music is played and harassment over hair and clothing styles, among other things. The Rolling Stones, Joan Baez, the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and other musicians request that the station not play their music as long as the station is run by strikebreakers - 1968

Boeing Co. and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) come to terms on a new contract, settling the largest white-collar walkout in U.S. history. SPEEA represented some 22,000 workers, of whom 19,000 honored picket lines for 40 days - 2000
 
Labor history courtesy Union Communication Services. 

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