Today's Labor History

​This week’s Labor History Today podcast: The Great Postal Strike, Watergate and “Casey Jones, the Union Scab” ; Longtime labor lawyer Jules Bernstein on the 1970 postal strike, AFL-CIO president George Meany on the Watergate scandal, and Pete Seeger on “Casey Jones, the Union Scab.
Last week’s show: Neutron Jack, Joker and Parasite
 
Police evict retail clerks occupying N.Y. Woolworth’s in fight for 40-hour week - 1937

The Post Office’s first mass work stoppage in 195 years began in Brooklyn and Manhattan and spread to 210,000 of the nation’s 750,000 postal employees. Mail service was virtually paralyzed in several cities, and President Nixon declared a state of emergency. A settlement came after two weeks - 1970

The Los Angeles City Council passes the first living wage ordinance in California. The ordinance required almost all city contractors to pay a minimum wage of $8.50 an hour, or $7.25 if the employer was contributing at least $1.25 toward health benefits, with annual adjustments for inflation - 1997

Wal-Mart agrees to pay a record $11 million to settle a civil immigration case for using illegal immigrants to do overnight cleaning at stores in 21 states - 2005

As the Great Recession continues, Pres. Obama signs a $17.6 billion job-creation measure a day after it is passed by Congress - 2010
 
- David Prosten

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