
And on this week’s “Cool things from the George Meany Labor Archives,” Alan, Chloe and Ben go searching for audio tapes of speeches, but discover a trove of vinyl.
Interviews by Patrick Dixon and Allan Wierdak.
Unemployed riot in New York City’s Union Square - 1914
Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, where he had been supporting a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of this tragedy, riots break out in many cities, including Washington, D.C. - 1968
Some 1,700 United Mine Workers members in Virginia and West Virginia beat back concessions demanded by Pittston Coal Co. – 1989
The Democratic governors of New York and California sign legislation enacting phased-in $15-per-hour minimum wages for workers in their states. Since 2009, the federal minimum had been stagnating at $7.25 - 2016
Labor history courtesy Union Communication Services.