Today's Labor History

Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. On this week's show: Joe McCartin – on the eve of the Supreme Court’s Janus decision -- looks back at two previous important dates in Court history…Karen Senaga talks about the 1990 strike by 900 workers at Delta Pride Catfish in Indianola, Mississippi…Saul Schniderman remembers the dedication of The Haymarket Martyrs Monument in Chicago…our History Object of the Week is the Black Congressional Caucus Coalition’s Harold Washington Award for Excellence in coalition-building…This week’s labor music is "8 Hours Work, 8 Hours Sleep, 8 Hours for What We Will" by Jonny 8 Track. Union City Radio's Chris Garlock hosts; interviews by Patrick Dixon. 

​More than 8,000 people attend the dedication ceremony for The Haymarket Martyrs Monument in Chicago, honoring those framed and executed for the bombing at Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886 - 1893
 
Fair Labor Standards Act passes Congress, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week - 1938
 
At the urging of black labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, Franklin Roosevelt issues an executive order barring discrimination in defense industries - 1941
 
Congress passes the Smith-Connally War Labor Disputes Act over President Franklin Roosevelt’s veto. It allows the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened by strikes that would interfere with war production. It was hurriedly created after the third coal strike in seven weeks - 1943
 
A total of 21 workers are killed when a fireworks factory near Hallett, Okla., explodes - 1985
 
Decatur, Ill., police pepper-gas workers at A.E. Staley plant gate one year into the company's two-and-a-half-year lockout of Paperworkers Local 7837 - 1994
Compiled/edited by Union Communication Service

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