Today's Labor History

Click here to check out this week's Today in Labor History, a new podcast produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Be a part of the podcast by calling in, just pick an event from this list and leave a voicemail.

February 23
W.E.B. DuBois, educator and civil rights activist, born - 1868
 
The National Marine Engineers Association (now the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association), representing deck and engine officers on U.S. flag vessels, is formed at a convention in Cleveland, Ohio - 1875
 
The Journeyman Bakers’ National Union receives its charter from the American Federation of Labor - 1887
 
William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner began publishing racist articles on the "menace" of Japanese laborers, leading to a resolution in the California legislature that action be taken against their immigration - 1904
 
Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” following a frigid trip—partially by hitchhiking, partially by rail—from California to Manhattan. The Great Depression was still raging. Guthrie had heard Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” and resolved to himself: “We can’t just bless America, we’ve got to change it” - 1940
 
Association of Flight Attendants granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1984
 
Following voter approval for the measure in 2003, San Francisco’s minimum wage rises to $8.50, up from $6.75 - 2004
 
February 24
U.S. Supreme Court upholds Oregon state restrictions on the working hours of women, justified as necessary to protect their health. A laundry owner was fined $10 for making a female employee work more than 10 hours in a single day - 1908
 
Women and children textile strikers beaten by Lawrence, Mass., police during a 63-day walkout protesting low wages and work speedups - 1912
 
Congress passes a federal child labor tax law that imposed a 10 percent tax on companies that employ children, defined as anyone under the age of 16 working in a mine/quarry or under the age 14 in a “mill, cannery, workshop, factory, or manufacturing establishment.”  The Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional three years later - 1919
 
February 25
Amalgamated Association of Street & Electric Railway Employees of America change name to Amalgamated Transit Union - 1965
 
The Order of Railroad Telegraphers change name to Transportation-Communication Employees Union - 1965
 
A crowd estimated to be 100,000 strong rallied at the Wisconsin state Capitol in protest of what was ultimately to become a successful push by the state’s Republican majority to cripple public employee bargaining rights - 2011
Compiled/edited by Union Communication Services