Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1919, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the espionage conviction of labor leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs, who was jailed for speaking out against World War I.
In 1941, New York City bus drivers, members of the Transport Workers Union, went on strike. After 12 days of no buses—and a large show of force by Irish-American strikers at the St. Patrick’s Day parade—Mayor Fiorello La Guardia ordered arbitration.
And on this date in 1968, United Farm Workers leader César Chávez broke a 24-day fast, by doctor’s order, at a mass in Delano, California’s public park. Several thousand supporters were at his side, including Senator Robert Kennedy. Chavez called it “a fast for non-violence and a call to sacrifice”
Today's labor quote is by Gene Debs:
“What can Labor do for itself? The answer is not difficult. Labor can organize, it can unify; it can consolidate its forces. This done, it can demand and command.”