A major rally is scheduled for this morning outside the Supreme Court when oral arguments begin in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which would impose right-to-work throughout the public sector. The rally begins at 9:30a but organizers are asking folks to arrive at 9a. Go to dclabor.org to see "The Right to Unite," the powerful short documentary narrated by Bradley Whitford about Supreme Court cases that threaten to undermine the rights of working Americans.
Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1912, the “Bread & Roses” textile strike of 32,000 women and children began in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It lasted 10 weeks and ended in victory. The first millworkers to walk out were Polish women who, upon collecting their pay, exclaimed that they had been cheated and promptly abandoned their looms. In 1936, nearly two weeks into a sit-down strike at GM’s Fisher Body Plant No. 2 in Flint, Michigan, workers battled police when they tried to prevent the strikers from receiving food deliveries from thousands of supporters on the outside. Sixteen strikers and spectators and 11 police were injured. Most of the strikers were hit by buckshot fired by police riot guns; the police were injured principally by thrown nuts, bolts, door hinges and other auto parts. The incident became known as the “Battle of the Running Bulls.” On this date in 2002, Ford announced it will eliminate 35,000 jobs while discontinuing four models and closing five plants. Today’s labor quote is by Rose Schneiderman, a prominent US union leader, socialist, and feminist of the first part of the twentieth century: "The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too."
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