Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1913, President William Howard Taft signed legislation creating the Department of Labor. Former United Mine Workers Secretary Treasurer William B. Wilson was named to lead the new department.
In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt named Frances Perkins secretary of labor. Perkins became the first female cabinet member in U.S. history.
In 1989, machinists struck Eastern Airlines, and were soon joined by flight attendants and pilots in the nationwide walkout. Owner Frank Lorenzo refused to consider the unions’ demands and Eastern ultimately went out of business.
Today's labor quote is by US President Thomas Jefferson, who, in his inaugural address on this date in 1801, declared: “Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”