Writing about the Memorial Day Massacre, which took place on this date in 1937 when police opened fire on striking steelworkers at Republic Steel in South Chicago, killing ten and wounding more than 160, novelist Howard Fast wrote: “Many have forgotten; millions more have joined the labor and progressive movement since that time and do not know this story. But it is well that all of us remember--and in remembering, act.” Father Thomas Hagerty and the IWW: Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. On this week’s show: The largely unknown story of Father Thomas Hagerty, the “May Day Saint” who helped found the IWW. Plus: the recent Uber and Lyft strikes inspire a search for photos of the 1965 taxi strike in New York City. The Ford Motor Company signs a "Technical Assistance" contract to produce cars in the Soviet Union, and Ford workers were sent to the Soviet Union to train the labor force in the use of its parts. Many American workers who made the trip, including Walter Reuther, a tool and die maker who later was to become the UAW's president, returned home with a different view of the duties and privileges of the industrial laborer - 1929 The Ground Zero cleanup at the site of the World Trade Center is completed three months ahead of schedule due to the heroic efforts of more than 3,000 building tradesmen and women who had worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the previous eight months - 2002 photo: Joel Meyerowitz; from Susan Jenkins’ Only Us Down Here An innovative school year calendar this July will add additional full days of instruction to the school year at the Arcola and Roscoe Nix elementary schools in Montgomery County, benefitting student learning. But Montgomery County Education Association building reps in these schools who negotiated additional pay for the teachers just found out that administrators in the schools will be getting five times the pay. “In this case, our employer has demonstrated to our colleagues at Arcola and Roscoe Nix that they are worth less than other employees in the building,” says MCEA president Christopher Lloyd on a petition the union will deliver to Dr. Jack Smith, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent. “MCPS balanced the budget for the Innovative School Year program on the backs of teachers,” Lloyd said. “Thanks for providing us a link to the Labor411 service,” writes NTEU 213’s Jeff Eagan/ “I fully support what they are trying to do. However, many of the Washington union representation listings are wrong. NTEU does not rep the Bethesda Co-op - wish we did! Giant is UFCW, not UA. Unite Here has the Mall cafeterias, not the Iron Workers. Perhaps you could check it out and contact Labor 411 for corrections?” We reached out to the Labor 411 folks, who said that while the print version – being released this Thursday at a pre-Norma Rae screening reception (free; RSVP here) – is correct, “we were having technical problems on the website, and we were getting weird, glitchy results.” A new, clean master list has been uploaded to the DC Labor411 website. “Thanks for letting us know!” |