This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Strong Winds and Widow Makers. Last week’s show: The Cambridge Movement.
3,000 members of the Filipino Federation of Labor strike the plantations of Oahu, Hawaii. Their ranks swell to 8,300 as they are joined by members of the Japanese Federation of Labor – 1920 Bruce Springsteen makes an unannounced appearance at a benefit for laid-off 3M workers, Asbury Park, NJ - 1986 The national board of entertainment union SAG-AFTRA votes overwhelmingly to have its Disciplinary Committee look into whether member Donald J. Trump— in the union because of his show “The Apprentice” — violated the union’s constitution when his incitement of insurrection at the nation’s capitol Jan. 6, 2021 led to the threatening and endangerment of journalists, many of whom are the union’s members. 2021 David Prosten Asked “Who are your leaders?” the crowd of 500 striking Columbine coal miners and many of their wives and family members responded with cries of “We’re all leaders!”
Six miners striking for better working conditions under the IWW banner were killed and many wounded in the Columbine Massacre at Lafayette, Colo. Out of this struggle Colorado coal miners gained lasting union contracts – 1927 This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Sharecroppers’ struggles for rights and power. Last week’s show: Socialist fairy tales.
October 14 International Working People's Association founded in Pittsburgh, Penn. – 1883 October 15 Pres. Woodrow Wilson signs the Clayton Antitrust Act – often referred to as "Labor’s Magna Carta" – establishing that unions are not "conspiracies" under the law. It for the first time freed unions to strike, picket and boycott employers. In the years that followed, however, numerous state measures and negative court interpretations weakened the law – 1914 October 16 Abolitionist John Brown leads 18 men, including five free blacks, in an attack on the Harper's Ferry ammunition depot, the beginning of guerilla warfare against slavery - 1859 - David Prosten This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Socialist fairy tales. Last week’s show: Pueblo steelworkers’ historic strike.
October 7 Hollywood’s "Battle of the Mirrors." Picketing members of the Conference of Studio Unions disrupted an outdoor shoot by holding up large reflectors that filled camera lenses with blinding sunlight. Members of the competing IATSE union retaliated by using the reflectors to shoot sunlight back across the street. The battle went on all day, writes Tom Sito in "Drawing the Line" – 1946 October 8 Thirty of the city's 185 firefighters are injured battling the Great Chicago Fire, which burned for three days – 1871 October 9 Retail stock brokerage Smith Barney reaches a tentative sexual harassment settlement with a group of female employees. The suit charged, among other things, that branch managers asked female workers to remove their tops in exchange for money and one office featured a "boom boom room" where women workers were encouraged to "entertain clients." The settlement was never finalized: a U.S. District Court Judge refused to approve the deal because it failed to adequately redress the plaintiff's grievances - 1997 |