Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Today in Labor History—August 28

August 28, 1918 – Big Bill Haywood and 14 other members of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) were sentenced to 20 years prison for draft obstruction. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 28, 1920 – West Virginia Governor Cornwell requested federal troops to guard the mines and protect scab labor during a strike by miners, resulting in rioting. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 28, 1933 – A Filipino Labor Union led a strike of 6,000 California lettuce workers demanding 40-45 cents an hour, union recognition and better working conditions. Striking white farm workers split from the Filipinos and accepted arbitration. The growers accused the Filipinos of being communists, while the highway patrol and armed vigilantes drove striking farmworkers off the farms. In September, vigilantes burned a camp of striking workers down to the ground. Police then raided their union headquarters in Salinas, arresting scores of strikers and their leaders. Despite the violence and police abuse, the strikers held out, eventually winning union recognition and 40 cents an hour wages. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 28, 1955 – Teenager Emmett Till was brutally murdered on this day in Money, Mississippi, for speaking "inappropriately" to a white woman. The brutality of the murder and the lack of justice for his family helped to mobilize opposition to segregation in America. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 28, 1963 - Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I have a dream . . ." speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. March organizers included Bayard Rustin of the AFL-CIO and UAW President Walter Reuther. (From Workday Minnesota) 250,000-500,000 people converge on the Lincoln Memorial

August 28, 1970 -- The UAW Local 1714 had its first wildcat strike lasting one day.
(From the Daily Bleed)

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