Today in Labor History—September 9

September 9, 1891 – The first strike by African-American plantation workers occurred on this date in Georgia & Arkansas. They were fighting for wages of $1.00 a day. They lost the strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

Soldiers marching back from bullring, Etaples, where officers routinely bullied them

 September 9, 1918 – Scottish & Anzac troops at the Etaples army base launched a successful five day mutiny against harsh treatment and bad conditions by attacking the military police and daily demonstrations. (From theDaily Bleed)

MA Militia Attempting to Gain Control of Boston Police Strike

 September 9, 1919 - Boston police walked off the job during the strike wave that was spreading across the country. The police had affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, prompting the police commissioner to suspend 19 of them for their organizing efforts, prompting other to go on strike. Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge announced that none of the strikers would be rehired and he called in the state police to crush the strike. An entirely new police force was ultimately created from  unemployed veterans of World War I. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 9, 1943 – 60 striking Filipino workers were run out of Yakima, Washington by state police and vigilantes. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1968 – In a press conference, Mayor Daley admitted what we’ve known all along: "The policeman isn't there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder." (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1971 – The Attica prison riot began near Buffalo, New York. Nine prison guards were held hostage, dying along with 31 of their captors when 1,500 state police and other law-enforcement officers stormed the complex shooting indiscriminately. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1981 – The Sandinista government in Nicaragua banned all strikes. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—August 22

General Toussaint Louverture

August 22, 1791 -- Encouraged by the French and American revolutions, 100,000 Haitian slaves revolted, led by Toussaint Louverture. They first attacked the French, and then went after Spanish and English troops, winning their freedom in 1793. In 1804, Haiti became first free black country in the world. The US refused recognition of Haiti until 1865 as a result of pressure from Southern slaveholders.

August 22, 1893 – Sam Gompers and other trade unionists met with New York mayor Gilroy pressings for a municipal public works program to relieve unemployment.

August 22, 1917 – Italian police opened fire on protesters against the war hunger, most of whom were women. The next day, a General Strike was declared. On the 24^th, a state of siege was declared, but the strike continued until the 26th. Police violence during the strike resulted in the deaths of 60 people. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 22, 1947 – A two-month strike by United Packing Workers began in Canada. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 22, 1978 -- Sandinistas captured the Nicaraguan National Palace launching the Sandinista revolution. (From the Daily Bleed)

AFL-CIO Complicity in Violence Against Latin American Labor

School of the Americas Demonstration, 2006 (Image from Flickr, by Crazbabe 21)

Columbia has been called the most dangerous place in the world to be a union member. Since 1986, nearly 2900 unionists have been killed in that country, Counter Punch reported this week.   In 2010, over half the union members killed worldwide were Columbian. At least 28 labor leaders were killed there in 2011, while 600 teachers were physically threatened. 

Though the AFL-CIO has criticized Columbia’s horrendous record on labor, there have been several Wikileaks cables that show a more equivocal role for the union. The AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center’s Rhett Doumitt (who aided in the coup against Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, according to Counter Punch), accused members of CUT, the largest labor confederation in Colombia, of being Stalinists and hardline communists, thus setting them up in the minds of Columbia’s death squads as legitimate targets for violence. He also agreed with the Columbian government that many of the union members killed were victims of “common crime,” and not political violence, thus trivializing the violence against union members and sending the message that killing unionists is okay, so long as it is made to look like a mugging or robbery.

Of course the AFL-CIO has a long history of collaborating with the State Department and the CIA in undermining unions and revolutionary struggles throughout the world (see here, here and here), particularly during the Cold War, but starting back under Samuel Gomper’s leadership and continuing unabated through the present. A Wikileaks cable from Peru revealed that the AFL-CIO sided with the Peruvian government in a recent legal victory that reduced 10-fold the number of teachers who could engage in full-time union activities and still receive their teachers’ salaries. Cables also suggested that anti-Sandinista unions in Nicaragua seek the support of the AFL-CIO in working to unseat Daniel Ortega.

While it is reprehensible that any labor organization would doing anything to jeopardize the safety of fellow workers abroad, the AFL-CIO’s collaboration with the State Department also undermines the interests of American workers. Strong condemnation of Columbia’s treatment of union members combined with direct action locally could have derailed the Free Trade Agreement with Columbia, which has made it easier to export jobs to that country.

So long as wages and working conditions are worse elsewhere, capitalists will continue to move jobs to those countries, not only contributing to local unemployment, but driving down wages and working conditions at home.

Today in Labor History—September 9

September 9, 1891 – The first strike by African-American plantation workers occurred on this date in Georgia & Arkansas. They were fighting for wages of $1.00 a day. They lost the strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

Soldiers marching back from bullring, Etaples, where officers routinely bullied them

 September 9, 1918 – Scottish & Anzac troops at the Etaples army base launched a successful five day mutiny against harsh treatment and bad conditions by attacking the military police and daily demonstrations. (From the Daily Bleed)

MA Militia Attempting to Gain Control of Boston Police Strike

 September 9, 1919 - Boston police walked off the job during the strike wave that was spreading across the country. The police had affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, prompting the police commissioner to suspend 19 of them for their organizing efforts, prompting other to go on strike. Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge announced that none of the strikers would be rehired and he called in the state police to crush the strike. An entirely new police force was ultimately created from  unemployed veterans of World War I. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 9, 1943 – 60 striking Filipino workers were run out of Yakima, Washington by state police and vigilantes. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1968 – In a press conference, Mayor Daley admitted what we’ve known all along: "The policeman isn't there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder." (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1971 – The Attica prison riot began near Buffalo, New York. Nine prison guards were held hostage, dying along with 31 of their captors when 1,500 state police and other law-enforcement officers stormed the complex shooting indiscriminately. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1981 – The Sandinista government in Nicaragua banned all strikes. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—August 22

General Toussaint Louverture

August 22, 1791 -- Encouraged by the French and American revolutions, 100,000 Haitian slaves revolted, led by Toussaint Louverture. They first attacked the French, and then went after Spanish and English troops, winning their freedom in 1793. In 1804, Haiti became first free black country in the world. The US refused recognition of Haiti until 1865 as a result of pressure from Southern slaveholders.

August 22, 1893 – Sam Gompers and other trade unionists met with New York mayor Gilroy pressings for a municipal public works program to relieve unemployment.

August 22, 1917 – Italian police opened fire on protesters against the war hunger, most of whom were women. The next day, a General Strike was declared. On the 24^th, a state of siege was declared, but the strike continued until the 26th. Police violence during the strike resulted in the deaths of 60 people. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 22, 1947 – A two-month strike by United Packing Workers began in Canada. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 22, 1978 -- Sandinistas captured the Nicaraguan National Palace launching the Sandinista revolution. (From the Daily Bleed)