Today in Labor History—December 5

December 5, 1798—Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was recruited to run a new orphanage in the Swiss town of Stans, after the French sacked the town, leaving many children without families or homes. This would be Pestalozzi’s first major foray into education. Pestalozzi would go on to become a major influence on later pedagogues like Friedrich Froebel (creator of the first kindergartens) and Francisco Ferrer (founder of the first Modern Schools).

December 5, 1912 – General Strikes occurred in both Germany and the U.S. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 5, 1944 – A wildcat strike occurred at the Dodge truck plant in Detroit, Michigan—one of many "illegal" wartime strikes. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 5, 1955 - The American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) merged into a single mega-union—the AFL-CIO, ending a 20-year schism in the American trade union movement. (From Workday Minnesota)

December 5, 2008--Wall Street bankers received a gift from the taxpayers of $1.2 trillion in secret loans (on top of the $700 billion in TARP funds they already received). (from the Daily Bleed)