Today in Labor History—June 11

Richard II meets the rebels (from Froissart's Chronicles)

June 11, 1381 – A Peasant revolt broke out in England, calling for property to be held in common and equality for all. Also known as Wat Tyler's rebellion and marked the beginning of the end of serfdom. (From the Daily Bleed)

Wat Tyler's execution by Walworth, while Richard II watches

June 11, 1848 – The wave of European revolutions continued with the uprising in Prague. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1872 - Labor unions were legalized in Canada, following a Toronto printers' strike. (From Workday Minnesota)

Blockade of engines in W. Virginia (from Harpers)

 June 11, 1877 –The Great U.S. Railroad Strike began. (From the Daily Bleed)

Maryland national guard battling striking rail workers

 June 11, 1913 – Cops shot Black & White IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) members and AFL maritime workers who were striking against United Fruit company in New Orleans, killing one and wounding two. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1925 – During a mine workers strike against the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO) in Cape Breton, drunken company police attacked on horseback, beating all in their way. They then rode through the school yards, knocking down innocent children, cracking jokes that the miners were at home hiding under their beds. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1926 – The first 40-hour work week in the U.S. was won by New York fur workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1929 – Student strikers occupied buildings at the Universidad Nacional de Mexico. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1957 – Chinese students fought that cops and attacked the Communist Party HQ in Hang Yang. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1968 –May Days continued into June in France with ongoing strikes and protests. In the factories of Peugeot-Sochaux, two workers were killed by the hated CRS. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1973 – General Strike against General Franco was launched in Pamplona, Spain. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1974 – A labor dispute at the Chrysler Truck Facility erupted into a spontaneous wildcat strike lasting from June 11 through June 14. Two Dodge Truck strikers wrote, "[we wanted] to free ourselves from the tyranny of the workplace; stop being forced to sell our labor to others; stop others from having control over our lives." (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1981 – The first baseball player's strike in major-league history began midseason. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 2002 – Earth First! and IWW activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney won $4.4 million in a false-arrest lawsuit against Oakland police and the FBI. They had been arrested for blowing up their own car while they were in it. The jury unanimously found that six of the seven FBI and OPD defendants had deliberately framed Bari and Cherney in an effort to crush Earth First! and chill participation in Redwood Summer.

Today In Labor History: April 5

Élisée Reclus (Image from Wikipedia)

April 5, 1871—Élisée Reclus, was taken prisoner during the Paris Commune. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 5, 1954 - Workers struck the Kohler Company in Wisconsin. The walkout was part ongoing labor disputes that lasted 30 years at the company. There had also been strikes from 1934 to 1941 and another, from 1954 to 1960. The latest dispute lasted until December, 1965, with the company agreeing to pay $4.5 million in back wages and pension credits for committing numerous unfair labor practices. (From Work Day Minnesota. For more on the strike, see here and here)

April 5, 1989 - The United Mine Workers launched their strike against Pittston Coal Co., eventually winning concessions by Pittston on February 20, 1990. The strike started in response to Pittston’s termination of health care for widows, retirees and disabled veteran miners. During the strike, there were 2,000 miners camped out daily at Camp Solidarity, and up to 40,000 total engaging in wild cat strikes, civil disobedience, picketing, occupations and sabotage. The strike reduced Pittston’s production by two-thirds, while over 4,000 strikers were arrested during the strike. (From Workday Minnesota and Wikipedia)

Today in Labor History—January 27

January 27, 1850 – Samuel Gompers, president and founder of the American Federation of Labor was born on this date in London.  (From TWU and Workday Minnesota)

January 27, 1891 – A mine explosion in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania killed over 100 workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 27, 1920 – Kansas mine workers went on strike against compulsory arbitration. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 27, 1969 – A group of African-American auto workers in Detroit who were known as the Eldon Avenue Axle Plant Revolutionary Union Movement led a wildcat strike against racism poor working conditions. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 27, 1986 – Hormel workers were locked out for honoring an Ottumwa, Iowa picket line. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 14

January 14, 1868 - Eighty-five delegates from 41 locals held the third convention of the National Bricklayers Union in New York City to organize for the eight-hour workday. (From Workday Minnesota)

Brooklyn Trolley Strike (Cover of Harpers) 1895

January 14, 1895 – A Brooklyn trolley strike began on this date (lasting until Feb. 28). The militia was called out and martial law declared in order to suppress it. Members of the Knights of Labor battled militiamen in the streets. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

January 14, 1914 – The trial of Suhr and Ford began on this date in Marysville, California. Suhr and Ford were IWW (Wobbly) organizers who were ultimately convicted for their alleged role in the gun battle at Durst Ranch in Wheatland. (From the Daily Bleed and the IWW).

January 14, 1941 – A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters called for a March on Washington to demand racial integration of the military and equal access to defense-industry jobs. (From theDaily Bleed)

January 14, 1976 – A wave of wildcat strikes spread across Spain to Barcelona, with the formation of workers' assemblies and the defiance of the mainstream unions and government. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 4

January 4, 1909 – The ITGWU was founded on this date in Dublin. Many of the founding members came from the socialist movement or from the IWW.(From the Daily Bleed)

January 4, 1932 – At the height of the Great Depression, a U.S. Senate subcommittee considered providing unemployment relief after hearing speakers describe people living in the street, starving, and foraging through garbage dumps for scraps. One speaker, the director of the Children’s Bureau of Philadelphia told the committee, "They do not die quickly. You can starve for a long time without dying." (From Workday Minnesota)

January 4, 1933 – Angered by increasing farm foreclosures, members of Iowa's Farmers Holiday Association threatened to lynch banking representatives and law officials who instituted foreclosure proceedings for the duration of the Depression. In April, 600 farmers battled the sheriff and his deputies to prevent a foreclosure. A group of farmers dragged a district judge from his chair, put a rope around his neck, and threaten to hang him unless he promised not to issue any more eviction notices. That same month, state officers in Crawford County were beaten, prompting the Iowa governor to declare martial law in three counties and send in the National Guard. (From theDaily Bleed)

January 4, 1960 – United Steel workers ended a strike that had begun on July 15, 1959.

January 4, 1961 – The longest recorded strike in history ended after 33 years when Danish barbers' assistants returned to work in Copenhagen.

January 4, 1976 – A wave of wildcat strikes began on this date in Spain, involving more than 500,000 workers are involved.

Today in Labor History—October 4

October 4, 1887 – Louisiana sugar workers went on strike, during which 37 unarmed black workers were murdered by Louisiana Militia, aided by bands of vigilantes. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 4, 1910 – 20 year old King Manuel II of Portugal was overthrown in a revolution. On October 7, the anti-church provisional government ordered all nuns and monks to leave the country. A republic was declared and the King fled to England. In 1908, the previous king had been assassinated.

October 4, 1946 – The U.S. Navy took over oil refineries to break a 20-state post-war wildcat strike.

October 4, 1989 - The United Mine Workers of America re-affiliated with the AFL-CIO, after decades of conflict with the organization. The UMWA had left the AFL in the 1930s when they refused to organize the auto and steel industries and played a pivotal role in the formation of the CIO. However, they withdrew from the CIO in 1942 in a dispute over labor-management relations during World War II. They were readmitted to the AFL in 1946, but left after a year when their president, John L. Lewis refused to sign the non-Communist affidavit required by the Taft-Hartley Labor Act. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—June 11

Richard II meets the rebels (from Froissart's Chronicles)

June 11, 1381 – A Peasant revolt broke out in England, calling for property to be held in common and equality for all. Also known as Wat Tyler's rebellion and marked the beginning of the end of serfdom. (From the Daily Bleed)

Wat Tyler's execution by Walworth, while Richard II watches

June 11, 1848 – The wave of European revolutions continued with the uprising in Prague. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1872 - Labor unions were legalized in Canada, following a Toronto printers' strike. (From Workday Minnesota)

Blockade of engines in W. Virginia (from Harpers)

 June 11, 1877 –The Great U.S. Railroad Strike began. (From the Daily Bleed)

Maryland national guard battling striking rail workers

 June 11, 1913 – Cops shot Black & White IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) members and AFL maritime workers who were striking against United Fruit company in New Orleans, killing one and wounding two. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1925 – During a mine workers strike against the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO) in Cape Breton, drunken company police attacked on horseback, beating all in their way. They then rode through the school yards, knocking down innocent children, cracking jokes that the miners were at home hiding under their beds. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1926 – The first 40-hour work week in the U.S. was won by New York fur workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1929 – Student strikers occupied buildings at the Universidad Nacional de Mexico. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1957 – Chinese students fought that cops and attacked the Communist Party HQ in Hang Yang. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1968 –May Days continued into June in France with ongoing strikes and protests. In the factories of Peugeot-Sochaux, two workers were killed by the hated CRS. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1973 – General Strike against General Franco was launched in Pamplona, Spain. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1974 – A labor dispute at the Chrysler Truck Facility erupted into a spontaneous wildcat strike lasting from June 11 through June 14. Two Dodge Truck strikers wrote, "[we wanted] to free ourselves from the tyranny of the workplace; stop being forced to sell our labor to others; stop others from having control over our lives." (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1981 – The first baseball player's strike in major-league history began midseason. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 2002 – Earth First! and IWW activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney won $4.4 million in a false-arrest lawsuit against Oakland police and the FBI. They had been arrested for blowing up their own car while they were in it. The jury unanimously found that six of the seven FBI and OPD defendants had deliberately framed Bari and Cherney in an effort to crush Earth First! and chill participation in Redwood Summer.

Today In Labor History: April 5

Élisée Reclus (Image from Wikipedia)

April 5, 1871—Élisée Reclus, was taken prisoner during the Paris Commune. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 5, 1954 - Workers struck the Kohler Company in Wisconsin. The walkout was part ongoing labor disputes that lasted 30 years at the company. There had also been strikes from 1934 to 1941 and another, from 1954 to 1960. The latest dispute lasted until December, 1965, with the company agreeing to pay $4.5 million in back wages and pension credits for committing numerous unfair labor practices. (From Work Day Minnesota. For more on the strike, see here and here)

April 5, 1989 - The United Mine Workers launched their strike against Pittston Coal Co., eventually winning concessions by Pittston on February 20, 1990. The strike started in response to Pittston’s termination of health care for widows, retirees and disabled veteran miners. During the strike, there were 2,000 miners camped out daily at Camp Solidarity, and up to 40,000 total engaging in wild cat strikes, civil disobedience, picketing, occupations and sabotage. The strike reduced Pittston’s production by two-thirds, while over 4,000 strikers were arrested during the strike. (From Workday Minnesota and Wikipedia)

Today in Labor History—January 27

January 27, 1850 – Samuel Gompers, president and founder of the American Federation of Labor was born on this date in London.  (From TWU and Workday Minnesota)

January 27, 1891 – A mine explosion in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania killed over 100 workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 27, 1920 – Kansas mine workers went on strike against compulsory arbitration. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 27, 1969 – A group of African-American auto workers in Detroit who were known as the Eldon Avenue Axle Plant Revolutionary Union Movement led a wildcat strike against racism poor working conditions. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 27, 1986 – Hormel workers were locked out for honoring an Ottumwa, Iowa picket line. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 14

January 14, 1868 - Eighty-five delegates from 41 locals held the third convention of the National Bricklayers Union in New York City to organize for the eight-hour workday. (From Workday Minnesota)

Brooklyn Trolley Strike (Cover of Harpers) 1895

January 14, 1895 – A Brooklyn trolley strike began on this date (lasting until Feb. 28). The militia was called out and martial law declared in order to suppress it. Members of the Knights of Labor battled militiamen in the streets. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

January 14, 1914 – The trial of Suhr and Ford began on this date in Marysville, California. Suhr and Ford were IWW (Wobbly) organizers who were ultimately convicted for their alleged role in the gun battle at Durst Ranch in Wheatland. (From the Daily Bleed and the IWW).

January 14, 1941 – A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters called for a March on Washington to demand racial integration of the military and equal access to defense-industry jobs. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 14, 1976 – A wave of wildcat strikes spread across Spain to Barcelona, with the formation of workers' assemblies and the defiance of the mainstream unions and government. (From the Daily Bleed)