Timeline of Labor History. With thanks to The University of Hawaii s Center for Labor Education and Research for their labor history timeline.

Transcription

1 Timeline of Labor History With thanks to The University of Hawaii s Center for Labor Education and Research for their labor history timeline. v1 09/2011

2 1648 Shoemakers and coopers (barrel-makers) guilds organized in Boston. Sources: Text: Image:

3 1776 Declaration of Independence signed in Carpenter's Hall. Sources: Text: Image:blog.pactecinc.com

4 1790 First textile mill, built in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was staffed entirely by children under the age of 12. Sources: Text: Image: creepychusetts.blogspot.com

5 1845 The Female Labor Reform Association was created in Lowell, Massachusetts by Sarah Bagley, and other women cotton mill workers, to reduce the work day from hours to10 hours, and to improve sanitation and safety in the mills. Text: Image: historymartinez.wordpress.com

6 1868 The first 8-hour workday for federal workers took effect. Text: Image: From Melbourne, Australia campaign but found at ntui.org.in

7 1881 In Atlanta, Georgia, 3,000 Black women laundry workers staged one of the largest and most effective strikes in the history of the south. Sources: Text: Image:

8 1886 March - 200,000 workers went on strike against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads owned by Jay Gould, one of the more flamboyant of the 'robber baron' industrialists of the day. May 1 - in Chicago's Haymarket Square a bomb went off in the middle of a protest rally against the killing of 4 strikers who had been on strike for the 8-hour day. This began the international tradition of celebrating May Day for workers rights. December - The American Federation of Labor is formed representing 140,000 workers in 25 national unions. Sources: Text: Image:

9 ,000 miners striked over union recognition in the Great Anthracite Coal Strike. President Roosevelt mediated. Big Bill Haywood lead the Western Federation of Miners (WMF) through a bloody series of conflicts spanning two years in what became known as the Colorado Labor Wars. Sources: Text: Image:

10 1903 The Department of Labor and Commerce was created by an act of Congress, and its Secretary was made a member of the President's Cabinet. Mother Jones led a protest march of mill children, many of whom were victims of industrial accidents, from Philadelphia to New York. November14 - At the AFL convention in Boston, women unionists unite to form the National Women's Trade Union League and elected Mary Morton Kehew president and Jane Addams vice-president. Sources. Text: Image:

11 1909 Female shirtwaist workers in New York striked against sweatshop conditions. This Uprising of 20,000 laid the groundwork for the formation of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Sources: Text: Image:

12 1911 The Triangle Waist Company Fire in New York on March 25, causes the death of 146 workers. The majority of the deaths were of young immigrant women between the ages of 16 and 23. Sources: Text: Image:

13 1912 In Lawrence, Massachusetts the IWW led a strike of 23,000 men, women and children to organize the Lawrence Textile Mills. The "Bread & Roses" Strike, was hailed as the first successful multi-ethnic strike. Sources. Text: Image:libcom.org

14 1919 In February, to protest two years of World War I wage controls, 65,000 workers went on strike in Seattle. 40,000 other workers joined them in solidarity. The Seattle General Strike shut down the city. Sources: Text: and

15 1934 The strike of 400,000 textile workers from New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and all over the southeastern United States lasted 22 days. The strike's ultimate failure and the union's defeat set the groundwork for the Southeastern portion of the United States to become a largely unorganized and anti-union region. Sources: Text: Image:

16 1943 Congress passed the Smith-Connally Act to restrict labor bargaining and organizing. It required a 30-day "cooling off" period before strike, criminal penalties for encouraging strikes, Presidential seizure of struck plants, prohibitions against union campaign contributions. It was vetoed by President Roosevelt. Sources. Text: Image:

17 1947 Following the largest strike wave in U.S. history, the Taft-Hartley Act was passed, suppressing the rights of unions. Sources. Text: Image:

18 1962 President Kennedy issued Executive Order giving federal workers the right to join unions and bargain for wages and working conditions. This set the groundwork for large scale unionization efforts in the public sector. Sources: Text: Image:

19 1963 On August 23, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom brought 250,000 men, women and children together on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial to show their support for the civil rights movement. In addition to supporting civil rights, the leaders and planners of the march stressed economic inequities and called for passage of a new federal jobs program and a higher minimum wage. Sources: Text: Image:

20 1964 On July 2, President Johnson signed the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in the workplace. Sources: Image:

21 1965 September 8, Delano Grape Strike began when the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee - mostly Filipino farm workers in Delano, California - walked off the farms demanding wages on level with the federal minimum wage. A week after the strike began, the predominantly Mexican-American National Farmworkers Association, led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, joined the strike. Eventually the two groups merged, forming the United Farm Workers of America. The strike quickly spread to over 2,000 workers. Sources:Text: Image:

22 1968 On April 3, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support AFSCME sanitation workers. That evening, he delivered his famous I ve Been to the Mountaintop speech to a packed room of supporters. The next day he was assassinated. Sources: Text and Images:

23 1981 The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association struck in defiance of the law. Newly elected President Ronald Reagan fired all the strikers and broke the union, sanctioning the practice of hiring "permanent replacements" for striking workers. Solidarity day labor rally drew 400,000 supporters to the Mall in Washington D.C. Sources: Text: Image:

24 1993 The Family and Medical leave Act was passed. Sources: Text: Image:

25 1999 Unions and social justice activists came together to protest the World Trade Organization in Seattle. The meetings were shut down by the protests. Sources: Image:

26 2005 The Coalition of Immokalee Workers won a major victory by getting Yum Foods, the parent company of Taco Bell, to agree to raise the rate they pay for tomatoes. This victory came after a three-year boycott of Taco Bell. Sources: Text and Images:

27 2010 The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights went into effect in New York State thanks to the amazing work of Domestic Workers United. The bill reforms New York laws to guarantee basic work standards and protections for the nannies, caregivers, and housekeepers who keep New York families functioning and make all other work possible. Source: domesticworkersunited.org

28 2011 In Wisconsin Union workers fought against legislation that would take away collective bargaining rights for public employees. Sources: Image:

29 2011 Just 11.9% of the population are unionized. Meanwhile the top 1% of the population receives 24% of the income. Source: Text and Image: