This Day in Labor History: A Digest

A digest of This Day in Labor History

July 6, 1892–The Homestead Strike
July 12, 1917–The Bisbee Deportation
July 14, 1877–The Great Railroad Strike
September 9, 1739–The Stono Rebellion
September 17, 1989–The Pittston Strike
October 26, 1676–Bacon’s Rebellion
November 5, 1916–The Everett Massacre
November 9, 1935–Creation of the CIO
November 11, 1919–The Centralia Massacre
November 22, 1909–Uprising of the 20,000
December 2, 1946–The Oakland General Strike
December 5, 1955–Merger of the AFL and CIO
December 28, 1869–Founding of the Knights of Labor
December 30, 1905–Murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg
January 1, 1994–NAFTA
January 5, 1970–Murder of UMWA reformer Jock Yablonski
February 6, 1919–The Seattle General Strike
February 11, 1937–The Flint Sit-Down Strike ends.
February 24, 1912–Beating of the women and children at Lawrence
March 25, 1911–Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
April 4, 1968–Assassination of Martin Luther King during sanitation strike in Memphis
April 20, 1914–Ludlow Massacre
April 30, 1894–Coxey’s Army
May 4, 1886–Haymarket Riot
May 9, 1934–Longshoremen strike begins in San Francisco
May 16, 1934–Minneapolis Teamsters Strike
May 19, 1920–Matewan Massacre
May 30, 1937–Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago
June 6, 1943–Detroit Hate Strike
June 20, 1947–President Truman vetoes Taft-Hartley Act
June 26, 1894–Pullman Strike
July 3, 1835–Paterson Textile Strike of 1835
July 4, 1892–People’s Party Convention
July 11, 1892–Miners outside of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho blow up the Frisco Mill.
July 29, 1970–United Farm Workers force growers into the first union contract in the history of California agricultural labor.
August 3, 1981–Air Traffic Controllers go on strike in biggest disaster in organized labor’s history.
August 4, 1942–Creation of the Bracero Program.
August 21, 1831–Nat Turner’s Rebellion.
August 23, 1927–Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti
August 25, 1925–Founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
September 2, 1885–Rock Springs Massacre
September 22, 1946–Tobacco workers win contract in North Carolina, starting CIO’s Operation Dixie campaign.
October 23, 1976–International Woodworkers of America Local 3-101 holds a monthly union meeting.
November 19, 1915–Joe Hill executed in Utah.
November 22, 1887–Thibodaux Massacre
December 6, 1865–Ratification of the 13th Amendment.
December 11, 1886–Creation of the Colored Farmers Alliance
January 17, 1962–President Kennedy issues Executive Order 10988, authorizing collective bargaining for public workers.
January 25, 1941–March on Washington Movement leads to end of official segregation in defense industry.
February 7, 1894–Cripple Creek gold miners strike.
February 8, 1887–Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes Act.
February 13, 1865–Sons of Vulcan win nation’s first union contract.
March 4, 1998–Supreme Court rules in Oncale v. Sundonwer Offshore Services. Same-sex sexual harassment.
March 7, 1932–River Rouge march and repression.
March 23, 1974–Coalition of Labor Union Women holds first meeting.
April 8, 1952–Truman nationalizes steel industry.
April 28, 1971–OSHA begins
May 3, 1911–Wisconsin passes first workers compensation law
May 6, 1882–Chinese Exclusion Act.
May 10, 1993–Kader Toy Fire.
May 12, 1902–Anthracite coal miners strike in Pennsylvania begins, TR mediates.
May 26, 1937–Battle of the Overpass.
June 7, 1913–Paterson Silk Pageant. Addendum here.
June 11, 1925–Davis Day
June 16, 1918–Eugene Debs arrested for violating Espionage Act.
June 21, 1877–Molly Maguires executed in Pennsylvania.
July 2, 1822–Denmark Vesey executed for planning slave revolt in South Carolina.
July 17, 1944–Port Chicago explosion
August 1, 1917–Frank Little lynched in Butte.
August 3, 1913–Wheatland Riot
August 9, 1910–invention of electric washing machine transforms women’s unpaid domestic labor.
August 14, 1935–FDR signs Social Security Act.
August 22, 1945–Air Line Stewardesses Association, first flight attendant union, forms.
August 25, 1921–Battle of Blair Mountain
September 9, 1919–Boston police go on strike, crushed by Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge.
September 10, 1897–Lattimer Massacre
October 1, 1910–Iron Workers bomb Los Angeles Times building.
October 10, 1917–Closing of Storyville, New Orleans’ red light district.
October 16, 1859–John Brown launches attack on federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in order to gather guns to free slave labor.
October 26, 1825–Erie Canal opens after over 1000 workers die building it.
October 30, 1837–Nicholas Farwell’s hand is crushed working on railroad, courts decide in Farwell v. Boston and Worcester Rail Road Corporation that companies have no responsibility for working conditions.
November 13, 1909–Cherry Mine Fire in Illinois kills 259 workers.
November 30, 1999–WTO protests begin in Seattle.
December 8, 1886–American Federation of Labor founded in Columbus.
December 24, 1969–Curt Flood sends letter to Major League Baseball demanding free agency.
December 30, 1969–Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act signed.
January 1, 1892–Ellis Island opens.
January 8, 1811–German Coast slave rebellion begins in Louisiana.
January 13, 1874–Tompkins Square Riot.
January 14, 1888–Publication of Looking Backward.
January 15, 1915–Ralph Chaplin writes “Solidarity Forever.”
February 13, 1845–Lowell Female Labor Reform Association organizes and forces Massachusetts to investigate conditions in the Lowell textile mills.
February 15, 1907–Theodore Roosevelt and Japanese government agree to Gentlemen’s Agreement, ends most Japanese immigration to the U.S. after west coast labor protests.
February 26, 1972–Pittston Coal Company slurry dam collapses in Logan County, West Virginia, 125 dead.
March 3, 1931–Davis-Bacon Act signed.
March 4, 1915–LaFollette Seamen’s Act signed
March 5, 1972–Lordstown Strike
March 14, 1954–Salt of the Earth premiers
March 18, 1970–Postal Workers go on strike
March 20, 1854–Founding of Republican Party, free labor ideology
April 11, 1986–Police tear gas strikers at Hormel plant in Austin, Minnesota.
April 12, 1934–Toledo Auto-Lite strike begins.
April 14, 1975–Bunker Hill Mining Company in Idaho announces policy of sterilization for women working in its lead smelter.
May 6, 1935–Works Progress Administration created.
May 8, 1970–Hard Hat Riot
May 10, 1869–Completion of Transcontinental Railroad, treatment of Chinese workers
May 26, 1924–Coolidge signs Immigration Act of 1924
May 29, 1943–Normal Rockwell publishes Rosie the Riveter cover in Saturday Evening Post.
June 23, 1855–Celia, a slave, kills her master when he attempts to rape her Sexual labor of slaves.
June 25, 1938–FDR signs Fair Labor Standards Act
June 27, 1905–IWW founded
June 30, 1983–Phelps-Dodge strike starts in Clifton-Morenci, Arizona, massive union-busting by copper company
July 5, 1935–FDR signs National Labor Relations Act
July 11, 1934–Southern Tenant Farmers Union forms in Tyronza, Arkansas
August 11, 1911–Watertown Arsenal workers strike over Taylorism
August 23, 1912–United States Commission on Industrial Relations formed
September 14, 1959–Eisenhower signs Landrum-Griffin Act
September 22, 1862–Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation
September 23, 1969–Richard Nixon announces Philadelphia Plan to desegregate construction industry
October 5, 1886–Henry George accepts United Labor Party nomination for mayor of New York.
October 19, 1935–John L. Lewis punches Carpenters president Big Bill Hutcheson on the floor of the AFL Convention.
October 27, 1948–Donora Fog.
October 28, 1793–Invention of cotton gin.
November 2, 1909–Spokane free speech fight begins.
November 25, 1865–Mississippi institutes its Black Code
December 2, 1984–Union Carbide plant leak at Bhopal, India
December 5, 1894–Alabama repeals child labor law to attract New England textile factories.
December 24, 1913–Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan
January 5, 1914–Henry Ford announces $5 day for workers who lived a lifestyle of which he personally approved.
January 25, 1984–End of the International Nestle Boycott
February 2, 1848–Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed, fate of New Mexican land grant labor
February 23, 1864–Kate Mullaney and Collar Laundry Union go on strike in Troy, New York
February 24, 1908–Muller v. Oregon decided
March 1, 1936. Hoover Dam turned over to government. Labor history of its construction.
March 6, 1886–Knights of Labor begin Great Southwestern Strike against Jay Gould’s railroads.
March 10, 1925–New York Times first reports Radium Girls story.
March 18, 1871–Paris Commune begins
March 22, 1914–Mother Jones arrested supporting Colorado coal strike.
March 25, 1947–Mine explosion in Centralia, IL kills 111 workers.
March 28, 1977–AFSCME goes on strike in Atlanta, crushed by mayor Maynard Jackson
April 7, 2000–Workers Rights Consortium founded in New York
April 17, 1905–Supreme Court decided Lochner v. New York
May 18, 1933–Franklin Delano Roosevelt creates Tennessee Valley Authority
May 21, 1968–Poor Person’s March starts its camp construction in Washington DC.
June 1, 1906–Cananea Strike in Mexico, prelude to Mexican Revolution
June 15, 1990–Los Angeles police beat SEIU members in Justice for Janitors march
June 18, 1954–CIA-led Guatemalan coup against Jacobo Arbenz begins with AFL support
June 22, 1922–Herrin Massacre
July 2, 1980–Supreme Court decides Industrial Union Department AFL-CIO v. American Petroleum Institute, limiting OSHA workplace health program
July 9, 1948–International Labor Organization passes Freedom of Association Convention. U.S. never ratifies it.
July 15, 1959–Steelworkers Strike of 1959 begins
July 19, 1972–AFL-CIO refuses to endorse George McGovern for president
August 7, 1978–President Carter declares Love Canal a federal emergency
August 15, 1914–Panama Canal opens, story of its workers
August 20, 1866–National Labor Union demands Congress implement the 8-hour day
August 28, 1963–The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
September 11, 1851–Christiana Riot, runaway slaves resisting Fugitive Slave Act
September 19, 1977–Black Monday in Youngstown
September 28, 1874–Comanche defeated at Palo Duro Canyon, end of a work history
October 15, 1990–George H.W. Bush signs Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
November 26, 1910–Newark sweatshop fire kills 25 workers
November 30, 1932–AFL endorses federal unemployment insurance, turning its back on history of voluntarism
December 4, 1907–Theodore Roosevelt sends U.S. Army to crush IWW strike in Goldfield, Nevada.
December 10, 1789–Moses Brown hires Samuel Slater to build a modern textile mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, beginning the United States’ Industrial Revolution.
December 22, 1988–Assassination of Brazil rubber tapper union leader and environmentalist Chico Mendes
December 28, 1973–Skylab astronauts go on one-day strike
January 16, 1961–Lettuce workers go on strike in Imperial Valley, starts era of farmworker organizing
January 18, 1887–Pinkertons kill 14 year old boy at Jersey City coal wharves’ strike
January 23, 1973–OCAW strike against Shell, assisted by environmental groups
January 24, 1848–Gold discovered in California, idea of white labor in the West
February 17, 1992–Yale graduate students go on strike
March 4, 1933–FDR nominates Frances Perkins to be Secretary of Labor
March 15, 1940–Film adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath released
March 30, 1930–Hawk’s Nest tunnel project in West Virginia starts, leading to mass deaths from silicosis
April 9, 1865–End of the Civil War
April 27, 1944—FDR orders Montgomery Ward to accept union or face government seizure after it refuses to recognize union
May 3, 1965–Land for Drop City purchased, a window into the counterculture and work
May 31, 1889–The Johnstown Flood
June 2, 1924–Child Labor Amendment passes Senate, sent to states where it is not ratified
June 8, 1917–Speculator Mine disaster in Butte, Montana kills 168 workers
June 22, 1896–Leadville Strike
June 25, 1914–Salem Fire and workplace safety
July 2, 1964–Civil Rights Act of 1964, including Title VII
July 6, 1924–The Philippine Scouts, Filipino soldiers in the US occupying army of their homeland, strike
July 28, 1932–Bonus Army encampment burned
August 13, 1887–Newark leathermakers lock out employees to destroy the Knights of Labor
August 16, 1819–Peterloo Massacre in Manchester
August 21, 1791–Haitian slave revolt begins
September 3, 1991–Hamlet, North Carolina chicken factory burns, kills 25 workers
September 5, 1934–North Carolina governor calls out National Guard to bust textile strike
September 6, 1869–Avondale Colliery fire, 110 miners die
September 16, 2004–Farm Labor Organizing Committee signs contract with Mt. Olive Pickles and its contracting farmers
September 21, 1908–Fourth IWW convention begins, Daniel DeLeon’s Socialist Labor Party loses bid to take over organization
September 27, 2002–West Coast ports close because of lockout, George W. Bush invokes Taft-Hartley to open them 10 days later
October 10, 1933–Farmers kill two strikers at Pixley, California
October 25, 1831--Lyon silk weavers revolt
October 31, 1978–President Carter signs the Pregnancy Discrimination Act
November 7, 1861–U.S. Army occupies South Carolina sea islands, start of Port Royal Experiment
November 12, 1928–United Fruit workers in Colombia go on strike, government responds with massacre
November 17, 1968–New York State Education Commissioner reasserts state control over Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district, ends major conflict over the Ocean Hill-Brownsville teachers strike led by Albert Shanker over black community control
November 27, 1937—-opening of Pins and Needles at ILGWU Labor Stage
December 19, 1907–Darr Mine fire in Pennsylvania kills 239 workers
December 21, 1919–Emma Goldman deported
December 30, 1970–Hurricane Creek Mine Disaster kills 38 miners near Hyden, Kentucky
January 1, 1935–Carl Mackley Homes, housing development created by the Hosiery Workers’ Union, opens in Philadelphia
January 6, 1909–Oral arguments before SCOTUS conclude in Moyer v. Peabody that state National Guard can imprison citizens without habeas corpus
January 20, 1920–Oahu Sugar Strike begins
February 11, 1903–Japanese Mexican Labor Association forms
February 13, 1837–Loco Foco rally leads to Flour Riot
February 14, 1940–Navajo appeal against livestock reduction program
March 1, 1932—Norris-LaGuardia Act passes Senate
March 24, 1934–Tydings-McDuffie Act signed, granting the Philippines independence because Californians were angry that these workers were marrying white women
March 28, 1959–Mexican government arrests and imprisons railroad strike leaders
March 29, 1951–Julius and Ethel Rosenberg convicted
April 1, 1929–Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina begins
April 2, 1937–Hershey sit-down strike begins
April 9, 1923–Supreme Court decides Adkins v. Children’s Hospital, striking down federal minimum wage for women
May 1, 1899–Florence Kelley begins her work with the National Consumers League
May 8, 1959–Local 1199 begins hospital workers strike in New York
May 10, 1837–Panic of 1837 begins
May 12, 1878–Catharine Beecher, author of Treatise on Domestic Economy, which created ideological framework for modern housework, dies
May 17, 1933–National Industrial Recovery Act introduced into the House
May 29, 1941–Disney cartoonists go on strike
May 30, 1741–Slaves executed as part of New York Slave Conspiracy
June 2, 1920–Civilian Vocational Rehabilitation Act approved by Congress
June 5, 1976–Teamsters for a Democratic Unionism formed
June 10, 1917–Workers at Rodolfo Crespi cotton mill in Sao Paulo demand 25 percent wage increase, refusal leads to Sao Paulo general strike
June 17, 1936–Steel Workers Organizing Committee formed
June 17, 1864–Washington Arsenal explosion kills 20 workers
June 21, 1935–Three timber workers killed in Eureka, California during Great Strike of 1935
July 16, 1931–Ralph Gray, communist and leader of Croppers and Farm Workers Union in Tallapoosa County, AL murdered by white mob
July 20, 1891–Tennessee forces surrender to miners during Coal Creek War to keep convict laborers from competing with miners
July 23, 1892–Alexander Berkman shoots Henry Clay Frick
August 20, 1976–Grunwick Strike begins in England, defeat of which started the Thatcherite attack on unions
August 26, 1970–NOW leads Women’s Strike for Equality
September 15, 1845–Pittsburgh textile strike begins
September 18, 1873–Panic of 1873 begins
September 19, 1945–24 fired women picket the Lindstrom Tool and Toy Company in Bridgeport, CT after they are fired from their wartime jobs because they are women
September 25, 1891–Two are killed in Lee County, Arkansas during battle between Colored Farmers Alliance members and other cotton workers
September 29, 1917–Col. Brice Disque named to lead Spruce Production Division, a government effort to send soldiers to Northwesters forests as loggers and destroy the IWW
October 1, 1833–Baltimore seamstresses go on strike, discussion of white women workers in the antebellum period
October 4, 1978–Prisoners at Ellis Prison in Texas refuse to pick cotton for no wages
October 11, 1979–OSHA fines American Cyanamid $10,000 for coercing women into sterilization, followed by OCAW lawsuit
October 15, 1914–Woodrow Wilson signs the Clayton Act
October 19, 1980–Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union forced JP Stevens to sign a contract for the first time in the Carolinas and Alabama, ending 17-year campaign
October 23, 1995–AFL-CIO Convention begins that leads to victory of John Sweeney, revitalizing the federation
November 8, 1970–Congress approves the Reorganization Acts Amendment that lay the groundwork for the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, how EPA helps working people.
November 11, 1887–Illinois executed four innocent men for the Haymarket bombing
November 23, 1903–Colorado governor sends militia to crush Cripple Creek strike
December 23, 1872–Battle in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania over an attempt to break a coal strike, a vision into the early coal mines and miner culture
December 27, 1831–Baptist War in Jamaica, slave rebellion that moves British toward emancipation
January 1, 1994–Zapatista Rebellion begins in Chiapas, Mexico, timed with the implementation of NAFTA.
January 4, 1977–Augustus Hawkins introduces HR 50, becomes Humphrey-Hawkins Act
January 16, 1865–General William Tecumseh Sherman issues Special Field Order No. 15 for freed slaves, giving them 40 acres and a mule
January 23, 1890–Founding of the United Mine Workers of America
February 15, 1988–Environmentalists storm the gate of International Paper in Jay, Maine during strike that was dominated by unsafe working conditions and pollution
March 2, 1937–US Steel signs first contract with Steel Workers Organizing Committee
March 7, 1905–New York City subway strike begins and James Farley breaks it with record speed, gaining fame as the era’s most notorious strikebreaker
March 10, 1979–Sao Paulo’s metalworkers strike, with Lula as a leader; over 3 million workers go on strike, a massive challenge to the Brazilian dictatorship
March 11, 1811–Luddite movement begins in England
March 17, 1921–Soviet military forces crush Kronstadt Rebellion
March 20, 1991–Supreme Court decides UAW v. Johnson Controls, ruling that a company banning women from working in hazardous jobs was a discriminatory act
March 29, 1937–Supreme Court decided the case of West Coast Hotel Company v. Parrish, upholding the constitutionality of state minimum wage laws
April 5, 1938–Arguments begin in NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Company
April 6, 1712–New York slave revolt of 1712
April 16, 1947–Texas City disaster kills at least 581 people, the largest workplace disaster in American history
April 21, 1545–Juan de Villarroel files the first mining claim at Potosí, Bolivia, beginning a long history of exploitation of indigenous labor there
May 1, 1943–FDR authorizes seizure of coal mines after UMWA refuses National War Labor Board arbitration
May 13, 1888–Abolition of slavery in Brazil
May 23, 1950–Treaty of Detroit between GM and the United Auto Workers
May 29, 1996–UFW comes to agreement with the Bruce Church lettuce company, ending 17-year boycott
June 4, 1912–Massachusetts establishes its minimum wage commission to create the nation’s first minimum wage
June 7, 1943–16 workers at Memphis’ Buckeye Cotton Oil Company go on wildcat strike for discrimination on job
June 15, 1917–Congress passes Espionage Act
July 10, 1986–Flight attendants win lawsuit against United Airlines for firing them after getting married as far back as the 60s
July 27, 1989–Workers at Nissan plant in Smyrna, TN reject UAW representation by 2:1 margin
July 28, 1933–Frances Perkins speech at Homestead, PA when she is cut off by Homestead government
August 5, 1993–Family and Medical Leave Act goes into effect
August 14, 1889–London Great Dock Strike begins
September 6, 1919–New York City theater owners and actors sign agreement ending strike over bad conditions
September 8, 1909–workers return to work after victory in IWW-led Pressed Steel Car Company strike at McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania
September 19, 1981–AFL-CIO Solidarity Day to protest Reagan
October 4, 1918–T.A. Gillespie Shell Loading Plant near Sayreville, New Jersey exploded, killing approximately 100 workers
October 18, 1981–Workers at Brown and Sharpe factory in North Kingston, Rhode Island begin the longest strike in American history
October 29, 1889–Katsu Goto, a Japanese organizer in Hawaii, is murdered
November 10, 1933–Sit-down strike at Hormel plant in Austin, Minnesota begins
November 12, 1892–New Orleans general strike ends
November 21, 1927–Columbine Massacre in Colorado coal strike
November 26, 1931–Ybor City cigar manufactures ban reading in the factories, leading to strikes
December 14, 1945–House passed what becomes Employment Act of 1946
December 15, 1921–Kansas National Guard breaks up women’s marches to support coal strike
December 30, 1828–400 women in Dover, NH go on strike in their mill, possibly first all-female strike in American history
January 1, 1867–Sharecropper contract signed between landowner Isham Bailey and freedmen
January 11, 1968–strike of electrical workers in Saigon just before the Tet Offensive shows the weakness of the South Vietnamese government
January 17, 1915–Lucy Parsons leads an unemployed march of 10,000 in Chicago
January 22, 1599–Spanish troops begin their attack on Acoma Pueblo, window into labor relations in colonial New Mexico
February 10, 1966–The Senate failed to gain cloture on an attempt to appeal Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act
February 11, 1978–Hoedads working in Oregon poisoned, countercultural reforestation labor
February 20, 1893–The Panic of 1893 begins when the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad goes bankrupt
February 22, 1860–Shoemakers in Lynn, Massachusetts begin the nation’s largest strike before the Civil War
February 23, 1959–Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee is created
February 27, 1869–The workplace health and safety reformer Alice Hamilton is born
March 17, 1966—CA farmworker march from Delano to Sacramento
March 21, 1866—California passes An Act for the Suppression of Chinese Houses of Ill Fame
March 29, 1965–Textile Workers Union v. Darlington Manufacturing decided, case that limits collective bargaining over plant closures to effects from a single plant closing
March 31, 1840—U.S. President Martin Van Buren issues an Executive Order ordering the 10 Hour Day on federal projects
April 18, 1912—West Virginia Mine War of 1912 begins
April 19, 1911—Furniture workers go on strike in Grand Rapids, many over the objections of their churches
April 20, 1949—USWA men beat Mine, Mill president Maurice Travis, costing him an eye
May 1, 1867–Chicago 8-hour day strike
May 5, 1886–Milwaukee police kill 7 workers during 8-hour day strike
May 15, 1905–Maraka noble killed by slave in Mali as part of slave exodus in region
May 18, 1979–Jury finds for Karen Silkwood’s estate over her murder five years earlier
June 3, 1918—Supreme Court overrules Keating-Owen Child Labor Act in Hammer v. Dagenhart
June 9, 1880—Greenback Party convention nominates presidential candidates
June 11, 1352—Case against laborers in England over wages after Black Death
June 25, 1919—Winnipeg General Strike ends
June 30, 1928—Alabama stops leasing of convicts to mine coal
July 1, 1929—Streetcar workers in New Orleans go on strike
July 3, 1903—Denver smelter strike and the creation of the foundational principles of the IWW
July 6, 1968—end of first black Chicago bus drivers wildcat strike infused with Black Power politics
August 2, 1995—Raid on sweatshop in El Monte, California uncovers 72 Thai workers in slave labor conditions
August 7, 1980—Worker fired that leads to Solidarity movement in Poland
August 11, 1937—International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) created
August 12, 1946—South African mineworkers strike
August 30, 1800—planned date for Gabriel’s Rebellion
September 1, 1849—Brotherhood of the Union founded
September 4, 1970—Election of Allende and impact on Chilean labor
September 9, 1985—Watsonville Cannery Strike begins
September 23, 2002—Gray Davis signs first paid family leave law in US
September 27, 1875—Bread riot in Fall River as striking textile workers forced to return to work
October 12, 1898—Battle of Virden
October 15, 1970—RICO Act becomes effective
October 26, 1924—First of five workers die at Standard Oil’s Bayway TEL works from lead exposure in making leaded gasoline
October 29, 1962—Operation Breadbasket, SCLC attempt to boycott businesses that don’t hire African-Americans
November 13, 1970—Jeon Tae-Il, a Korean sweatshop worker, burns himself to death in protest over the sweatshop conditions of he and his fellow workers
November 28, 1901--Cuban cigar workers strike in Tampa collapses
December 1, 1868—John Henry taken from Richmond prison to blast railroad tunnel
December 6, 1907—Monongah Mining Disaster in West Virginia kills at least 362 workers
December 12, 1957—Teamsters expelled from AFL-CIO
January 3, 1931—Farmers converge on England, Arkansas to demand poverty relief, leads to Will Rogers poverty tour
January 9, 1973—Durban, South Africa wildcat strikes that was first significant unrest since sentencing of Mandela in 1964
January 13, 1966—NYC transit strike led by Mike Quill ends
January 14, 1895—Brooklyn trolley strike starts
January 21, 1941—Allis-Chalmers strike
February 19, 1910—Philadelphia Rapid Transit Trolley strike
February 25, 1999—Los Angeles home care workers vote to join SEIU
March 21, 1877—Founding of National Farmers Alliance
March 31, 1921—Creation of Brookwood Labor College
April 1, 1951—TWUA strike in Dan River Mills in Virginia begins
April 4, 1936–Strutwear Strike in Minneapolis settled with victory for workers
April 6, 1905—Chicago Teamsters strike against Montgomery Ward strike that leads to 21 dead over 105 days
April 7, 1947—AT&T strike of telephone operators, leads to National Federation of Telephone Workers becoming Communication Workers of America
April 27, 1978—Concrete cooling tower collapses at power plant under construction in Willow Island, WV, kills 51
May 1, 1877—Bill to create nation’s first factory safety law passes Massachusetts House
May 9, 1909—Great Strike of Hawaiian sugar workers
May 29, 1935—Copperbelt strike in Northern Rhodesia ends
June 5, 1939—Supreme Court ruling in Hague v CIO
June 22, 1944—Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill, signed into law
July 4, 1857—White miners in Australia drive 2000 Chinese miners out of mine camp in northeastern Victoria, killing three
July 7, 1903—Mother Jones begins Children’s Crusade
July 9, 1640—Virginia court rules that indentured servants who ran away were in fact slaves
July 19, 1881—Black laundry workers form Washing Society in Atlanta to demand labor rights
July 28, 1869—formation of the Daughters of St. Crispin
July 31, 1905—Maji-Maji Rebellion in Tanzania begins
August 10, 1935—Transport Workers Union members descend upon NYC courthouse to bail out their president Mike Quill
August 26, 1922—First conference of Trade Union Educational League
August 29, 1933—National Miners Union shuts down mines in Gallup, New Mexico
September 11, 1921—oil workers strike in San Joaquin Valley
September 16, 2004—NHL lockout begins
September 17, 1868—Susan B. Anthony calls for formation of Working Women’s Association at NY convention of the National Labor Congress
September 27, 2005—Change to Win forms
September 30, 1899—Mother Jones organizes wives of miners in Arnot, PA to help strikers win their strike
October 14, 1840–Commonwealth v. Hunt proceedings begin, establishes right to strike in U.S.
November 11, 1918—First labor code in Indochina goes enacted, labor on rubber plantations
November 17, 1946—Hawaii sugar strike of 1946 ends
December 17, 1894—AFL Convention in Denver begins, Gompers loses presidency to John McBride because of labor Populists
December 21, 1907—Santa Maria School massacre, Chilean army murders 2,000 striking nitrate miners
December 30, 1900—First Tuskegee advisors arrive in Togo to help German effort to import southern plantation economy
January 2, 2006—Sago coal mine disaster
January 23, 1749—supposed South Carolina slave conspiracy uncovered
January 25, 1915–Supreme Court decides in Coppage v. Kansas that yellow dog contracts are legal
January 29, 1834—Andrew Jackson sends troops to crush strike on C&O Canal
March 7, 1990—Death of Jay Lovestone
March 9, 1911—Railroad brotherhoods on lines in Kentucky and Tennessee go on strike over hiring black workers
March 20, 1882–Homestead workers win strike on who would control new steel industry
March 23, 1903—U.S. troops arrive in Honduras during rebellion to protect United Fruit
April 2, 1984—Major strike among Las Vegas casino workers begins
April 20, 1946—joint strike between UCAPAWA Local 7 and International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America Local 47 in Alaska begins—Native women and Filipino men uniting in leftist strike that wins
April 27, 1939—Senator James Murray (MT) introduces SB 2256, authorizing federal assistance to states to fund silicosis claims, supported by CIO
May 10, 1913—strike by white South African gold miners begins
May 16, 1910–Creation of the U.S Bureau of Mines
May 17, 1986—TWA flight attendants strike ends
May 21, 1945—Hawaii Employee Relations Act passes law extending bargaining rights for ag workers, called Little Wagner Act
May 23, 1977—Abood v. Detroit Board of Education decided
June 3, 1900—International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) is formed
June 10, 1963—JFK signs Equal Pay Act
June 19, 1982—Autoworkers murder Vincent Chin out of anger over Japanese imports
July 1, 1962—Saskatchewan doctor’s strike against universal healthcare begins
July 2, 1888–London Matchgirls Strike begins
August 1, 1864—Nevada miners organize first union in western metal
August 3, 1959—Dock workers strike in Guinea-Bissau leads to 50 dead workers
August 10, 1680—Pueblo Revolt begins
August 18, 1823—Demerara slave revolt in Guyana
August 19, 1987—AFL-CIO Coors Boycott ends
August 25, 1937—Pullman recognizes Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and signs contract
September 17, 2011—Occupy Wall Street begins
September 22, 1919—Start of the 1919 steel strike
September 27, 1922—Sentinels of the Republic formed, takes lead to defeat Child Labor Amendment
October 2, 1968—Tlatelolco Massacre
October 4, 1971—Nixon sets up T-H Board of inquiry for ILWU strike against Harry Bridges’ wishes, largely over containerization
October 9, 1961—Supreme Court refuses to review Tennessee Supreme Court order revoking Highlander Center’s charter
November 1, 1879—Carlisle Indian School opens, Indian schools and work ideology
November 11, 1942—CIO Convention meets, Committee to Abolish Racial Discrimination formed
November 13, 1887—London police attack unemployed march in Trafalgar Square, known as Bloody Sunday
November 15, 1975—Wages for Housework opens its storefront in New York
November 22, 1919—Bogalusa sawmill killings
December 6, 1970—First meeting of Calumet Community Congress, a working-class organization to fight pollution in Gary
December 15, 1989—Oil Chemical, and Atomic Workers and BASF come to an agreement for the company’s largest plant, in Geismer, Louisiana, after long battle.
December 16, 1977—Willmar 8—women bank tellers go on strike in Minnesota over unequal pay
January 10, 1939—Tenant farmers in Missouri Bootheel march for rights of tenants and a rural New Deal, interracial and in conjunction with Southern Tenant Farmers Union and CIO
January 22, 1932—Beginning of the Salvadoran peasant massacre
January 25, 1926—Passaic textile strike begins
January 28, 1932—Wisconsin Gov. LaFollette signs nation’s first unemployment compensation law
February 26, 1885–Alien Contract Labor Law of 1885 passes Congress
February 27, 1937—Women at Detroit Woolworth’s starts sit-down strike
March 2, 1893—Safety Appliance Act enacted, mandates air brakes on trains and makes rail work safer
March 3, 1865—Founding of the Freedmen’s Bureau
March 6, 1984—British coal strike begins
March 9, 1892–Lynching of three Memphis men running a store for Black customers
March 20, 1956—End of Westinghouse strike
April 2, 1964—DOL announces changes limiting ability of non-American musicians to work in the US after lobbying from musicians’ union, leading to outrage from Beatles fans
April 14, 1816—Bussa’s Rebellion in Barbados
April 17, 1937—Tobacco strike starts in Richmond
April 21, 1894—bituminous miners go on strike
April 25, 1947—French strike wave begins with Renault workers walking off the job
April 28, 1941—Phelps Dodge v. NLRB decided—Court rules that company could not blacklist workers and owed them back pay
April 29, 1899–Coeur d’Alene miners blow up mill
May 12, 1959—Unions file petition with NLRB for an election at mine in Mexican Hat, Utah, moment to get at opposition to unions among Navajo Tribal Council
May 14, 1889—leading coal workers meet with Kaiser Wilhelm to settle strike, 100,000 coal workers strike in Germany’s Ruhr Valley
May 20, 1926—Railway Labor Act passes Congress
May 23, 1973—term “green ban” first used in Australian paper to discuss construction worker unions refusing to build in order to preserve green space.
June 1, 1981—Seattle activists Gene Viernes and Silme Domingo were assassinated in office of Alaska Cannery Workers Local 27 (ILWU) on the orders of Ferdinand Marcos
June 15, 1942—GM workers go on wildcat strike over management’s anti-smoking rules
June 24, 1867—Chinese workers building railroad across Sierra Nevada go on strike
July 1, 1922—Great Railroad Strike of 1922 begins
July 8, 1966—IAM strike shuts down airlines
August 2, 1917—Green Corn Rebellion in Oklahoma, rural socialists protesting against World War I
August 6, 1944—Philadelphia transit strike over hiring black drivers ends
August 16, 1928—Josephine Roche signs collective bargaining agreement with UMWA, first time in Colorado
August 25, 1734—Slave insurrection on St. John is put down after 9 months
September 13, 1932—Amalgamated Clothing Workers-led strike of garment industry in Baltimore
September 21, 1982—NFL players go on strike
September 30, 1919—Elaine Massacre in Arkansas
October 1, 1945—ILA dockworkers in New York stop working, rank and file protest against ILA leadership and general issues of the times begins

October 12, 1933—Los Angeles garment workers strike, led by Mexican-Americans
October 20, 1969—Clarence Borel, a construction worker, files suit against 11 corporations for asbestos exposure
October 22, 1945—Charleston SC tobacco strike starts
October 25, 1949—Hawaii longshoremen win strike, recognition for ILWU
November 23, 1891—Patrick Wahlen is injured in an Alaska mining accident, leads to SCOTUS case that overturns a jury awarding him compensation money, good moment to discuss mining safety and courts’ indifference
December 6, 1977–United Mine Workers strike starts
December 17, 1953–Livingston Shirt Corporation Case where Eisenhower NLRB rules that employers can force workers to sit through mandatory anti-union meetings
December 28, 1921—Rand rebellion in South Africa begins
January 3, 1921—Court decides Duplex Printing Press Co v. Deering, throwing out protections for secondary boycotts in the Clayton Act
January 4, 1944—Workers at Minidoka internment camp go on strike
January 7, 1907—Rio Blanco textile strike in Veracruz, Mexico
January 16, 1920—Those arrested in Palmer Raids are granted the right to meet with legal representation
February 6, 1886—Anti-Chinese riots in Seattle led by Knights of Labor
February 10, 1971—Polish textile strike
February 16, 1931—Beginning of Harlan County Coal War
February 17, 1936—Goodyear workers go on strike, unionization of rubber industry

March 14, 1895–Ritchie v. People, IL Supreme Court rejects state 8 hour law
March 19, 1917—Supreme Court rules Adamson Act constitutional
March 31, 1883—Cowboy Strike in Texas
April 1, 1913—Draper textile strike
April 5, 1956—Victor Riesel blinded
April 16, 1836—MA child labor law
April 24, 1903—Pacific Electric Railway Strike in Los Angeles begins
April 29, 1996—Charles Kernaghan testifies before House Democrats on Labor Committee that National Labor Committee had discovered sweatshop labor on Kathie Lee branded clothing in Honduras
May 1, 2006—Day without an Immigrant
May 4, 1926—UK general strike

May 12, 1933—AAA goes into effect, effect on rural southern labor

May 23, 1861—First slaves arrive at Fort Monroe as part of slave self-emancipation during Civil War

June 6, 1835—Philadelphia General Strike begins

July 10, 1902—Rolling Mill Mine disaster

July 18, 1899—New York newsboys strike over paying for unsold papers

July 25, 1973–Irish marriage bar on work debated and soon overturned 

July 29, 1987—Jobs with Justice created in Miami

August 4, 1997—UPS strike

August 28, 1833—Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 in UK receives royal assent

September 7, 1933—cranberry picker strike in Cape Cod

September 11, 2001—9/11’s impact on World Trade Center workers

September 13, 1990—Delta Pride Catfish strike begins

September 16, 1920—Wall Street bombing

September 22, 1910—Chicago garment workers strike, where Sidney Hillman gets his start

October 10, 1947—Senegal rail strike for rights given to French workers

October 17, 1945—Protestors take to street to demand Peron released

October 18, 1861—Phulaguri Uprising in Assam begins

October 25, 1940—John L. Lewis gives speech opposing FDR, eventually leading to him leaving the CIO

October 26, 2005—Siliadin v. France decided by European Court of Human Rights—case of domestic laborer from Ivory Coast being held against her will in France

October 30, 1962—13 members of USWA Local 2401 working with Herbert Hill and NAACP file decertification petition over the continued segregation and racism in local.

October 31, 1990—Ravenswood workers locked out, start of 2 year battle that leads to huge win

November 11, 1978—Carter vetoes HR 9937, which prohibited US trade negotiators from reducing textile tariffs

November 13, 1986—assassination of Rolando Olalia in the Philippines, major leftist leader

November 20, 1536—Hernan Cortes buys mines and acquires between 100-200 Indian slaves.

December 10, 1976—undocumented workers in Chicago leather plants vote to unionize, leading to battle for them to have access to US labor rights 

January 7, 1919—Semana Tragica begins in Argentina, leading to 700 worker deaths

January 15, 1964—Teamsters create National Master Freight Agreement

January 19, 1915—Roosevelt Massacre in New Jersey, thugs kill two workers during strike

February 17, 2000—AFL-CIO reverses its stance on immigration to support immigrants

March 6, 1922—Movimiento Inquilinario in Veracruz rent strike

April 10, 1917—133 workers die in explosion at Eddystone Ammunition Works in Eddystone, PA

April 17, 1941—New York and National Negro Congress come to agreement to end boycott of city’s bus companies until blacks were hired

April 18, 1905—Puerto Rico ag strike officially declared

April 19, 1920—IWW led strike in Montana leads to the Anaconda Road Massacre

April 28, 1911—South African Mines and Workers Act that ban Africans to unskilled work

May 2, 1968—wildcat strike at Chrysler plant leads to creation of Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement

May 3, 1932—Farmers Holiday Association organized

May 9, 1949—mob assassinates ILGWU organizer William Lurye

May 13, 1874—Man in New York arrested for working his dog on a cider press,

June 2, 1984—Marval turkey strike begins

June 3, 1824—Pawtucket factory workers strike ends

June 5, 1944—Cincinnati hate strike

June 22, 1916—IWW led Mesabi strike begins in MN

June 25, 1943—Congress passes Smith-Connally Act over FDR’s veto

June 28, 1946—CIO begins the Operation Dixie textile campaign in Kannapolis, NC

July 3, 1913—auto worker Charles Weaver loses his eye

July 19, 1935—housewives start moving toward meat boycott

July 31, 1835—Washington Navy Yard strike begins

August 4, 1909—Swedish general strike begins

August 16, 1937—FDR writes to NFFE head Luther Steward of his ambivalence over public sector unionism

August 19, 1969—Oklahoma City sanitation strike

August 30, 1996—Workers at Lusty Lady club vote to join Exotic Dancers Union

September 10, 2012—Chicago teachers strike begins

September 14, 1889—Black guano workers on Navassa Island rise up and kill 5 white bosses

September 28, 1864—founding of the International Workingmen’s Association, better known as the First International

October 4, 1936—The Battle of Cable Street in London

October 10, 1936—Movie projector workers in New York lob tear gas into a theatre, part of larger action against the end of live music in the movies

October 12, 1492—Columbus arrives in Americas, almost immediately enslaves Native people

October 16, 1937—Buchanan Dam in Texas completed, moment to talk about how dams transformed women’s labor in rural America

November 4, 1942—Butte copper miners start hate strike to protest black miners

November 14, 1903—National Women’s Trade Union League formed in Boston

November 20, 1872—Police arrest man in San Francisco for beating Chinese prostitute, moment to talk about labor of Chinese prostitutes

December 19, 1940—Arguments begin in U.S. v. Darby to uphold Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

January 14, 1977—ILGWU loses election in Los Angeles after INS raids shops to deport immigrant workers

January 22, 1905—Bloody Sunday in 1905 Russian Revolution

January 23, 1922—New England textile strike begins

January 25, 1960– Mitsui Miike coal mine lockout in Japan begins

January 29, 2009—Obama signs Lilly Ledbetter Act

February 3, 1908—SCOTUS decides Loewe v. Lawlor, se that unions violated the Sherman Act by calling for a nationwide boycott

February 20, 1917—women in NYC protest high food prices, leads to boycott that drives prices down

March 2, 1957—Indiana becomes first industrial state in Midwest to pass right to work law

March 10, 1959—Badger Riot in Newfoundland to stop International Woodworkers of America from organizing

March 14, 1882—Lawrence textile strike begins

March 18, 1886—Belgian Strike of 1886 begins

March 20, 1945—conviction of Black workers who struck against racism in the WACs

March 30, 1891–Formation of National Union of Textile Workers

April 2, 1992—Seattle mayor Norm Rice creates Child Care Staffing Task Force to deal with the city’s low-wage child care workers

April 5, 2010—Upper Big Branch Mine disaster

May 5, 1913—NYC barbers strike

May 8, 1935—Mine Mill leads zinc miners out on strike in MO/KS/OK tri-state area

May 10, 1972—Farah clothing strike in El Paso begins

May 18, 1900—Murray Hill Agreement between IAM and employers

May 25, 1943—riot at Alabama Dry Dock after FEPC officials force company to promote 12 black workers to skilled positions

May 26, 1913—Formation of Actors Equity Association

June 6, 1844—foundation of YMCA, YMCA labor welfare programs

June 8, 1909—Washington anti-tipping law goes into effect

June 9, 1941—Military, with support from CIO, ends North American Aviation strike in Los Angeles

June 16, 1958—Chicago Crossing Guards Association rejects AFSCME offer to join union, crossing guards and labor feminism