On October 4, 1918, the T.A. Gillespie Shell Loading Plant near Sayreville, New Jersey exploded, killing approximately 100 workers making ammunition for the nation’s war effort during World War
On September 19, 1981, the AFL-CIO held Solidarity Day in Washington, D.C. This event was organized labor’s strongest reaction to the Reagan administration and although largely forgotten about t
On September 6, 1919, New York theater owners and striking actors sign an agreement to end a bitter and acrimonious strike based around the really horrific working conditions the actors faced, transfo
On August 14, 1889, workers on the London docks walked out on strike. Over 100,000 workers eventually struck and they won an incredible victory, one of the greatest achievements for organized labor an
On July 28, 1933, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins gave a speech in Homestead, Pennsylvania. When the town’s political leaders discovered she wanted to speak to workers outside the designated
On July 27, 1989, workers at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, rejected United Auto Workers representation by a 2-1 margin. This overwhelming lost was one of the first of many defeats the UAW has
On June 15, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act into law. This law was directly targeted at leftist and labor organizations critical of the U.S. entering World War I, a sign of how
On June 7, 1943, 16 black workers at Buckeye Cotton Oil Company in Memphis, a Proctor & Gamble owned operation, went on a wildcat strike in protest of continued workplace discrimination despite f