American Labor History Timeline
'timeline of labor issues & events' page at Wikipedia
"A Brief History of Unions" [1.5 minute short] from PA-AFLCIO on YouTube
XIXth Century {just below} XXth Century XXIst Century recent events
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XIXth Century
- 1847 July 1: Provisions of the Factories Act of 1847 took effect; the law as passed by U.K.'s Parliament restricted women and children to working a maximum of ten hours per day, and 63 hours per week.
- 1860 Jan 8: The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts collapsed and caught fire, killing up to 145 workers, mostly female immigrants from Scotland and Ireland.
- 1876: The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers was formed by merger of the Sons of Vulcan, the Iron & Steel Heaters Union, the Iron & Steel Roll Hands Union, and the Nailers Union.
- 1877 July 14: The Great Railroad Strike began in Martinsburg, WV and expanded nationally. It lasted for 45 days, until federal troops ordered by Pres. Hayes suppressed the demonstrators.
- 1881: Founding of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions.
- 1882 September 5: The first Labor Day Parade, in New York City.
- 1884: Bureau of Labor established, within the Department of Interior.
- 1886 May 4: While Chicago, IL police watched a peaceful labor rally in Haymarket Square, someone tossed a bomb at the police line, causing a riot. The 'Haymarket Massacre' resulted in the deaths of 11 strikers and 8 policemen. A show trial – there was no evidence – convicted eight labor leaders: one was sentenced to 15 years in prison; two were sentenced to death but received commutations to life in prison; one committed suicide in prison; and four died of slow strangulation in a botched hanging.
- 1886 Dec 8: The F.O.T.L.U. was reorganized as the American Federation of Labor, in Columbus, Ohio; Samuel Gompers [1850-1924] was president for over 40 years.
- 1888 June 13: Congress established the Department of Labor.
- 1890 January 25: Founding of the United Mine Workers of America in Columbus, OH.
- 1892 June-Oct: The Homestead Strike: The Carnegie Steel Mill in Homestead, PA locked out its union workers. Stirkers overpowered Pinkerton agents and forced them to surrender on July 6th, and ran them out of town. On July 12th, 4,000 state militia arrived, retook the property, and allowed strike breakers to reopen the mill. Strike leaders were charged with conspiracy, riot, murder & treason; counter charges were made against management. The strike collapsed and the militia pulled out on October 13.
- 1893 June 20: Founding of the American Railway Union in Chicago, IL by Eugene V. Debs [1855-1926].
- 1894 May 11: The Pullman Strike began when 50,000 Pullman Palace Car Company workers went on a wildcat strike in Illinois.
- 1894 June 24: Congress passed a bill making Labor Day a national holiday, on the First Monday of September; signed into law by President Garfield.
- 1894 July 3: Federal troops were called out against the Pullman strikers.
— July 7: Eugene V. Debs [1855-1926] & other union officials arrested, indicted & jailed under $10,000 bail each.
— August 2: Pullman Co. reopened; strike declared over the next day. Rehired workers were forced to sign a pledge not to unionize (effectively blocking the rialroad labor movement until The Great Depression).
- 1896: Intl. Assn. of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental & Reinforcing Iron Workers established.
- 1900 May 1: The Winter Quarters Mine near Scofield, Utah exploded due to accumulation of coal dust; at least 200 miners were killed, and possibly as many as 246; worst U.S. mining disaster at the time, now ranks fifth. {Wikipedia}
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XXth Century
- 1901: Founding of the Team Drivers International Union; some members broke away in 1902 to form the Teamsters National Union.
- 1902 May 19: The Fraterville Mine Disaster in Tennessee killed 216 miners.
- 1903 February 14: Department of Commerce & Labor established, which included the Bureau of Labor.
- 1903 June 30: Hanna_Mine_Disaster in Wyoming killed 169 miners; deaths are blamed on the Union Pacific Coal Company's greed-based 'gouging' practices intended to get coal out of the mine faster.
- 1903 August: Formation of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a re-merger of T.D.I.U. & T.N.U. led by Samuel Gompers of the A.F. of L.
- 1905 June 27: Founding of the Industrial Workers of the World [I.W.W., aka 'wobblies'] trade union in Chicago, IL.
- 1907 Dec 6: The Monongah Mine Disaster in West Virginia killed 362 men and boys; still the worst mining disaster in U.S. history.
- 1907 Dec 19: The Darr Mine Disaster in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania killed 239 men and boys (recent research suggest nthat the death toll was hundreds higher).
- 1909 Nov 13: The Cherry Mine Disaster in Illinois killed 259 men and boys, the result of a series of blunders: an electrical outage resulted in use of kerosene lanterns, which ignited a load of hay for mules working in the mine; moving the hayload ignited timbers of the mine, and reversing the above-ground air-fan caused the fan machinery to catch fire. Twenty-one miners managed to erect a barricade against the fire and smoke and subsisted on trickles of water for eight days before being rescued.
- 1911 March 25: The tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City – 146 workers died due to unsafe work conditions, including fire doors nailed shut. The event emboldened the 'muckraker' journalist movement and led to laws for safety and against child labor.
- 1911 Dec 9: An explosion killed 84 workers inside the Cross Mountain Coal Mine near Briceville, Tennessee; five men were rescued.
- 1912 Jan 14: Strike began at American Woolen Company factories in Lawrence, Massachussets, with support of the I.W.W.; 20,000 workers - mostly women and children - stayed out for two months.
- 1912 Feb 23: Release of Edison's 13-minute "Children Who Labor" docudrama silent short.
- 1912 April 30: Release of Thanhouser Film Company's silent two-reeler "The Cry of The Children", which stirred controversy because it included footage of actual child laborers in actual factories; inspired by the 1843 poem by Elizabeth Barret Browning.
- 1912 June 4: Massachusetts passed a milestone of U.S. labor law, the nation's first minimum-wage law.
- 1912 Nov 26: Acquittal by a local jury in Lawrence, Massachussets of two union leaders accused as accessories in the killing of a policeman who was beating strikers three miles away.
- 1913 March 14: Legislation establishing the Department of Labor was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Taft.
- 1914: The Miners Union Hall in Butte, Montana was destroyed and the town occupied by the National Guard.
- 1914 April 20: Colorado National Guard and hired hoodlums opened fire with machine guns on a tent city of 1,200 strikers and their families outside Ludlow, Colorado. The 'Ludlow Massacre' resulted in the deaths of 9 strikers, 2 women & 11 children.
The Ludlow Massacre Memorial Monument is just off I-25 at Exit 27 in SE Colorado
- 1915 November 19: Execution by firing squad of I.W.W. labor leader Joe Hill in Utah.
- 1917 March 19: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 8-hour work day for railroad workers.
- 1917 July 12: Two thousand copper miners in Bisbee, AZ were herded to Warren baseball field under suspicion of I.W.W. sympathies; 800 recanted and returned to their jobs, the remaining 1,200 were shipped in cattle cars {in scorching desert heat} to New Mexico.
- 1917 Dec 6: A coal mine explosion in Monongah, West Virginia killed 362 men and boys; the event remains the worst mining disaster in American history.
- 1920 May 19: Striking miners and local police met hoodlums hired by mine owners (thru the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency) at the Matewan, West Virginia train station. The gunfight resulted in 12 deaths, including the mayor.
- 1921 August 1: Union organizer Ed Chambers and Sid Hatfield (the heroic police chief of Matewan, WV) were murdered on the steps of the McDowell County [WV] Courthouse in revenge for the deaths of two Felts brothers at Matewan. The identity of the murderers was known (one was an employee of Baldwin-Felts), but no one was ever brought to trial.
- 1921 August 7: Activist Mary Harris 'Mother' Jones [1830-1930] rallied the striking coal miners of West Virginia to march on Logan & Mingo Counties to set up a union by force. By August 20, over 10,000 armed miners had gathered in Kanawha County and began moving toward Logan. The battle began at Blair Mountain on August 25th and lasted until September 2nd, when federal troops (sent by President Harding) arrived. The 'Battle of Blair Mountain' resulted in 30 deaths and hundreds of injured. 985 men were indicted on charges of murder, conspiracy & treason against the State of West Virginia; the leaders were acquitted for lack of evidence, but hundreds of miners were convicted and imprisoned, until paroled by the Governor in 1925.
- 1933 November 13: Workers at the packing plant of George A. Hormel & Co. in Austin, Minnesota held the first sit-down strike in American history.
- 1934 July: West Coast longshoremen went on strike; owners brought in armed goon squads, tear gas, and the National Guard, provoking pitched battles in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and San Pedro. Hundreds of strikers and bystanders were beaten and-or arrested. July 5 is designated Bloody Thursday in honor of two striking workers who were shot and killed; a total of six workers were shot or beaten to death on the West Coast by police or company goons during the course of the strike.
- 1935 November 9: John L. Lewis [1880-1969] and others formed the Committee for Industrial Organization [C.I.O.].
- 1935 August 14: The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt.
- 1936 May 30: Memorial Day Massacre at Republic Steel in Chicago, Illinois: ten workers shot in the back by police.
- 1936 June 7: Formation of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee in Pittsburgh, PA which joined with Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers to organize the steel industry.
- 1937: United Mine Workers was expelled from the A.F.L.
- 1937 Feb 11: United Auto Workers of Flint, Michigan won their 6-week sit-down strike when General Motors agreed to recognize the union.
- 1937 May 30: Police fired on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in South Chicago, Illinois; ten people were killed, hundreds crippled; known as the Republic Steel Memorial Day Massacre.
- 1938: First national minimum wage established at 25 cents per hour.
- 1940 October 24: The 40-hour work week went into effect, under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
- 1942: United Mine Workers withdrew from the C.I.O.
- 1942 May 22: The Steel Workers Organizing Committee [est. 1935] and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers disbanded & formed the United Steel Workers.
- 1946 January 25: United Mine Workers rejoined the A.F.L.
- 1947 March 25: A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois killed 111 workers.
- 1947 June 4: U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Taft-Hartley Act, revising labor law in favor of management; vetoed by President Truman, then overridden by Congress; signed into law by Truman on June 23.
- 1947 Dec 12: John L. Lewis refused to agree to the Taft-Hartley Act; the United Mine Workers withdrew from the A.F.L.
- 1949 Oct 1: The United Steelworkers of America began a 42-day strike over the issue of retirement benefits.
- 1949 Oct 26: President Truman signed a law raising the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents per hour.
- 1951 Dec 21: Explosions killed 119 men at the New Orient No. 2 mine in West Frankfort, Illinois.
- 1952 April 8: President Truman issued an executive order seizing the American steel industry to avert a nationwide strike. (The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that he exceeded his authority, opening the way for a seven-week strike.)
- 1952 June 2: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer case that President Truman exceeded his authority in ordering the nationalization of the American steel industry to avert a strike. The United Steelworkers of America union went on strike that same day.
- 1952 July 16: President Truman signed the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act into law.
- 1952 July 24: The United Steelworkers of America strike was settled after seven weeks, on terms proposed by the union four months prior.
- 1955 Dec 5: The A.F. of L. and the C.I.O. labor organizations merged under George Meany as president.
- 1956 March 20: Union workers at Westinghouse Electric Corp. ended a 156-day strike.
- 1957 Dec 6: A.F.L.-C.I.O. members voted to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on charges of corruption.
- 1959 Jan 22: Twelve workers drowned in the Knox Mine Disaster in Pennsylvania.
- 1962 Dec 6: An explosion at U.S. Steel's Robena No. 3 coal mine at Carmichaels, Pennsylvania killed 37 miners.
- 1969 Dec 9: Incumbent U.M.W.A. president Tony Boyle received nearly twice as many votes - 63.6% to 36.4% - as challenger Tony Boyle in an election for union president that is generally considered a fraud.
- 1969 Dec 31: U.M.W.A. labor leader 'Jock' Yablonski and his family were assassinated in their home by thugs hired by corrupt U.M.W.A. president Tony Boyle. (Boyle was convicted of the crime in April 1974.)
- 1970 Dec 28: Passage of Occupational Safety & Health Act, which established O.S.H.A. as part of the U.S. Dept. of Labor effective 28 April 1971.
- 1973 Dec: Former U.M.W.A. president Tony Boyle was convicted of embezzlement during the 1968 union election.
- 1973 Dec: Former U.M.W.A. president Tony Boyle was convicted of murder in the assassination of 'Jock' Yablonski and his family in December 1969; Boyle was sentenced to three consecutive life terms.
- 1978 Feb: Former U.M.W.A. president Tony Boyle was re-tried and again convicted for the murder of 'Jock' Yablonski and his family in December 1969.
- 1980 Aug 31: Beginning of Poland's Solidarity (Solidarno??) labor union movement at the conclusion of a 17-day strike at the Gdansk Shipyards.
- 1982 Sept 21: National Football League players began a 57-day strike against manage-ment; they signed an agreement on November 16.
- 1984 Dec 19: The Cottonwood/Wilberg Mine in Southern Utah exploded in a ball of flames during the owners' attempt at a one-day production record; the cause was traced to two defective safety devices on an air compressor; Energy West Mining Company rejected blame for the deaths of 27 miners.
- 1985 August: Workers of U.F.C.W.I.U. Local P-9 struck the Hormel Foods Corp. main plant in Austin, Minnesota; Hormel refused to negotiate, many union members eventually crossed the picket lines and accepted lower wages, and the strike fell apart in June 1986.
- 1987 Sept 21: National Football League players began a 24-day strike against management, mostly over the issue of free agency.
- 1987 Oct 24: The Teamsters Union was readmitted to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., 30 years after expulsion for corruption.
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XXIst Century
- 2003 Oct 11: Southern California U.F.C.W. members struck Safeway/Vons, prompting Albertson's & Kroger/Ralphs & Vons/Safeway to lock union workers out.
- 2004 Feb 26: Southern California grocery workers ratified a two-tier settlement with store management after a twenty-week strike; both sides claimed victory.
- 2005 June 15: Founding of the breakaway Change To Win Coalition, comprised of the Teamsters, UNITE-HERE, L.I.U., U.F.C.W.U. & S.E.I.U. unions, soon followed by the U.B.C.J.A. Carpenters & U.F.W.A..
- 2007 Sept 24: 73,000 members of the U.A.W. struck General Motors across the nation, their first such strike since 1976. G.M. caved the next day.
- 2009 Jan 29: The 'Lilly Ledbetter Law' extending the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination claims against employers was signed into law by President Obama.
- 2010 April 5: Upper Big Branch Coal Mine (operated by a subsidiary of Massey Energy) in Raleigh County, West Virginia exploded from a spark igniting lethally-high levels of methane gas; 25 miners were declared dead, with four men missing; several days of venting the gases were required before rescue crews could enter the mine; total deaths were 29 men.
{Wikipedia}
- 2010 June 10: Largest one-day strike of nurses in the U.S., by 12,000 in Minnesota.
- 2011 April 4: First annual "We Are One Day", with over 1,000 rallies nationwide confirming the stand of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. for solidarity with all labor unions (on the anniversary of his assassination during the sanitation workers' strike in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968).
- 2011 Sept 8: One-day wildcat longshoreman strike shut down the ports of Seattle, Tacoma, Longview, Everett, and Anacortes in Washington State; the matter was settled on September 14, with unions obtaining the right to work at the new state grain center.
- 2011 Dec 6: Parent company Alpha Natural Resources agreed to pay a $209 million penalty for Massey Energy's part in the lethal Upper Big Branch Coal Mine Disaster of April 2010; the record judgment includes a fine of $35 million, $1.5 million to the family of each of the 29 dead miners (and two severely-injured miners), plus $80 million toward safety improvements & disaster prevention.
- 2012 Aug 14: Houston, Texas janitors and the S.E.I.U. settled their 5-week strike for a paltry annual 25-cent wage increase for 4 years.
- 2012 Sept 10: Beginning of the Chicago Teachers Union strike; teachers agreed to a new pact on September 18 and went back to work the next day; concessions won included addressing the 70% of school buildings without working air conditioning or heat, all schoolbooks available for students on Day One, and working computers (to take attendance) for teachers on Day One.
- 2012 Nov 9: 5,000 members of the bakers union went on strike against Hostess Brands, Inc.; workers refused to take cuts in pay and healthcare and pensions while management gave themselves 80-percent pay increases. Hostess was already in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced November 16 that the company will now liquidate, a loss of 18,500 jobs nationwide. {Follow-up: New owners of Hostess brands are re-opening five plants, with food deliveries expected in July 2013.}
- 2012 Nov 23: 'Black Friday' shopping day protests against Wal-Mart's vile labor practices by both union and non-union picketers.
- 2012 Nov 29: One-day strike by New York City fast food workers for pay above minimum wage, coordinated by FastFoodForward as well as the Service Employees International Union; participants estimated at 200.
- 2013 April 4: Second one-day strike by New York City fast food workers for pay above minimum wage, coordinated by New York Communities for Change; participants estimated at 400.
- 2013 April 24: One-day strike by fast food workers in Chicago for a wage increase to $15/hour, coordinated by Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago (website Fight For 15 / Lucha por 15); many hundreds participated.
- 2013 May 9: One-day strike by fast food workers in St. Louis, Missouri for a wage increase to $15/hour from current $7.35, thus the name of their movement: "Can't Survive on $7.35".
- 2013 May 10: One-day strike by fast food workers in Detroit, Michigan - organized by Detroit 15.
- 2013 May 22: One-day strike by fast food workers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a wage increase to $15/hour from current $7.25 - organized by Wisconsin Citizen Action - Raise Up Milwaukee.
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![United Mine Workers of America [est. 1890]](images/UMWAseal.jpg)
![United Auto Workers [est.1935]](images/UAWlogo.gif)
![National Association of Letter Carriers [est. 1889; AFL-CIO]](images/NALClogo.gif)
![I.A.T.S.E. = Intl. Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employes, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists & Allied Crafts of the U.S., its Territories & Canada [AFL-CIO, CFC]](images/iatse.gif)
![C.W.A. - Communications Workers of America [AFL-CIO]](images/CWAunion-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
!['UE' is the abbreviation for United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America [est. 1936, AFL-CIO]](images/UElogo.gif)
![United Food & Commercial Workers Union [CWC]](images/UFCWlogo.gif)
![International Brotherhood of Teamsters [est. 1903; CWC]](images/teamsters.jpg)
![Office and Professional Employees International Union [est. 1945; AFL-CIO]](images/OPEIUlogo.jpg)
![United Steel Workers [est. 1942; AFL-CIO]](images/USWlogo.jpg)
![Writers Guild of America / West [est. 1954] labor union](images/WGAlogo.gif)
![Writers Guild of America / East [est. 1951] labor union](images/WGAElogo-red.jpg)
![U.S. Dept. of Labor [est. 1914]](images/DeptOfLabor_seal.gif)
![Occupational Health & Safety Administration [est. 1971]](images/OSHA.gif){kind=small}
![Mine Safety & Health Administration [est. 1978]](images/MSHA.jpg)
