Today in Labor History

 Union Communication Services

   www.unionist.com 

Hello,   

Here is the Big Labor preview for the upcoming week.   

In unity, 

Chris Rolling
Mgr. - Tech. & Design
UCS, Inc.
410.626.1400 

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Labor quote for the week of August 23, 2010

"I would have freed more slaves if they had known they were slaves."

--Harriet Tubman, 1820-1913, Abolitionist and Conductor on the Underground Railroad

Quote sources include:
Great Labor Quotations: Sourcebook and Reader, by Peter Bollen
The Great Quotations, by George Seldes
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations

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Today in labor history for the week of August 23, 2010 

August 23  
The U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations is formed by Congress, during a period of great labor and social unrest. After three years, and hearing witnesses ranging from Wobblies to capitalists, it issued an 11-volume report frequently critical of capitalism. The New York Herald characterized the Commission's president, Frank P. Walsh, as "a Mother Jones in trousers" - 1912

Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, accused of murder and tried unfairly, were executed on this day. The case became an international cause and sparked demonstrations and strikes throughout the world - 1927

Seven merchant seamen crewing the SS Baton Rouge Victory lost their lives when the ship was sunk by Viet Cong action en route to Saigon - 1966

Farm Workers Organizing Committee (to later become United Farm Workers of America) granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1966

August 24
The Mechanics Gazette, believed to be the first U.S. labor newspaper, is published in Philadelphia, the outgrowth of a strike by Carpenters demanding a shorter, 10-hour day. The strike lost but labor journalism blossomed: within five years there were 68 labor newspapers across the country, many of them dailies - 1827

The Gatling Gun Co. – manufacturers of an early machine gun – writes to B&O Railroad Co. President John W. Garrett during a strike, urging their product be purchased to deal with the "recent riotous disturbances around the country." Says the company: "Four or five men only are required to operate (a gun), and one Gatling ... can clear a street or block and keep it clear" - 1877

National Association of Letter Carriers formed - 1889

United Farm Workers Union begins lettuce strike - 1970

August 25    
Birth of Allan Pinkerton, whose strike-breaking detectives ("Pinks") gave us the word "fink" - 1819

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded at a meeting in New York City.  A. Philip Randolph became the union's first organizer - 1925

August 26
Fannie Sellins and Joseph Starzeleski are murdered by coal company guards on a picket line in Brackenridge, Penn. Sellins was a United Mine Workers of America organizer and Starzeleski was a miner - 1919

After two-thirds of the states had ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, women win their long struggle for the vote - 1920

With America in the depths of the Great Depression, the Comptroller of the Currency announces a temporary halt on foreclosures of first mortgages - 1932

In what some may consider one of the many management decisions that was to help cripple the American auto industry over the following decades, Ford Motor Co. produces its first Edsel. Ford dropped the project two years later after losing approximately $350 million - 1957

More than 1,300 bus drivers on Oahu, Hawaii begin what is to become a five week strike - 2003

August 27
Some 14,000 Chicago teachers who have gone without pay for several months finally collect about $1,400 each - 1934

President Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize all the nation's railroads to prevent a general strike.  The railroads were not returned to their owners until two years later - 1950

August 28     
The march for jobs and freedom—the Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have A Dream" speech march—is held in Washington, D.C. with 250,000 participating - 1963

August 29
Dancers at San Francisco’s  Lusty Lady Club vote 57-15 to be represented by SEIU Local 790. Their first union contract, ratified eight months later, guaranteed work shifts, protection against arbitrary discipline and termination, automatic hourly wage increases, sick days, a grievance procedure, and removal of one-way mirrors from peep show booths - 1996

Northwest Airlines pilots, after years of concessions to help the airline, begin what is to become a two-week strike for higher pay - 1998

Sources:
Toil and Trouble, by Thomas R. Brooks; American Labor Struggles, by Samuel Yellen; IWW calendar, Solidarity Forever; Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor, edited by Robert E. Weir and James P. Hanlan; Southwest Labor History Archives/George Meany Center; Geov Parrish’s Radical History; workday Minnesota; Andy Richards and Adam Wright, AFL-CIO Washington DC Metro Council (graphics research).

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Labor joke for the week of August 23, 2010

Laws of the Workplace

· You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard

· To err is human, to forgive is not company policy

· Authority is inversely proportional to the number of pens a person carries

· The longer the title, the less important the job 

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Member tip for the week of August 23, 2010 

Your Contract and Job Reductions

The contract sets the criteria under which your employer can cut hours or lay off employees.  For example, it may be necessary for the employer to prove that there is a “compelling business necessity” to justify any shrinking of the workforce.  And the contract will cover how it is determined which employees get to keep their jobs and which don’t.  (This is often determined by seniority, that is, length of service with the employer.)  There may be detailed procedures including such items as how much notice must be given, determination of severance pay, retraining rights, and priority for being rehired in the future.

Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer

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Steward tip for the week of August 23, 2010

Mobilize Your Members

Small-scale worker mobilizations are a perfect opportunity to recruit new members in situations in which union membership is not a requirement of employment.  Involving workers in union struggles around issues they care about is one of the best ways to sign up new people.  Explain that the union strength comes from a large and involved membership.  The more members we have, and the more involved they are, the stronger the union will be – and the better able to win on the issue at hand.

Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten

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Labor video for the week of August 23, 2010

Funny British union ad about bad working conditions

http://www.tuc60seconds.org.uk/2009winners/?v=5