Today's Labor History

This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Christopher Martin, author of No Longer Newsworthy: How the Mainstream Media Abandoned the Working Class.
Plus Florence Reece and Rebel Diaz ask “Which Side Are You On?” and this week’s Labor History in 2.
Last week’s show: Confederate monuments and the Knights of Labor

August 5
Using clubs, police rout 1,500 jobless men who had stormed the plant of the Fruit Growers Express Co. in Indiana Harbor, Indiana, demanding jobs - 1931

During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the
National Labor Board to enforce the right of collective bargaining. Ultimately declared illegal by the Supreme Court, it was replaced two years later by the National Labor Relations Board. 1933

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) took effect today. The first law signed by President Clinton, it allows many workers time off each year due to serious health conditions or to care for a family member - 1993

August 6
Cigarmakers' International Union of America merges with Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union - 1974

Workers at Verizon, the nation’s largest local telephone company, launch what is to become an 18-day strike over working conditions and union representation. 2000

- David Prosten

Today’s Labor Quote: Mae Krier

“When the war was over, men came home with flags, and Rosie came home with a red slip. We never got any credit or recognition. I didn’t think that was fair.”

photo by Meg Krier