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PODCAST

Labor History in 2:00

The Rick Smith Show

A daily, pocket-sized history of America"s working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.

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All Episodes

1:59

March 15 - Bruce!

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/15

On this day in Labor History the year was 1999. That was the day the Bruce Springsteen was inducted into the Rocking Roll Hall of Fame.Two years later, an article in Rolling Stone magazine read, “For nearly four decades Bruce Springsteen has been a working-class hero: a plainspoken visionary and a sincere romantic whose insights into everyday lives — especially in America's small-town heartland — have earned comparisons to John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie.”

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1:59

March 14 - Bread Yes, But Roses Too!

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/14

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day that participants in the famed Bread and Roses strike, gathered in Lawrence, Massachusetts to celebrate their victory. The strike had begun in January and was a hard-fought battle.

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1:59

March 13 - UAW Wins in Post-War Strike Wave

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/13

On this day in Labor History the year was 1946. That was the day that United Autoworkers members won an 18.5-cent hourly raise after a four-month strike against General Motors. After World War II workers grew increasingly frustrated.

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1:59

March 12 - Gandhi’s Salt March

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/12

On this day in Labor History the year was 1930. That was the day that Mahatma Gandhi began his famous Salt March. The March was to protest British colonial rule of India and the repressive salt tax waged on the Indian people. Under British rule, Indian people were prohibited from producing salt.

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1:59

March 11 - Are You a Luddite?

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/11

At some point in your life you may have had someone call you a “luddite.’ Maybe you had a hard time programming your DVR, or working the latest app on your smart phone. But at some point technology gets the best of us all. But did you know the term luddite has its roots in labor history?

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March 10 - Sharing in the Pain of Struggle

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/10

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day that farm labor activist Cesar Chavez broke a twenty-five day fast. He fasted as a sign of commitment to nonviolence during the struggle for farm workers in Delano, California to gain fair wages and safe working conditions. During the fast he only drank water.

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1:59

March 9 - The Slovak Strike of 1910-11

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/09

On this day in Labor History the year was 1911. That was the day that coal miners in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania walked out of the mines. It became known as the “Slovak strike” because seventy percent of the strikers were Slovakian immigrants. Unrest was mounting among the workers in the non-unionized coal fields.

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1:59

March 8 - Industrial Murder in the Mines

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/08

On this day in Labor History the year was 1924. That was the day that tragedy struck at the Utah Fuel Company Mine in Castle Gate, Utah. The mine stood about 90 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Coal mining began at Castle Gate in 1888.

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1:59

March 7 - Remembering Lucy Parsons

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/07

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day a house fire claimed the life of a true champion for working people. Lucy Gonzales Parsons was born in Texas.

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1:59

March 6 - The Dred Scott Decision

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/06

On this day in Labor History the year was 1857. That was the day the Supreme Court handed down one of its most infamous decisions. It was known as the Dred Scott case. Dred Scott had been born into slavery.

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1:59

March 5 - The Workers Uprising that Sparked the...

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/05

On this day in Labor History the year was 1770. That was the day of the Boston Massacre, when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. But did you know that the massacre happened in part because of a dispute over jobs? In 1767 the British had passed the Townshend Revenue Act.

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1:59

March 4 - The Seamen’s Act Is Signed into Law

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/04

On this day in Labor History the year was 1914. That was the day that President Woodrow Wilson signed the Seaman’s Act into law. The act was in part a response to the tragic sinking of the Titanic.The International Seamen’s Union was demanding changes to the work conditions at sea.

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1:59

March 3 - William Green is Born

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/03

On this day in Labor History the year was 1893. That was the day that William Green, long-time president of the American Federation was born in Coshocton, Ohio. Green’s family were English and Welsh immigrant coal miners.

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1:59

March 2 - Outlawing the Slave Trade

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/02

On this day in Labor History the year was 1807. That was the day that President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation outlawing the trans-Atlantic slave trade from bringing enslaved Africans to the United States. At the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, the authors had decided to revisit the question of slavery after two decades.

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1:59

March 1 - Striking for a Better Tomorrow

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/03/01

On this day in Labor History the year was 1900. That was the day that the members of the Granite Cutters National Union walked out on strike.Their demands were improved wages and the eight hour day.

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1:59

February 28 - The Price of Demanding Equal Pay

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/02/28

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day that Sue Cowan Williams filed a lawsuit for equal pay for black school teachers in Little Rock, Arkansas. Eighty-six black teachers worked in the city’s segregated school system. They were all members of the Little Rock Class Room Teachers Association.

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1:59

February 27 - A Grave Injustice

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/02/27

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day that 27 Japanese women, working in the Seattle public school system handed in their forced resignations. In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, anti-Japanese hysteria swept the United States, especially the west coast.

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1:59

February 26 - MADISON!

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/02/26

On this day in Labor History the year was 2011. That was the day that labor movement took an historic stand in Madison, Wisconsin. That cold Saturday a crowd of union members and supporters swelled to more than 100,000 people at the state capitol building.

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1:59

February 25 - Amsterdam Workers Strike Against Nazism

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/02/25

On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. That was the day a general strike by workers against the Nazis took place in Amsterdam. The Nazis had begun the occupation of the Netherlands in the spring of 1940. The German occupiers implemented a series of increasingly repressive anti-Semitic laws.

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1:59

February 24 - Fighting for the Health of an Industry

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/02/24

On this day in Labor History the year was 1965. That was the day that the Drug and Hospital Employees Union Local 1199 sent a telegram to President Lyndon Johnson. The message declared the union’s stand against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

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