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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

01:59

August 7 - Fighting to Be Heard

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/08/07

In the early 1980s telephone service in the United States went through a major shake-up. Up until that time AT&T through their Bell Operating Companies monopolized almost all of the telephone service in the nation. One-hundred-fifty million phones were part of the Bell network.

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01:59

August 6 - Lighnin’ Struck

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/08/06

On this day in Labor History the year was 1919. That was the day that stages across New York City went dark. Actors Equity was on strike against the Producing Managers Association. Up until that time stage actors often faced poor work conditions.

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01:59

August 5 - The Shot Heard ‘Round the Boardroom

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/08/05

On this day in Labor History the year was 1981. It was a dark day in U.S. labor history. Nearly 13,000 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization had been out on strike for two days.

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01:59

August 4 - Teamsters Strike Big Brown

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/08/04

On this day in Labor History the year was 1997. That was the day that 185,000 UPS workers and members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters went out on strike. It was the biggest strike in the United States in more than a decade.

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01:59

August 3 - The Knights of Labor

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/08/03

On this day in Labor History the year was 1821. That was the day Uriah Smith Stephens was born near Cape May, New Jersey. Although he longed to be a Baptist minister, he worked as a tailors apprentice and taught school.

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01:59

August 2 - The Ginger Goodwin Strike

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/08/02

On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the day of the first general strike in Canadian history. The strike took place in Vancouver. It was held to protest the police killing of labor leader Albert “Ginger” Goodwin.

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01:59

August 1 - The Hilo Massacre

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/08/01

On this day in Labor History the year was 1938. At 8:30 in the morning union members gathered at the port in Hilo, Hawaii. They were there to protest the docking of a ship with non-union workers, the SS Waialeale.

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01:59

July 31 - MLB Strikes Out

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/31

On this day in Labor History the year was 1981. That was the day the long Major League Baseball strike finally came to an end. The issue that motivated the strike was a dispute between players and management over free-agency.

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01:59

July 30 - The Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/30

On this day in Labor History the year was 1975. That was the day that began one of the greatest mysteries of the United States labor movement. Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in Detroit.

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01:59

July 29 - UFW Wins Big!

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/29

On this day in Labor History the year was 1970. That was the day the United Farm Workers, led by Cesar Chavez, signed their first union contract in California. It was a milestone victory for agricultural workers

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01:59

July 28 - The Paterson Silk Strike Ends

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/28

On this day in Labor History the year was 1913 silk workers in Paterson, New Jersey ended their unsuccessful six-month strike. By 1900, Paterson had won the nickname "Silk City." Skilled weavers, ribbon weavers in particular, were proud of their craft.

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01:59

July 27 - Remembering William Sylvis

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/27

On this day in Labor History the year was 1869. That was the day that labor leader William Sylvis died. Sylvis was born in Armaugh, Pennsylvania.

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01:59

July 26 - Ben Franklin’s Postal Service

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/26

On this day in Labor History the year was 1775. That was the day that the United States Post Office was created in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was a member of the Second Continental Congress. Among many distinctions Ben Franklin was the nation’s first Postmaster General.

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01:59

July 25 - Safety on the Rails

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/25

On this day in Labor History the year was 1832. That was the day of the first recorded railroad accident in U.S. history. It took place near Quincy, Massachusetts. Four people were thrown off a vacant car on the Granite Railway.

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01:59

July 24 - America’s First General Strike

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/24

On this day in Labor History the year was 1877. Workers organized the first general strike in American history. The strike was an outgrowth of the railroad strike which you may know, if you are a regular listener of Labor History in 2:00, that started ten days earlier in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

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01:59

July 23 - Remembering Alexander Berkman

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/23

On this day in Labor History the year was 1892. That was the day that Lithuanian-born anarchist, Alexander Berkman attempted to shoot steel magnate Andrew Carnegie’s second-in-command, Henry Clay Frick. Berkman wanted to avenge the Homestead Steel massacre in which nine workers were killed.

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01:59

July 22 - No Beer, No Work

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/22

On this day in Labor History the year was 1887. That was the day brewery workers in San Francisco declared victory after breweries owners gave in to their demands. The demands were as follows: free beer, a closed shop, freedom to live outside the breweries, a 10-hour work day, a six-day week, and a board of arbitration.

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01:59

July 21 - The More Things Change

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/21

On this day in Labor History the year was 1931. And Chicago public school teachers went home without a paycheck. The school system was broke. Property owners out of work due to the Great Depression could not pay their property taxes, which were used to fund the public schools.

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01:59

July 20 - No Newspaper Today

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/20

On this day in Labor History the year was 1899. That was the day New York City newsboys went on strike. A newspaper article noted: “The Newsboys’ Union has decided to tie up the World and the Journal. They have struck for better rates on the evening editions of these papers, and their demands have been refused.

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01:59

July 19 - The Fight for Women’s Rights

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2025/07/19

On this day in Labor History the year was 1848. That was the day the convention on woman’s rights began in Seneca Falls, New York. The organizers of this convention brought together some of the leading woman’s activists of the day, such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.

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