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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

November 21 - Workers Complete the Alaskan Highway

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/21

On this day in labor history, the year was 1942. That was the day the completion of the Alaskan Highway or Alcan, was celebrated at Soldier’s Summit. There had been proposals for a highway connecting the United States to Alaska since the early 1920s. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt moved quickly to organize its approval and construction. By March 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on the $138 million project. More than 10,000 troops were assigned to

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01:59

November 20 - Rose Pesotta is Born

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/20

On this day in labor history, the year was 1896.That was the day anarchist and labor activist Rose Pesotta was born. Her name, Rakhel Peisoty, was changed, like so many others’, at Ellis Island. She had fled tsarist Russia in 1913 as a teenager and soon found work in New York City’s garment shops. She readily joined the ILGWU, becoming a national organizer by 1920. In the late 1920s, Rose went to Los Angeles in an attempt to organize Latina sweatshop workers. There she helped women workers

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01:59

November 19 - Lincoln Delivers the Gettysburg Address

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/19

On this day in labor history, the year was 1863. That was the day President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. It is considered one of Lincoln’s greatest speeches. Generations of students have been assigned to commit it to memory. The two-minute speech carries a deep significance in our country’s history. Lincoln delivered the speech at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Four months earlier, the Union had defeated Confederate forces at

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01:59

November 18 - Flight Attendants Defang American Airlines

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/18

On this day in labor history, the year was 1993. That was the day 21,000 attendants, mostly women, caught American Airlines by surprise in their first strike ever against the company. 80% of all fights were cancelled a week before Thanksgiving as solid picket lines formed at forty airports across the country. CEO Robert Crandell, who commanded a $ million a year salary and preferred the nickname “fang,” was at a loss when flight attendants refused to be bullied by threats of scab

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01:59

November 17 - By Hammer and Hand, All Arts Do Stand

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/17

On this day in labor history, the year was 1785. That was the day the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York was founded. Twenty-two skilled craftsmen, with the motto, “By Hammer and Hand All Arts Do Stand,” met on Pine Street to form a benevolent organization that could provide cultural, educational and social services to craftsmen and their families. Two months later, founders met for their annual meeting. They represented many of the city’s trades including hatters,

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01:59

November 16 - Justice for Janitors

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/16

On this day in labor history, the year was 2006. That was the day mounted police charged 50 janitors and their supporters during a protest in Houston. SEIU’s Justice for Janitors campaign had been organizing for years throughout the South and Southwest. Modeled on success achieved in California, SEIU broadened their campaign to Houston and Miami. The union called a month long strike against the cities’ largest cleaning companies. Protests and civil disobedience actions continued throughout the

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01:59

November 15 - Deadly Leak at DuPont

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/15

On this day in labor history, the year was 2014. That was the day four workers were killed and a fifth injured during a chemical leak at a DuPont insecticide plant near Houston. The plant used methyl mercaptan in its production of insecticides. 24,000 pounds of the deadly chemical were released through two valves in a poorly ventilated building onsite. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board found numerous flawed safety procedures, design problems and inadequate planning. Days earlier, liquid methyl

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01:59

November 14 - Fighting Lead

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/14

On this day in labor history, the year was 1978.That was the day OSHA published its lead standard. The standard reduced permissible exposure by 75% to protect nearly a million workers from damage to nervous, urinary and reproductive systems. As early as 1908, Alice Hamilton, the mother of occupational medicine, noted that lead had endangered workers as far back as “the first half-century after Christ.” In their book, Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, historians

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01:59

November 13 - Workplace Safety Hero Dies in...

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/13

On this day in labor history, the year was 1974. That was the day Karen Silkwood was killed in a mysterious car crash. Though her death was ruled a one car accident, some maintain she was forced off the road. Silkwood was a union activist and representative for Local 5-283 of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers. She worked at Kerr McGee’s Cimarron plutonium plant in Crescent, Oklahoma, making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods. Meryl Streep popularized her life in the 1983 film,

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01:59

November 12 - Ellis Island Closes

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/12

On this day in labor history, the year was 1954. That was the day Ellis Island closed its doors. More than 12 million immigrants had passed through its gates since its opening in 1892. Those steerage and third-class passengers coming to America were processed at the island between 1892 and 1924. They were routinely subject to medical inspections to determine they were free of disease. Legal inspections included questions regarding birth, occupation, destination, finances and criminal

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01:59

November 11 - Execution of the Haymarket Martyrs

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/11

On this day in Labor History the year was 1887. That was a tragic day for the labor movement. Four men were hung in Chicago for their alleged role in the bombing at a labor rally at the city’s Haymarket Square a year earlier. In a sensational trial a total of eight men were convicted for Haymarket.

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01:59

November 10 - The Benevolent Dictator

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/10

On this day in Labor History the year was 1933. That was the day that Hormel plant workers in Austin, Minnesota began a sit-down strike. Company head, Jay Hormel, boasted that his company was a benevolent dictatorship. Workers agreed that the company was a dictatorship but not very benevolent.

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01:59

November 9 - The CIO is Founded

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/09

On this day in Labor History the year was 1935.The Committee for Industrial Organizations was created by eight unions, as part of the American Federation of Labor. United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis was the driving force behind this new committee

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01:59

November 8 - The New Orleans General Strike

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/08

On this day in Labor History the year was 1892. That was the day that black and white workers in New Orleans began what is considered the first integrated general strike in United States history. The strike began when the New Orleans Board of Trade refused to enter into an agreement with the Teamsters Union because it included black members.

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01:59

November 7 - The Death of Boulware but Not Boulwarism

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/07

On this day in Labor History the year was 1990. That was the day that Lemuel Ricketts Boulware died. Boulware had a notorious reputation with labor leaders. He was the Vice President for employee relations for General Electric during the 1950s.

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01:59

November 6 - Lincoln Stands with Labor

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/06

On this day in Labor History the year was 1860. That was the day that Abraham Lincoln was elected sixteenth President of the United States. When Lincoln came to office the nation was deeply divided on the question of slavery. By December 20, South Carolina had seceded from the United States.

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01:59

November 5 - Eugene V Debs is Born

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/05

On this day in Labor History the year was 1855. That was the day that Eugene Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. Debs was forced to leave school when he was just fourteen. He worked as a railroad fireman.

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01:59

November 4 - No Milk Today

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/04

Got milk? If you lived in Neillsville, Wisconsin the answer might have been NO. On this day in labor history the year was 1933. Wisconsin is known as the dairy state.

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01:59

November 3 - The Streets Run Wild with Milk

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/03

On this day in Labor History the year was 1921. That was the day the New York Times headline proclaimed: “Striker Rioting All Over the City, Dump Thousands of Gallons of Milk; Hylan Threatens to Seize plants.” Hylan referred to New York City Mayor John Francis Hylan.

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01:59

November 2 - Murdered on the Pier

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/11/02

On this day in Labor History the year was 1928. That was the day that police shot at protesting union workers at Prince’s Pier in Melbourne Australia. Three union workers were injured, one fatally.

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