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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

July 27 - Ginger Goodwin Murdered

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/28

On this day in labor history, the year was 1918. That was the day miner’s president Ginger Goodwin was shot dead in British Columbia. His murder sparked Canada’s first general strike, in Vancouver the following week. Goodwin had arrived in British Columbia 8 years earlier and found work in the Cumberland Mines on Vancouver Island. He considered working conditions in the mines absolutely appalling and began advocating for safety and organizing miners. He was soon blacklisted after participating in

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01:59

July 26 - Battle of the Halsted Street Viaduct

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/26

On this day in labor history, the year was 1877. That was the day striking railroad workers in Chicago clashed with police in the “Battle of the Halsted Street Viaduct.” The Great Railroad Strike had reached the nation’s railroad hub, and began there three days earlier. Switchmen from the Michigan Central traveled to freight shops in yards across the city, calling workers out to strike. Soon lumbershovers, butchers and industrial workers joined the strike. By the time the Battle began, police had

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01:59

July 25 - Pushing Back Against Wartime No-Strike Pledge

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/25

On this day in labor history, the year was 1944. That was the day Local 212, UAW workers at Briggs returned to work.Briggs was directly involved in war production. 3000 workers, on two shifts, made ball turrets for heavy bombers. Workers on both shifts walked off the job when management at the Outer Drive plant carried out a series of transfers and layoffs, while expecting the same level of production. It had been the second walkout in a week. Management set a precedent of refusing to settle

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01:59

July 24 - The Great Railroad Strike Reaches Louisville

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/24

On this day in labor history, the year was 1877.That was the day Louisville sewer workers walked off the job. The Daily American reported that, “hundreds of black sewer-men stopped work, and began marching through the streets, armed with picks and shovels.” They went from one sewer construction site to the next, calling workers out to strike for higher wages. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 had clearly impacted workers in Mid-Southern cities like Memphis, Nashville and Louisville. Historian

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01:59

July 23 - The 1913 Michigan Copper Miners Strike

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/23

On this day in labor history, the year was 1913. That was the day 9,000 copper miners in the Keweenaw region of Upper Peninsula, Michigan went on strike. Organized by the Western Federation of Miners, the strike raged on for over eight months, witnessed devastating tragedy in a Christmas Day fire and ended in bitter defeat. The strike was waged over basic issues like the eight-hour day, higher wages, mine safety and union recognition. But strikers were also fed up with the company’s paternalism and

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01:59

July 22 - The 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/22

On this day in labor history, the year was 1916. That was the day a bomb rocked the Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, killing 10 and injuring at least 40. The Chamber of Commerce and the newly formed Law and Order Committee organized the parade to shore up support for war production and eventual entry into World War I. But isolationist sentiment in San Francisco remained strong. Anti-war activists prepared pamphlets and protests for the march. Many trade unionists were opposed to entry into

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01:59

July 22 - The Michigan Copper Miners Strike of 1913

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/22

On this day in labor history, the year was 1913. That was the day 9,000 copper miners in the Keweenaw region of Upper Peninsula, Michigan went on strike. Organized by the Western Federation of Miners, the strike raged on for over eight months, witnessed devastating tragedy in a Christmas Day fire and ended in bitter defeat. The strike was waged over basic issues like the eight-hour day, higher wages, mine safety and union recognition. But strikers were also fed up with the company’s paternalism and

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01:59

July 21 - The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Erupts

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/21

On this day in labor history, the year was 1877. That was the day that some of the worst violence of the Great Railroad Strike erupted in Pittsburgh. The strike started days earlier. It is contested as to whether it began in Martinsburg, West Virginia or Baltimore. The strike spread rapidly along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to New York State, Pennsylvania and throughout the Midwest. At its height, the Great Railroad Strike involved well over 100,000 workers. The strike began on the

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01:59

July 20 - Bloody Friday

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/20

On this day in labor history, the year was 1934.That was the day that came to be known as Bloody Friday. Minneapolis Teamsters had been on strike for three days in their third strike of the year. The trucking bosses had reneged on their May settlement. They refused to recognize union organization of inside workers. In the period between strikes, the union had documented hundreds of cases of discrimination. Now, 7,000 Teamsters effectively shut down trucking throughout the city. Local 574 leaders

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01:59

July 19 - The ‘34 General Strike in San Francisco...

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/19

On this day in labor history, the year was 1934. That was the day San Francisco’s Central Labor Council voted narrowly to end the general strike, then in its fourth day. It had been one of three historic strikes that turned the tide towards industrial organizing in the 1930s. It emerged as part of the ongoing longshoreman’s strike, which started in May. The decision was controversial. Longshoremen and seamen raged that leadership of the strike had been torn from them by more conservative

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01:59

July 18 - Striking for Dignity

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/18

On this day in labor history, the year was 1969.That was the day hospital workers in Charleston, South Carolina won union recognition. The 113-day strike reflected all the broader social issues of the day. Led primarily by black women, the strike at the Medical College, Charleston County and several other hospitals intersected civil rights and racial and gender discrimination on the job. Jewel Charmaine Debnam notes that women like Local 1199B president Mary Moultrie, Naomi White and others were

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01:59

July 17 - Lumber Workers Put Down Their Axes

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/17

On this day in labor history, the year was 1917.That was the day 50,000 lumber workers across the Pacific Northwest participated in an industry-wide strike, called by the Industrial Workers of the World. The IWW had been organizing loggers for years around wages, hours, working conditions and camp sanitation. The IWW began building for the strike in the aftermath of the Everett Massacre the previous fall. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn started touring camps in Idaho. By March, the Wobblies established

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01:59

July 16 - Bloody Thursday

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/16

On this day in labor history, the year was 1934. That was the day fatalities on Bloody Thursday touched off a four-day general strike in San Francisco. It was the first time a general strike had shut down a major U.S. port city. The strike had been raging since May. Workers battled with police days earlier as the shipping bosses tried to force open the docks. Two workers were killed. More than 40,000 poured into Market Street to march silently in their funeral procession. Outrage fueled plans for

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01:59

July 15 - The 1959 Steel Strike

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/15

On this day in labor history, the year was 1959. That was the day half a million steel workers walked off the job in a historic, 116-day strike to defend work rules. It was the largest industry-wide strike and also the last. The strike affected 12 steel companies and shut down more than 85% of steel production. Mill owners refused to grant wage increases unless the union agreed to changes in the contract. Specifically, they were looking to eliminate Section 2 (b), titled “Local Working

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01:59

July 14 - A Summer of Public Sector Strikes

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/14

On this day in labor history, the year was 1978.That was the day municipal workers in Cleveland, Louisville and Philadelphia walked off the job. That summer was rocked with public sector strikes, starting with a firefighters strike in Memphis. In Cleveland, municipal services came to a virtual halt as city workers honored a police work stoppage. In Louisville, firefighters walked off the job, after the Kentucky Labor Relations Board found the city guilty of unfair labor practices. And in

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01:59

July 13 - Striking News in Detroit

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/13

On this day in labor history, the year was 1995. That was the day 2500 pressmen, reporters, drivers and clerks went on strike against the Detroit Newsand the Free Press. Both newspapers had created a virtual monopoly in 1988 by merging their advertising and circulation departments into the Detroit Newspaper Association. Even as the DNA raked in record profits, they forced years of concessions, including wage freezes and lay offs. When the Association implemented a merit raise system, the Newspaper

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01:59

July 12 - The ILGWU Comes to Tupelo

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/12

On this day in labor history, the year was 1937. That was the day newspapers throughout the South announced the return of Ida Sledge to Tupelo, Mississippi. The ILGWU organizer had been leading unionization efforts at three area mills. Twice she was driven out. Prominent businessmen “invited” her to leave town just days earlier, warning her not to return under threat of violence. Earlier that spring, workers held a sit-down strike at the Tupelo Cotton Mill. They demanded higher wages and shorter

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01:59

July 11 - The Little Steel Strike Begins to Collapse

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/11

On this day in labor history, the year was 1937.The Little Steel Strike was beginning to collapse. Strikers in Massillon, Ohio had gathered that Sunday night at union headquarters across from Republic Steel’s Massillon Works. As Ahmed White describes in his book, The Last Great Strike, the union had organized weekly festivities on Sunday nights, including food, live music and dancing. For weeks, the Law and Order League had repeatedly demanded special police be deputized and armed to crush the

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01:59

July 10 - Organizing During Wartime

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/10

On this day in labor history, the year was 1918. That was the day machinist John Connolly was fired from General Electric’s sprawling River Works in West Lynn, Massachusetts. Firings of several more labor activists prompted 14,000 workers, 40% of them women, to walk off the job and flood the ranks of the IAM and the IBEW. The newly established War Labor Board emboldened GE workers. They looked to the board for help in beating back yellow dog contracts and to organize bonafide unions. A Metal

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01:59

July 9 - Organizing ALL of NYC Transit

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2024/07/09

On this day in labor history, the year was 1935. That was the day transit workers in the Bronx walked off the job in what is referred to as the Squeegee Strike. These were the days when New York City public transit was barely organized. Two of the three transit companies in New York City were privately owned, with entrenched company unions. Up to this point, transit bosses had successful crushed every previous strike. Now, six car cleaners at the Jerome Avenue barn had just been fired for

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