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Jamestown Uprising
This was North America's first recorded labor uprising, Polish craftsmen, who produced glass, pitch & tar for the Jamestown colony, went on strike to protest their lack of voting rights. The incident ended peacefully when the Poles were granted full voting rights. -
Bacon's Rebellion
A revolt in colonial Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon caused by high taxes, low prices for tobacco, and resentment against governor, William Berkeley's friendly attitude toward Indians. Bacon commanded two unauthorized but successful expeditions against the tribes and was then elected to the new house of burgesses, While the farmers did not succeed in their goal of driving Native Americans from Virginia, the rebellion did result in Berkeley being recalled to England. -
Stono's Rebellion
Largest slave uprising in early America near the Stono River, 20 mi from Charleston, S.C., slaves gathered, raided a firearms shop, and headed south, killing more than 20 whites as they went. The slaves may have hoped to reach St. Augustine, Fla., where the Spanish were offering freedom and land to any fugitive. White colonists quickly passed a Negro Act that further limited slave privileges. -
Daughters of Liberty
They joined the support to condemn British importation. They used their traditional skills to weave yarn and wool into fabric known as "homespun". They were recognized as patriotic heroines for their success, which made America less dependent on British Textiles. Also, while Patriots supported the non importation movements of 1765, and 1769, the daughters of liberty continued to support American resistance and helped influence the Continental Congress's decision to boycott all British goods. -
Boston Massacre
Late in the afternoon, on March 5, a crowd of jeering rope workers slinging snowballs gathered around a small group of British soldiers guarding the Boston Customs House. The soldiers became enraged after one of them had been hit, and they fired into the crowd, even though they were under orders not to fire. Five colonists were shot and killed. -
Shay's Rebellion
A post-Revolutionary clash between New England farmers and merchants that tested the Article of Confederation institutions and threatened to plunge the "disunited states" into a civil war. The rebellion arose in Massachusetts in 1786, spread to other states, and culminated in the rebels' march upon a federal arsenal. It wound down in 1787 with the election of a more popular governor, an economic upswing, and the creation of the Constitution of the United States in Philadelphia. -
Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers
The union of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers was convicted of and bankrupted by charges of criminal conspiracy after a strike for higher wages, setting a precedent by which the U.S. government would combat unions for years to come. -
Commonwealth vs. Pullis
Commonwealth vs. Pullis was the first reported case arising from a labor strike in the United States. After a three-day trial, the jury found the defendants guilty of "a combination to raise their wages" and fined. -
Journeyman Mechanics’ Almanac
Journeyman Mechanics’ Almanac begins publishing in Philadelphia. It is considered the first labor newspaper in the United States. -
Workingman's Party Established
The Workingman's Party was established in New York Cityunder the leadership of Robert Dale Owen and Frances Wright. Its program included demands for the abolition of imprisonment for debt and for worker's compensation laws. For a while the party was a factor in state and local elections. In the late 1830s a significant number of its members joined the Whig Party. The party was revived in the 1870s by Dennis Kearney in California. -
Child Labor Strike
Children employed in the silk mills in Paterson, New Jersey go on strike for the 11-hour day, 6 days a week. -
Lowell Mill Strike
A group of Boston capitalists built a major textile manufacturing center in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the second quarter of the 19th century. The young female operatives organized to protest these wage cuts in 1834 and 1836. There was a decline in protest among women in the Lowell mills following these early strike defeats. -
10-Hour Workday
President Martin Van Buren, although plagued by the Panic of 1837 during his presidency, implemented several government innovations, like a ten hour workday for employees in the United States. -
Commonwealth vs. Hunt
Commonwealth v. Hunt was a landmark legal decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the subject of labor unions. Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled that unions were legal organizations and had the right to organize and strike. Before this decision, labor unions which attempted to 'close' or create a unionized workplace could be charged with conspiracy. -
Brotherhood of the Footboard
Along with many other pioneering labor organizations in nineteenth-century America, organizations of railroad workers took the name "brotherhoods" in token of their partly fraternal purposes. The first railroad labor union, The Brotherhood of the Footboard (later renamed the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers) is formed in Marshall, Michigan. -
National Labor Union Founded
The NLU was led by William Sylvis and attracted more than 600,000 members included skilled and unskilled workers and farmers. They called for an eight hour day, restrictions on immigrants entering America, and an end to convict labor. The union made nominal efforts to include women and blacks. After failure at the Iron Strike in 1866, Sylvis concentrated on legislature. It was destroyed by the Panic of 1873 because jobs became scarce, and members became focused on keeping their jobs. -
Knights of Labor Founded
The KoL was an idealistic group accepting black and women members along with skilled and unskilled workers and was initially led by Uriah Stephens in 1869 and Terence Powderly in 1879. The union supported temperance, equal pay for women, a graduated income tax, and an end to convict labor. The union focused on legislature reform, and helped win the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Haymarket Square riot killed the KoL, when they were suspected of violence against the police. -
Railway Strike of 1877
In 1877, after the Panic of 1973, the Baltimore & Ohio railroad began cutting wages. This ignited a series of strikes across the northeast that lasted for 45 days. The strikes began in Martinsburg, West Virginia and sympathy spread for the workers, and about 100,000 railroad workers began rioting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Missouri, and Ohio. After violence erupted, President Hayes called in federal troops. The strike began an era of strife between workers and factory owners. -
Haymarket Riot
During a labor rally in Chicago that was instigated by about 80,000 members of the Knights of Labor in support of an eight hour day, chaos erupted when an unknown party threw a bomb at police, who then fired into the crowd. The public associated the KoL with anarchists after the incident, and five people were sentenced to death, three given prison terms, one commiteed suicide, and three were pardoned. However, the incident also became a symbol of government oppression of the working class. -
American Federation of Labor Founded
The AFL was led by Samuel Gompers and was founded only for skilled workers; they were not interested in helping women or blacks. Although the AFL never sought broad reform because they believed that management and labor wound never see eye to eye, they supported the call for an 8 hour day and securing its members higher wages. They eventually became involved in politics in the early 1900s seeking to outlaw "yellow dog contracts." -
Pullman Strike
The strike was led by Eugene V. Debs, leader of the American Railway Union, in which 50,000 railroad workers striked outside the Pullman Company in Pullman, Illinois because of a 25% cut in wages. Sympathy strikes broke out in 27 states including Chicago. The U.S. Attorney General, Richard Olney, obtained an injunction against the strikers for impeding the mail service and federal troops were called in. The event established that the Sherman Antitrust Act could be enforced against labor unions. -
Coal Strike of 1902
The United Mine Workers of America under president, John Mitchell, led a strike of coal workers who sought to be recognized in the union to improve wages, hours, and working conditions. President Roosevelt invited representatives of the UMW and coal operators to the White House on October 3, 1902 becoming the first president to intervene in a labor dispute. Roosevelt said that America was in a coal shortage, so he asked the coal operators to give a increase in wages, which still never occurred. -
Elkins Act Passed
The Elkins Act authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to impose heavy fines on railroads that offered rebates and amended the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. Railroad companies and workers resented railroad trusts, so they welcomed this passage. Because this provided for the prosecution and punishment of railroad corporations, labor unions accepted the law as well. -
Mother Jones Leads Child Strike
Labor organizer Mary Harris Jones, otherwise known as "Mother Jones," lead child workers working in mills and mines in the "Children's Crusade" demanding a 55 hour work week. The strike ended at the home of President Theodore Roosevelt with banners demanding "We want time to play!" and "We want to go to school!" The strike was ignored but brought child labor to the forefront of the public grievances. -
Industrial Workers of the World Founded
As one of the more radical labor unions, the IWW was established in Chicago. The union consisted mostly of unskilled workers who advocated the overthrow of the wage system. One of the founded members was socialist Eugene Debs, and the group's main goal was to get all workers in the country in a single union so that they could have solidarity for their demands. -
Hepburn Act Passed
President Roosevelt signed the Hepburn Act to increase the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission authorizing the establishment of reasonable maximum rates. In this way, Roosevelt was attempting to decrease the authority of large railroad corporations, which was one of the requests of labor unions. -
Los Angeles Bombing
A bomb explodes in the Los Angeles Times building killing over twenty and injuring more than one-hundred people. The newspaper's owner, Harrison Gray Otis, called it "the crime of the century," blaming the bomb on labor unions. This charge was denied by unions, but the incident aroused widespread controversy and suspicion of labor unions. -
First State Minimum Wage Law
Massachusetts becomes the first state to adopt a minimum wage law for women and children. This acted as a precedent for future mimumum wage laws in other states. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
A fire in a shirtwaist factory in lower Manhattan kills 146 workers, mostly young women. The tragedy emphasized the harsh conditions that women are forced to work under, arousing immediate sympathy throughout America. The fire also helped to solidify support for workers' unions like the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Finally, as a result of the fire, the American Society of Safety Engineers was founded soon after in New York City on October 14, 1911. -
Federal Department of Labor Established
Taft estblished the FDL after his defeat in the Elections of 1912 to emphasize a pro-labor stance for future presidents. In fact, the incoming president, Woodrow Wilson, appointed a United Mine Workers official, William B. Wilson, as the first Secretary of Labor given the power to "act as a mediator and to appoint commissioners of conciliation in labor disputes." -
Ludlow Massacre
Violence breaks out in Ludlow, Colorado during a mining strike forcing the National Guard to intervene. However, National Guardsmen open fire on the strikers and set fire to their tents, killing five miners, two women, and twelve children. In response to the Ludlow massacre, the leaders of organized labor in Colorado issued a call to arms instigating a large-sclae guerilla war lasting ten days until Wilson sent federal troops. This conflict was the most violent labor conflict in US history. -
Clayton Anti-trust Act Passed
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Clayton Anti-trust Act excluding labor unions from the Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890. It also legalized peaceful strikes, picketing, and boycotts. -
Adamson Act Passed
The Adamson Act is signed establishing an eight-hour workday for employees for interstate railroad workers with overtime pay. The act was significant because it was Wilson's response to a pending strike by the majorrailway worker unions. -
Postwar Strike Wave
Following World War One, more than 40,000 coal workers and 120,000 textile workers walk off the job in a wave of strikes. In response to the strikes, Americans become paranoid of the "Red Scare," in which strikers were rounded up and the publics turned suspicious of labor radicals as being communists. -
West Virginia Mine Wars Begin
Coal miners in WV were angry about their pay and priveledges. They begin to outlash against their higher in commands. The start of this can be marked as the Matewan Massacre, where ten people were killed in a battle over the right to organize the southern West Virginia coalfields. -
Battle of Blair Mountain
This was the second largest armed insurrection in the US next to the civil war. It occured in Logan County, WV, and 10,000 to 15,000 coal miners confronted an army of police and strikebreakers in an effort to unionize the southwestern WV coalfields. This ended after 1 million rounds were fired, and the US army had to intervene by presidential order. -
Trade Union Educational League Founded
The Trade Union Educational League was established by William Foster with means to unite all radicals within trade unions for a unified plan of action. The league was then subsidized by the Communist Party of America. It was moderately successful and often fought against the American Federation of Labor because they disliked each other. -
Sam Gompers Dies. William Green becomes head of AF of L
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Railway Labor Act passed
This law was enforced so that the law governs labor relations in the railroad and "airline" industries. The act also makes employers bargain with unions and forbids discrimination against union members. -
Stock Market Crash
The stock market officially crashes on black thursday after a long time of prosperity. This would cause numerous job losses for workers and difficult times for them afterward. -
Davis-Bacon Act Passed
This act is a United States federal law which established the requirement for paying prevailing wages on public works projects. All federal government construction contracts, and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,000, must include provisions for paying workers on-site no less than the locally prevailing wages and benefits paid on similar projects. -
Norris-LaGuardia Act
This act was a 1932 United States federal law that banned yellow-dog contracts, barred federal courts from issuing injunctions against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joining trade unions. -
Bonus March
Led by Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant, the veterans of WWI marched down into Washington DC and were encouraged in their demand for immediate cash-payment redemption of their service certificates. They were pushed back by the US army. -
American Federation of Government Employees
An American labor union representing over 600,000 employees of the federal government, about 5,000 employees of the District of Columbia, and a few hundred private sector employees, mostly in and around federal facilities. AFGE is the largest union for civilian, non-postal federal employees and the largest union for District of Columbia employees -
National Industrial Recovery Act
American statute which authorized the President of the United States to regulate industry and permit cartels and monopolies in an attempt to stimulate economic recovery, and established a national public works program. -
Committee for Industrial Organization
Proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. -
Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act)
United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands. -
Social Security Act of 1935
The act was an attempt to limit what were seen as dangers in the modern American life, including old age, poverty, unemployment, and the burdens of widows and fatherless children. By signing this act President Roosevelt became the first president to advocate federal assistance for the elderly -
Fair Labor Standards Act
The FLSA established a national minimum wage guaranteed 'time-and-a-half' for overtime in certain jobs and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor," a term that is defined in the statute. -
Smith Connally Act
The legislation was hurriedly created after 400,000 coal miners, their wages significantly lowered due to high wartime inflation, struck for a $2-a-day wage increase. -
Nationwide Coal Strike
A nationwide coal strike causes the production and harvesting of coal to stop. In order to combat this, the US government sent workers to continue the work while the strike ensues. -
Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)
A United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. The Taft–Hartley Act amended the National Labor Relations Act and labor leaders called it the "slave-labor bill" while President Truman argued that it was a "dangerous intrusion on free speech" and that it would "conflict with important principles of our democratic society. -
U.S. Army Seizure of Railroads
President Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize all of the nation's railroads to prevent a general labor strike by railroad workers. However, the railroads were not returned to their rightful owners until two years later. Truman insisted that "governmental seizure [of the railroads] is imperative" for the protection of American citizens as well as "essential to the national defense and security of the Nation." -
1952 Steel Strike
This strike was organized by the United Steelworkers of America against U.S. Steel and nine other steelmakers for wage increases. The strike was scheduled to begin on April 9, 1952, but President Harry S. Truman nationalized the American steel industry hours before the workers walked out to avert the strike. The act was ruled to be illegal by the Supreme Court on June 2nd saying that Truman lacked the authority to seize the steel mills. -
Textile Workers Strike of 1955
The strike occurs in both New Bedford and Fall River, Massachusetts over a nickel wage increase. The strike was led and negotiated by Union President Manuel "Manny" Fernandes Jr., who resolved the strike and got the workers a nickel raise. -
AFL-CIO Formation
The two largest labor unions in the US, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, merge to form the AFL-CIO with a membership estimated at 15 million. The AFL and the CIO were rivals for the twenty year period when they existed separately as two organizations that “vied for supremacy over the labor movement.” By the 1950’s the groups realized that they would be much stronger and more effective as a single organization. -
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
Also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act, this regulated labor unions' internal affairs and their officials' relationships with employers. It resulted from hearings of the Senate committee on improper activities in the fields of labor and management, which uncovered evidence of collusion between dishonest employers and union officials, the use of violence by certain segments of labor leadership, and the diversion and misuse of labor union funds by high-ranking officials. -
Steel Strike of 1959
This was a labor union strike by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) against major steel-making companies in the United States. The strike occurred over management's demand that the union give up its ability to change the number of workers assigned to a task or to introduce new work rules or machinery which would result in reduced hours or numbers of employees. It resulted in President Eisenhower's invocation of the Taft-Hartley Act, which was upheld by the Supreme Court. -
Mechanization and Modernization Agreement
The International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union signs the Mechanization and Modernization Agreement, which pioneers the tradeoff of members' job security for the employers' right to introduce labor-saving equipment. -
Executive Order 10988
Executive Order 10988 recognizes the rights of federal employees to bargain with management. It established a broad government-wide labor relations policy for the first time and required that union representatives be on official time when consulting or otherwise meeting with management representatives. -
New York City Newspaper Strike Ends
The longest newspaper strike in US history over wages and work rules ends in which the 9 major newspapers in New York City had ceased publication over 114 days before. Mayor of New York City Robert F. Wagner, Jr., together with labor negotiator Theodore W. Kheel, were able to forge an agreement to end the strike under which the newspaper workers would receive wage and benefit increases of $12.63 per week. -
Equal Pay Act of 1963
The Equal Pay Act, amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex. It was signed into law on June 10, 1963 by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program. Congress denounced sex discrimination since it depresses wages and living standards for employees and causes labor disputes, thereby obstructing commerce. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964 in which Title VII bans discrimination in the workplace. -
Age Discrimination in Employment Act
This act forbid employment discrimination against anyone between the ages of 40-65 years in the United States. Provisions include prohibition of discrimination in hiring, promotions, wages, or termination of employment and layoffs and statements or specifications in job notices or advertisements of age preference and limitations, denial of benefits to older employees. -
Assassination of MLK Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, during sanitation workers' strike. -
UTU Formation
In 1968 talks among the four brotherhoods’ interested in forming one transportation union proved successful and plans were formulated for merging of the four operation unions into a single organization called the United Transportation Union. -
Black Hospital Workers Strike
Mary Moultrie organizes the successful strike of 550 black women hospital workers for union representation in Charleston, South Carolina. -
Murder of Joseph Yablonski
Joseph Yablonski, unsuccessful reform candidate to unseat W. A. Boyle as President of the United Mine Workers, was murdered, along with his wife and daughter, in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home by assassins acting on Boyle's orders. Boyle was later convicted of the killing. West Virginia miners went on strike the following day in protest. -
US Postal Strike of 1970
The first mass work stoppage in the 195-year history involved 210,000 of the nation's 750,000 postal employees. With mail service virtually paralyzed in New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia, President Nixon declared a state of national emergency and assigned military units and the National Guard to New York City post offices.The strike led directly to passage of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which modernized the postal service and provided for collective bargaining for postal workers. -
Delano Grape Strike Ends
This was a boycott led by the United Farm Workers against growers of table grapes in California beginning in 1965. The strike began when the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, mostly Filipino farm workers in Delano, California, walked off the farms demanding wages equal to the federal minimum wage. he movement gained national attention for the plight of some of the nation's lowest-paid workers. By 1970, the UFW had succeeded in reaching an agreement affecting 10,000 farm workers. -
Occupational Safety and Health Act
Enacted by Congress and signed by President Nixon, this act sought to ensure that employers provide employees with an environment free from recognized hazards, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions. -
Coalition of Labor Union Women Formation
The founding convention of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) occurs in Chicago, electing Olga Madar its first president. The union sought to promoting affirmative action in the workplace, strengthen the role of women in unions, organize more women into unions, and increase the involvement of women in the democratic process. -
UFW March
Cesar Chavez and sixty supporters of the UFW embarked on a thousand-mile march across California to rally the state's farm workers for higher wages. -
Common Situs Picketing Bill
President Ford vetoes the Common Situs Picketing Bill which would have outlawed picketing by a labor union of an entire construction project as a result of a grievance held against a single subcontractor on the project. -
Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute
The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, also known as Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, grants by statute collective bargaining to federal workers which had been subject to executive order. -
AFL-CIO President
Lane Kirkland elected president of AFL-CIO. Moving quickly to stem labor's decline, Kirkland initiated significant institutional innovations and secured the re-affiliation of almost all the large national unions that remained outside the AFL-CIO. -
Reagan Air Traffic Control
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association struck in defiance of the law. Newly elected President Ronald Reagan fired all the strikers and broke the union, sanctioning the practice of hiring "permanent replacements" for striking workers. Solidarity day labor rally draws 400,000 to the Mall in Washington D.C. -
United Mine Workers of America
The United Mine Workers of America wildcat strike of the Pittston Coal Group in Virginia spreads across the eastern coalfields involving up to 50,000 miners in 11 states. Using non-violence and civil disobedience, the miners win a contract after a bitter nine-month struggle. -
APALA
The founding convention of the AFL-CIO's Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) is held from April 30 to May 2 in Washington D.C. -
American Airlines
A five day strike of 21,000 American Airlines' flight attendants, virtually shutting the airline down is ended when Pres. Clinton persuades the owners to arbirate the dispute. -
MLB Lockout
The longest players' strike in sports history (232 days) is conducted by the Major League Players Association against National and American League owners. -
UPS
In a big win for their members and all of organized labor, the Teamsters reach a new five-year agreement with United Parcel Service on Aug. 18, ending a two-week strike over abuse of part-time workers and health care for retirees. -
First State-Wide Strike
April 5, 10,000 Public school teachers and 3000 state university faculty in Hawaii shut down all public education in the State in the nation's first state-wide education strike. -
California and Safeway
70,000 Southern California grocery workers strike Safeway to protect their health benefits and stop imposition of a vicious two-tier wage system. -
Change to Win
Seven major national unions, representing six million workers, disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO and, in September, form a new coalition called "Change to Win", devoted to organizing.
