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Great Railroad Strike
The Great Railroad Strike was considered the first nationwide labor event in the US. Wages got cut for the third time in a year, sparking the strike. The strike helped set the stage for labor violence. The strike showed what impact the workers had and what would happen if they stopped working together. -
Haymarket Affair
The affair was a violent confrontation between the police and striking workers. A bomb exploded near Haymarket Square, leading to a riot of workers killing several police officers. Eight anarchists were arrested, confronted, and tried for potentially being connected to the bombing incident. -
The Strike at Homestead Mill
PBS -
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs significantly contributed to the Labor Rights Movement by being a prominent leader in organizing railroad workers, most notably through the American Railway Union (ARU), and by advocating for industrial unionism. He led the nationwide Pullman Strike in 1894, where workers protested against wage cuts at the Pullman Palace Car. Debs played a key role in establishing the American Railway Union, one of the first major industrial unions in the United States. -
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was mainly caused by wage cuts, layoffs, and firings at the Pullman Palace Car Company. The strike resulted in violence involving arson and property damage. The strike crippled rail traffic in the Midwest and disrupted the delivery of mail. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was a factory fire that killed 146 garment workers, which were mostly of young women. This was also one of the deadliest industrial disasters in U.S. history. The workers had very little time to escape because there were all kinds of long tables, and large machinery to avoid. -
National Labor Relations Act
Guaranteed private sector employees the right to organize into unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action like strikes, essentially protecting workers' freedom to associate and seek better working conditions without fear of retaliation from their employers. This Act passed during the Great Depression, ensuring worker rights and promoting labor unionization. -
Lucy Randolph Mason
Lucy Randolph Mason helped to draft New Deal labor legislation, including the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Because of Lucy Mason, the NCL won the passage of new state labor laws. She became Industrial Secretary of the Richmond YWCA; on behalf of the working-class women. -
Philip Murray
Philip Murray served as a key leader in the Congress of Industrial Organizations. He played a pivotal role in establishing industrial unions, particularly in the steel industry, while involved in the workers' rights through collective bargaining. He also fought through racial discrimination in the presidency of the labor movement. -
Arthur Goldberg
Arthur Goldberg significantly contributed to the Labor Rights Movement by serving as a prominent labor lawyer, representing major unions like the United Steelworkers and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), playing a key role in the AFL-CIO merger, and later becoming the U.S. Secretary of Labor under President John F. Kennedy, where he actively advocated for worker rights and protections, including raising minimum wages and mediating strikes. -
Puerto Rican Obituary
Pedro Pietri -
Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez -
Who Burns for The Perfection of Paper
Martin Espada -
I've Been to the Mountaintop
Martin Luther King Jr. -
Thomas Donahue
Thomas Donahue led the Labor Movement's Efforts to develop institutional responses that would ensure its continued strength in its economical and political changes. Under Donahue’s leadership, the AFL-CIO launched a number of initiatives inspired by the report, including the recruitment of “associate members,” new financial services for union members and new resources and administrative structures for organizing.