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News Article | August 31, 2008
Andrew Furuseth: ‘The Abe Lincoln of the Sea’
The struggles of workers aboard commercial ships have seldom received much public attention, but some of history’s worst employment practices occurred at sea, where sailors were often subject to forced labor, brutal discipline, deplorable working conditions, and little certainty about being paid. Wh...
News Article | June 30, 2008
Setting the Stage For the ‘Talent’ Unions
Among the catchphrases associated with the theatrical arts, “The Show Must Go On” is the most familiar. To workers, the phrase is more than a cliche: The longer-running the show, the more money to be earned. Nowadays, all the world’s a stage: Performances are set up, staged, recorded, rebroadcast, r...
News Article | April 30, 2008
Ralph Fasanella: Self-Taught Artist Chronicled Workers’ Lives
By the time he started painting pictures at age 31, Ralph Fasanella had developed a strong disdain for the social and economic injustices he witnessed every day in the streets of New York City. Over the rest of his life, the self-taught artist created hundreds of paintings, most of which spread the...
News Article | February 29, 2008
1912 Textile Strike Put Women in the Line of Fire
Early in the 20th Century, fully half of the 80,000 people living in Lawrence, MA, labored in its textile industry. The typical workplace was dimly lit, dangerously cramped with machinery, cold in the winter, and hot in the summer. Most of the workers were female immigrants younger than 18. In the f...
News Article | December 31, 2007
Bayard Rustin: Unsung Crusader for Social Justice
Although he was always at the forefront of the civil rights movement, Bayard Rustin’s contributions to the struggle are often overlooked. Perhaps best known as the lead organizer for the 1963 March on Washington that set the stage for Martin Luther King’s "I Have a Dream" speech, Rustin was a ground...
News Article | August 31, 2007
The History of Labor’s ‘Day’
The celebration of the first Monday in September as a holiday “is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In the mid-1890s, Samuel Gompers, the founder of the American Federation of Lab...
News Article | June 30, 2007
The 1911 Furniture Workers Strike
A century-old and nearly forgotten story about furniture workers who overcame deep cultural divisions to unite for their common good was recently put back in the limelight by a group of labor activists.
News Article | April 30, 2007
Pete Seeger: Activist, Master Songsmith
Even if you’ve never been to a labor rally, a civil rights demonstration, or a folk music concert, chances are you’ve been touched by the music of Pete Seeger. For more than six decades, this gifted performer has traveled the world spreading messages of unionism, social justice, and peace. Many of t...
News Article | February 28, 2007
Evelyn Dubrow: Labor’s Legendary Lobbyist
For two centuries, the lobbies adjacent to the U.S. House and Senate have attracted all sorts of “interest peddlers,” from the cigar-chomping agents of the mine, railroad, and steel industries to the well-heeled representatives of today’s multi-national corporations. In recent years, their often-not...
News Article | December 31, 2006
Frederick Douglass: Activist, Orator, Publisher, Statesman
Unquestionably, the single greatest leap forward in the quest for social and economic justice is the abolition of slavery. In the United States, after decades of struggle and a bloody civil war, slavery was formally abolished in 1865. Today, while we easily recall the contributions of many 20th-Cent...
News Article | October 31, 2006
A Checkered Past
Offering a range of “private investigative” services, the Pinkerton Detective Agency was founded in 1850 and at first specialized in train robberies: the protection of railroad property. By the late 1860s, however, Pinkerton agents were protecting all manner of property — most notoriously when its o...
News Article | August 31, 2006
Postal Workers ‘In the Line of Duty’
Postal workers are sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect the mail. Since 1775, we have honored our pledge to defend the security of the mail, on which much of our nation’s commerce and communication system has always depended. From the dangers of transporting mail on horseback across the wild...
News Article | August 31, 2006
Postal Workers ‘In the Line of Duty’
Postal workers are sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect the mail. Since 1775, we have honored our pledge to defend the security of the mail, on which much of our nation’s commerce and communication system has always depended. From the dangers of transporting mail on horseback across the wild...
News Article | June 30, 2006
John L. Lewis: A Giant Among Labor Leaders
A dominant figure in labor history, John L. Lewis was the founding force behind several national unions and a leader of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) for more than 40 years. In aiding the union struggle for better wages and benefits, he confronted presidents, corporate powers and even ot...
News Article | June 30, 2006
John L. Lewis: A Giant Among Labor Leaders
A dominant figure in labor history, John L. Lewis was the founding force behind several national unions and a leader of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) for more than 40 years. In aiding the union struggle for better wages and benefits, he confronted presidents, corporate powers and even ot...