Today in Labor History March 24, 1989: The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, dumping 240,000 barrels of crude oil. It was the largest oil spill in U.S. history until the Deepwater Horizon spill, in 2010. A major cause for the tanker’s collision was an overworked and under-rested crew, which the National Transportation Safety Board determined was a widespread practice. Thousands of people who participated in the cleanup efforts developed liver, kidney, lung, nervous system, and blood disorders due to 2-butoxyethanol and other agents that were used. An estimated 250,000 sea birds; 2,800 sea otters; 300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles; 22 orcas; and unknown numbers of fish were killed by the spill. A study by the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA found that 90 tons of oil remained on beaches in Prince William Sound in 2001. The devastation to the local fisheries caused the bankruptcy of the Chugach Alaska Corporation, an Alaska Native Corporation.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #exxon #OilSpill #environment #indigenous #NativeAlaskan #WorkplaceInjury #WorkplaceSafety #EnvironmentalDestruction

Today in Labor History February 16, 1945: The Alaska Equal Rights Act was signed into law. It was the first anti-discrimination law in the U.S. the law prevents and criminalizes discrimination against anyone in public areas based on their race. The law came in response to the struggle of Indigenous Alaskans fighting discrimination. In 1944, Alberta Schenck (Inupiaq) protested segregation by deliberately sitting in the “whites-only” section of a movie theater in Nome, Alaska. The cops arrested her.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #racism #discrimination #NativeAlaskan #police #IndigenousRights

75% of the #votes for the #Alaska #2022Election have been counted and the WORST possible choice for #Senate ( #KellyTshibaka , not an #Alaskan who makes ads about how "outsiders" are trying to control Alaska, as if we're not part of the US) is leading #LisaMurkowski by 2% and our current #governor ( #MikeDunleavy , who tried to veto the budget for the #AlaskaSupremeCourt because they shot down his #AbortionBan as unconstitutional- and when that didn't work, tried to open a constitutional convention to change Alaska's constitution to ban abortion) is leading by such a wide margin that there's no way he's not winning.

On the bright side, our #HouseRepresentative is looking like it's going to be #MsryPeltola a #NativeAlaskan and #Democrat Yeah, she's a liberal, but at least she's not a #Republican like the others.

Also, 70% of the state have voted no on opening a constitutional convention. Yay for that, at least.

Sigh