Today in Labor History December 26, 1828: Dover, New Hampshire Mill Girls’ Strike began to protest the slashing of their already abysmally low wages. 75% of the workers walked out. They were girls and young women, aged 12-25, forced to work 12 hours per day, six days per week, for the salary of 45 cents per day, plus room and board. And they were paid in company scrip, redeemable only at the overpriced company store. They were forbidden from talking during the long work day. They were given only one break per day. And the conditions were so treacherous that the girls and women often lost limbs, and occasionally their lives on the job. The company hired scabs and threatened to fire the striking workers, who returned to work a few days later, except for those identified as “ringleaders” by the bosses, who were fired.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mill #women #children #childlabor #childexploitation #strike

Today in Labor History December 25, 1910: A bomb destroyed a portion of the Llewellyn Ironworks in Los Angeles (where the LA Times was printed). On October 1st, a bomb had destroyed much of the Los Angeles Times building, killing 21 employees and injuring over 100. The Iron Workers had been engaged in a brutal and protracted battle with U.S. Steel and the American Bridge Company, which was busting their union with spies, informants, scabs, and agents provocateur. Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Otis, who was viciously anti-union, provided propaganda for the bosses. By 1910, the owners had driven nearly all the unions from their plants, except for the Iron Workers union, which had instigated a bombing campaign starting in 1906. In April 1911, private detective William Burns and Chicago police sergeant William Reed kidnapped union organizer James McNamara and held him hostage for a week prior to illegally extraditing him to Los Angeles for the bombings. Burns later arrested his brother John, but denied him access to an attorney. Both McNamara brothers had been arrested based on the confession of a third man who had likely been tortured. And both were likely innocent of the bombings. Eugene Debs accused Otis, himself, of the Times bombing. James McNamara spent the rest of his life in San Quentin, dying there in 1941. John served 15 years and then went on to serve as an organizer for the Iron Workers.

Roberta Tracy’s wonderful novel, Zig Zag Woman, takes place in the wake of the L. A. Times bombing.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #iron #union #strike #unionbusting #bombing #prison #latimes #christmas #losangeles #police #torture #policebrutality #books #novels #historicalfiction #author #writer @bookstadon

Today in Labor History December 24, 1936: On Christmas Eve, drunk cops beat up 150 strikers on the Houston docks, sending 18 to the hospital. They were members of the Maritime Federation of the Gulf Coast. Gilbert Mers, who had dual membership in the Maritime Federation and the IWW, was their leader. Violence against dockers was rampant along the gulf coast in the 1930s. In July 1934, three black longshoremen were shot to death during a strike. In 1935, longshoremen struck along the entire gulf coast, with 14 more workers getting killed. From 1936 to 1938, 28 union members were killed and over 300 injured in strikes. Mers’ autobiography, “Working the Waterfront: The Ups and Downs of a Rebel Longshoreman,” was published in 1988, ten years before his death, at age 90. As a young man, Mers worked the docks in Corpus Christi, but went on to become President of the Corpus Christi Central Labor Council and the President of the Maritime Federation of the Gulf Coast, while remaining a dedicated dual member of the IWW throughout his life. He was part of the effort to establish an industry-wide union along the Gulf Coast states. In his autobiography, he exposes the brutality and corruption of the Texas Rangers in the 1930s-‘40s, and their use as violent, strike-breaking bullies with badges.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #GilbertMers #waterfront #longshore #texas #rangers #union #strike #unionbusting #police #policebrutality #maritime #racism #books #writer #author #memoir #autobiography @bookstadon

Today in Labor History December 24, 1913: Seventy-three people in Calumet, Michigan died in the "Calumet Massacre," including 59 kids. The majority were Finns, Croats and Slovenes. The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was having a Christmas party for striking copper miners at the Italian Hall. About 500 miners and their family members were at the party. Someone yelled "Fire!" and dozens were trampled in the panic. Goons and scabs had barred the doors, trapping people inside, exacerbating the injuries and deaths. The person who yelled “fire” was never identified, but many strikers believed it was a company guard. WFM president Charles Moyer claimed that the person was wearing the badge of the Citizen’s Alliance, an anti-union, pro-boss vigilante group that routinely terrorized the miners and their families. In the aftermath, some Alliance members formed a relief committee and collected $25,000 for the survivors’ families, but they refused the money. Committee members believed that Moyer had forbidden his members from accepting the money. So, they shot and kidnapped him, sending him out of town by train, and forbidding him from ever returning to Michigan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgrPK2CNuJg

There were over 15,000 miners working in Michigan’s Copper Country at the time of the strike. 9,000 had already signed up with the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). They were striking for union recognition, as well as better wages and hours, and safer working conditions. They typically had to work 10-12 hours per day, six days per week, including children. Additionally, they were forced to live in Company Towns, in which everything was owned by the mine owners. Rent, heating fuel, medical care, and even the tools of the trade, were deducted from the workers’ paychecks, leaving them little, to nothing, for themselves. The mine owners used Pinkertons, and several other private detective agencies as strike breakers and agents provocateur. In addition to those who died in the Calumet Hall disaster, another 15-20 were killed by cops and private cops. The strike continued until April, 1914, when the union was driven out of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The Copper Country strike in Michigan occurred concurrently with the Colorado Minefield War, with the infamous Ludlow Massacre occurring just days after the Michigan strike ended, in which National Guards and private cops massacred over a dozen unarmed women and children.

Prior to the Copper Country strike, in 1905, Moyer and WFM organizer, Big Bill Haywood were falsely charged with the murder of former Idaho governor, Frank Steunenberg, a long-time enemy of the WFM. Famed Pinkerton detective James McParland, who had previously infiltrated and helped destroy the WBA mining union in Pennsylvania (1875), ran the investigation. McParland (using his pseudonym, James McKenna) is also the villain in my first two novels: “Anywhere But Schuylkill” and “Red Hot Summer in the Big Smoke.” Famed union attorney Clarence Darrow successfully defended Haywood and Moyer. Mary Doria Russell wrote about the Calumet disaster in her 2019 novel, “The Women of Copper Country.”

You can read my full article on the Ludlow Massacre here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/20/the-ludlow-massacre/

And my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the WFM here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/the-western-federation-of-miners/

You can pick up a copy of Anywhere But Schuylkill here:
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #massacre #mining #union #strike #scabs #christmas #party #woodyguthrie #children #ludlow #pinkerton #wfm #books #novels #fiction #historicalfiction #author #writer @bookstadon

Seoul's city bus union set to begin general strike Wednesday · Seoul city bus union postpones planned strike amid collective bargaining negotiations.

The Seoul city bus union said it has decided to launch a full-scale strike on Jan. 13 next year after failing to narrow differences with management in wage negotiations.#bus #union #strike #seoul #libranet.de/search?tag=
Seoul city bus union announces January strike after failed wage negotiations