Today in Labor History May 27, 1916: 3000 members of the Marine Transport Workers of the IWW marched along the Philadelphia waterfront, leading to strikes at three non-union docks. Black and white Wobblies fought together against scabs and police. One of the main organizers of the Philadelphia waterfront was African American Wobbly, Ben Fletcher, who co-founded the interracial Local 8 in 1913. By 1916, thanks in large part to Fletcher’s organizing skill, all but two of Philadelphia’s docks were controlled by the IWW. And the union maintained control of the Philly waterfront for about a decade.

You can read my complete biography of Fletcher here: https://www.michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #dockers #philadelphia #longshore #benfletcher #racism #strike #blackmastodon

Today in Labor History May 14, 1914: Over four thousand longshoremen walked off the job on the docks of Philadelphia, over poor wages and dangerous working conditions. By May 28, they had won a ten-hour workday and time-and-a-half pay for overtime. The strike also launched one of the most successful anti-racist, anti-capitalist unions in the country: IWW Local 8, led by Ben Fletcher, who was one of the Wobbly’s most effective organizers and the most prominent African American in the union. At the time, roughly one-third of the dockers in Philadelphia were black. Another 33% were Irish. And the remaining 33% were mostly Polish or Lithuanian. Prior to the IWW organizing drive, the employers routinely pitted black workers against white, and Polish against Irish. The IWW was one of the only unions of the era that organized workers into the same locals, regardless of race or ethnicity. Roughly 10% of the IWW’s 1 million members were African American. In 1918, the state arrested him, sentencing him to ten years for the crime of organizing workers during wartime. He served three years. As the sentences were announced, Fletcher told Big Bill Haywood: “The Judge has been using very ungrammatical language. His sentences are much too long.'"

You read my full biography of Fletcher here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #benfletcher #philadelphia #dockers #longshore #BlackMastodon #racism #antiwar

Push, sync, deploy, test.

Découvrez ma nouvelle page, déployée ce soir : https://guest.mylastnight.eu/?ref=mastodon-launch. Elle utilise du static, de la synchronisation JSON et un peu de JS léger.

J'en profite aussi pour faire une petite pique à Google. 😜

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Discover my new page, deployed tonight: https://guest.mylastnight.eu/?ref=mastodon-launch. It uses static, JSON synchronisation with a little light JS.

I also like to give Google a little nudge now and then. 😜

#HomeLab #Dockers #RaspBerryPi

⛵️️️️️" Nous devons affirmer toute notre #solidarité aux camarades #dockers qui s'organisent contre le #transport des #armes

La #flottille pour #Gaza peut permettre la coordination des travailleur.euses contre le #génocide et la #guerre

Si on arrête de produire et de participer aux guerres impérialistes on peut mettre fin à ces barbaries "

" le pouvoir ne vient pas de la richesse, il vient des gens qui s'organisent et agissent " Chris Smalls

#1000Madleens #GuerreAlaGuerre #international

Today in Labor History April 13, 1890: Ben Fletcher was born in Philadelphia. He joined the Wobblies (IWW) in 1912, became secretary of the IWW District Council in 1913. He also co-founded the interracial Local 8 in 1913. Ben Fletcher and the IWW Dockers struck in Philadelphia on May 13, 1913. 10,000 Wobblies participated. They were protesting poor wages and dangerous working conditions. By May 28, they had won a ten-hour workday and time-and-a-half pay for overtime. However, the strike also launched one of the most successful anti-racist, anti-capitalist unions in the country: IWW Local 8. At the time, roughly one-third of the dockers on the Philadelphia waterfront were black. Another 33% were Irish. And about 33% were Polish and Lithuanian. The employers routinely pitted black workers against white, and Polish against Irish. Fletcher organized them all into a single IWW local.

After the 1913 strike, Fletcher traveled up and down the east coast organizing dockers. By 1916, thanks in large part to his organizing skill, all but two of Philadelphia’s docks were controlled by the IWW. And the union maintained control of the Philly waterfront for about a decade. However, he was nearly lynched in Norfolk, Virginia in 1917. At that time, roughly 10% of the IWW’s 1 million members were African American. Most had been rejected from other unions because of their skin color. In 1918, the state arrested him, sentencing him to ten years for the crime of organizing workers during wartime. He served three years. After the trial, he told fellow defendant Big Bill Haywood: "The Judge has been using very ungrammatical language." When Hayward replied, "How is that, Ben?" Fletcher said: ‘His sentences are much too long.’”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #racism #benfletcher #philadelphia #longshore #dockers #prison #BlackMastodon