All those brave women and men who fought-and continue to fight-for the right of working people organize and receive decent wages for their hard work, enjoy safe working conditions, paid leave when they need it most and all the other basic rights they deserve for their labor have been heroes of mine all my life. Today I honor the legendary African-American unionist Hattie Canty who migrated to Las Vegas from rural Alabama. In contrast to the AFL-CIO’s George Meany, who bragged that he had never been on a picket line, Canty was one of the greatest strike leaders in U.S. history. Her patient leadership helped knit together a labor union made up of members from 84 nations. (The Zinn Education Project) Union organizers have always faced grave danger from company owners-but Canty, like so many others, chose to stare that danger right in the face and fight so that people like me could enjoy the salary, benefits and great working conditions I was lucky enough to experience. “Coming from Alabama,” Canty observed, “this seemed like the civil rights struggle … the labor movement and the civil rights movement, you cannot separate the two of them.” Read more about Hattie Canty here: bit.ly/1km6yVy March is Womens History Month
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:40:23 +0000