Today in labor history. November 05 Eugene V. Debs, labor leader, socialist, three-time candidate for president and first president of the American Railway Union, born - 1855 Some 12,000 television and movie writers begin what was to become a 3-month strike against producers over demands for an increase in pay for movies and television shows released on DVD and for a bigger share of the revenue from work delivered over the Internet - 2007 Read- (Theyre Bankrupting Us! And 20 Other Myths about Unions: How familiar do these phrases ring? Unions are responsible for budget deficits; they’ve outlived their usefulness; their members are overpaid and enjoy cushy benefits. The only way to save the American economy, many say, is to weaken the labor movement, strip workers of collective bargaining rights, and champion private industry. In Theyre Bankrupting Us! And 20 Other Myths about Unions, longtime labor activist and educator Bill Fletcher Jr. makes sense of this debate as he unpacks the 21 myths most often cited by anti-union propagandists.) From unionist/today-in-labor-history-95 November 5, 1916 -- The Everett Massacre occurred in Everett, Washington. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) labor activists were killed by the Everett police. On October 30, in the midst of a depression, forty IWW members arrived by boat in Everett to help support the shingle workers strike, but before they could land they were clubbed and jailed by local deputies. Later that night they were beaten. On Nov. 5, 250 more IWW supporters arrived to fight for free speech and support their jailed comrades, but gunfire broke out as soon as they arrived. Between 5 and 12 Wobblies were killed, and another 31 were injured. Both Big Bill Haywood and Samuel Gompers called on the federal government to protect the rights of working-class citizens in Everett, but no action was taken. (From the Daily Bleed) November 5, 1918 – For the first time ever, the Farmer Labor Party appeared on the ballot in Minnesota. David Evans, a hardware merchant from Tracy, ran for governor and Tom Davis, a prominent Minneapolis labor attorney, campaigned for the office of attorney general. (From Workday Minnesota) November 5, 1928 –5,000 banana workers struck against United Fruit Company in Columbia, 1,000 of them were killed. (From the Daily Bleed) November 5, 1968 – Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress. (From the Daily Bleed) November 5, 2001 – At least four hunger strikers who were protesting Turkish prison conditions died in a police raid. Their deaths brought the total to 45 deaths in the last year. Hundreds of jailed left-wing militants had joined the death fast to protest being kept in isolation cells in “F-type” high security prisons, subjected to torture, beatings and abuse. (From the Daily Bleed) From modeducation.blogspot/2012/11/today-in-labor-historynovember-5.html?m=1 1) Debs leaving the White House after being released from prison, 1921. Source; modeducation.blogspot/2012/11/today-in-labor-historynovember-5.html?m=1 2) Hugo Gerlot, killed in the Everett Massacre. Source; modeducation.blogspot/2012/11/today-in-labor-historynovember-5.html?m=1
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 00:47:15 +0000
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