Today in Labor History Jan 5 Ford raised wages to keep the unions out!

[Omaha Steve]

January 5

The nation’s first Black labor convention was held in Washington, D.C., with 214 delegates forming the Colored National Labor Union - 1869

Ford Motor Company raised wages from $2.40 for a 9-hour day to $5 for an 8 hour day in effort to keep the unions out - 1914

Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins. Ten of the eleven deaths on the job came when safety netting beneath the site – the first-ever use of such equipment – failed under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen. Nineteen other workers were saved by the net over the course of construction. They became members of the (informal) Halfway to Hell Club - 1933

United Mine Workers reformer Joseph Yablonski and his family murdered by goons hired by union president Tony Boyle - 1970

And this: January 5, 1970 - Joseph "Jock" Yablonski, a reform candidate who had tried to unseat United Mine Workers President Tony Boyle, was murdered, along with his wife and daughter, in their Pennsylvania home by assassins acting on Boyle's orders. Boyle was later convicted of the killing, paving the way for reform of the union.

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_01_05_2010