Today in Labor History Feb 25, 25,000 women & children 208 day strike 5 die & more

[Omaha Steve]

February 25

February 25, 1913 - Some 25,000 immigrant textile workers went on strike against Paterson, New Jersey, silk factories. The largely unskilled workforce of mostly women and children worked for low wages in unsafe conditions. The strike was prompted when mill owners doubled the size of the looms without increasing staffing or wages. Led by the Industrial Workers of the World, the strike drew luminaries such as IWW founder "Big Bill" Haywood and radical writer John Reed. A spectacular fundraising pageant was held in New York's Madison Square Garden. But the strike collapsed when mill owners, exploiting divisions among the workers, got the skilled workforce to agree to return to work, leaving the unskilled immigrants high and dry. Five strikers were killed during the 208-day walkout.

Read Elizabeth Gurley Flynn's recollection of this strike: http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/njwomenshistory/Period_4/flynn.htm

Other resources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/peopleevents/e_strike.html

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USApaterson.htm


Amalgamated Association of Street & Electric Railway Employees of America change name to Amalgamated Transit Union - 1965

The Order of Railroad Telegraphers change name to Transportation-Communication Employees Union - 1965

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_02_25_2011

[upi402]

1. 95% of us trade our labor for money

and less than 5% are taught any labor history or workplace rights.

Thanks for this. People died for the luxuries Americans are being duped out of by the corporate media.