Today in Labor History Apr 20, 14 women and children killed Ludlow Massacre, UAW President shot more

[Omaha Steve]

April 20

10,000 demonstrators celebrate textile workers’ win of a 10-percent pay hike and grievance committees after a one-month strike, Lowell, Mass. - 1912

Ludlow massacre: Colorado state militia, using machine guns and fire, kill about 20 people -- including 11 children -- at a tent city set up by striking coal miners - 1914

And this: April 20, 1914 - John D. Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. brought in state militia and company gunmen to break a strike by 10,000 members of the United Mine Workers of America. They fired machine guns and set fire to a tent colony of strikers and their families. Fourteen women and children were killed in what is remembered as the Ludlow Massacre.

For more information on Ludlow, go to http://www.umwa.org/history/ludlow.shtml and http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5737/


An unknown assailant shoots through a window at United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther as he is eating dinner at his kitchen table, permanently imparing his right arm. It was one of at least two assassination attempts on Reuther. He and his wife later died in a small plane crash under what many believe to be suspicious circumstances - 1948

And this: April 20, 1948 - United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassins. The charismatic labor leader died in a plane crash in 1970.

For more on the life of Walter Reuther, see http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5737/

National Association of Post Office Mail Handlers, Watchmen, Messengers & Group Leaders merge with Laborers - 1968

United Auto Workers members end a successful 172 day strike against International Harvester, protesting management demands for new work rules and mandatory overtime provisions - 1980


Eleven workers are killed, 17 injured when BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico. Lax, profit-focused procedures "that saved ... significant time and money" for BP and other companies were found to blame. An estimated 5 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf before the well was capped after 85 days - 2010

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_04_20_2011