Today in Labor History July 28 1,800 strikers were arrested, tanks fired tear gas into the shantytow

[Omaha Steve]

July 28

Women shoemakers in Lynn, Mass. create Daughters of St. Crispin, demand pay equal to that of men - 1869


Harry Bridges is born in Australia. He came to America as a sailor at age 19 and went on to help form and lead the militant International Longshore and Warehouse Union for more than 40 years - 1901

A strike by Paterson, N.J. silk workers for an eight-hour day, improved working conditions ends after six months, with the workers’ demands unmet. During the course of the strike, approximately 1,800 strikers were arrested, including Wobblie leaders Big Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn - 1913

Federal troops burn the shantytown built near the U.S. Capitol by thousands of unemployed WWI veterans, camping there to demand a bonus they had been promised but never received - 1932


And this: July 28, 1932 - General Douglas MacArthur, assisted by Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, led troops in burning to the ground a shantytown built near the U.S. Capitol by unemployed veterans. Some 20,000 ex-servicemen had camped out in the capital demanding a veterans’ bonus they had been promised but never received. Many were unemployed due to the Great Depression. Cavalry troops and tanks fired tear gas into the shantytown, routing veterans and their families, then set the buildings ablaze. MacArthur and President Herbert Hoover claimed they had saved the nation from revolution.

Read more about this incident at www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1284687 and www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX89.html

Nine miners are rescued in Sommerset, Pa. after being trapped for 77 hours 240 feet underground in the flooded Quecreek Mine - 2002

Labor history found here:http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_07_28_2011