Labor history Nov 21, 6 miners killed, UAW strikes 92 General Motors plants, 85 dead 650 injured,

[Omaha Steve]

November 21

November 21, 1863 - Newspapers across the country reported on strikes and protests against high prices during the Civil War. Among the groups identified in a New York article were machinists, railroad workers, house painters, carpenters, lithographic printers, window shade painters, horse shoers and sugar packers. “Imperfect as we confess our list to be,” the newspaper reported, “there is enough to convince the reader that the social revolution now working its way through the land must succeed, if workingmen are only true to each other.”

6 striking for better working conditions under the IWW banner were killed and many wounded in the Columbine Massacre at Lafayette, Colo. Out of this struggle Colorado coal miners gained lasting union contracts - 1927

The United Auto Workers Union strikes 92 General Motors plants in 50 cities to back up worker demands for a 30 percent raise. 200,000 workers are out - 1945

Staten Island and Brooklyn are linked by the new Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time and still the longest in the U.S. Joseph Farrell, an apprentice Ironworker on the project, told radio station WNYC: "The way the wind blows over this water it would blow you right off the iron. That was to me and still is the most treacherous part of this business. When the wind grabs you on the open iron, it can be very dangerous." Three workers died over the course of the five year project - 1964

A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas kills 85 hotel employees and guests and sends 650 injured persons, including 14 firefighters, to the hospital. Most of the deaths and injuries were caused by smoke inhalation - 1980

Flight attendants celebrate the signing into law a smoking ban on all U.S. domestic flights - 1989

Congress approves the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), to take effect Jan. 1 of the following year - 1993


Workers in the United States have long understood that NAFTA -- the North American Free Trade Agreement -- has been a disaster, with more than two million jobs leaving the country for lower-wage countries following the law’s passage in 1994. But relatively few Americans know what a nightmare NAFTA has been for Mexican workers -- the people who, the agreement’s proponents argued, would be lifted from poverty and be turned into serious consumers of American goods. In testimonies from scores of Mexicans across that country, NAFTA From Below details the terrible impact NAFTA has had south of the border. These first-hand accounts of workers organizing for their rights, of farmers and indigenous peoples fighting to preserve their land, and of efforts north and south to build alternatives, document the courage of ordinary people who dare to join together and fight for decent working conditions, just salaries, a clean environment and lives with dignity. Co-editor Martha A. Ojeda worked in the maquiladoras for 20 years and was the leader of a wildcat strike of Sony workers in Nuevo Laredo in 1994. In the UCS bookstore now.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act takes effect in the nation’s workplaces. It prohibits employers from requesting genetic testing or considering someone’s genetic background in hiring, firing or promotions - 2009

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_11_21_2011