May 1 Mary Harris
"Mother" Jones was born in 1830. The renowned labor organizer, who lived to be
100, said, "I live in the United States, but I do not know exactly where. My address
is wherever there is a fight against oppression. My address is like my shoes; it travels
with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong."
1 In 1888, 19 machinists at the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia
railroad assembled in a locomotive pit to decide what to do about a wage cut. They voted
to form a union, which became the International Association of Machinists.
1 May Day, or International Workers' Day, which commemorates the
historical struggle of working people around the world.
3 In 1886, at the height of the movement for the eight-hour day,
police opened fire in a crowd of workers participating in a general strike at McCormick
Harvester Co. in Chicago. Four workers were killed, and anarchists called a public rally
the following day at Haymarket Square to protest the police brutality. As the peaceful
protest drew to a close, a bomb was thrown into the police line. One officer was killed
and several were wounded. Police responded by firing into the crowd, killing one and
wounding many. The incident kicked off an intensive campaign against labor leaders and
other activists, and eight anarchists were later framed for the bombing.
16 In 1938, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Mackay decision
permitting employers to permanently replace striking workers. Employers used this weapon
against striking workers sparingly until the 1980s, when its use increased under the
influence of the Reagan Administration's anti-union policies.
18 In 1917, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen initiated
a huge organizing campaign in packinghouses across the U.S. that brought membership from
6,500 to 100,000 two years later.
19 In 1942, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee formally became the
United Steelworkers of America (USWA).
25 In 1886, Philip Murray was born in Blantyre, Scotland. He was the
USWA's founding president and head of the Congress of Industrial Organizations from 1940
until his death in 1952.
26 Henry Ford's opposition to collective bargaining was in evidence on
this day in 1937, when company goons attacked United Auto Workers (UAW) organizers at the
"Battle of the Overpass" outside of the River Rouge plant. Though General Motors
and Chrysler signed collective bargaining agreements with the UAW in 1937, Ford held out
until 1942.
27 In 1959, delegates of the Insurance Agent's International Union and
the Insurance Workers of America, having ratified the merger agreement at their respective
conventions, convened as delegates of the merged union, the Insurance Workers
International Union. The 15,000-member union merged with the United Food and Commercial
Workers in 1983.
28 In 1835, the Ladies Shoe Binders Society was formed in New York.
30 Anniversary of the Memorial Day massacre at Chicago's Republic
Steel plant in 1937. Police attacked strikers, killing seven, wounding 100. |