Labor History in 2:00

On this day in Labor History the year was 1979. 

That was the day that young women workers at the YH Trading Company in Seoul, South Korea staged a sit-in. 

The women made wigs for export. 

The company had been one of the leading exporters in the nation. 

But then the managers began to move the profits from the wig company to a shipping company under the same ownership, as well as to a film production company. 

This drained the profits from the wig factory and left it in debt. 

The owner shut down the company without warning, firing all of the employees. 

These women did not only lose their jobs.

Water and electricity were turned off at the factory dormitories where they lived. 

A union represented the young women. 

The union planned a strike at the building, but the police were called in to break it up. 

The workers decided move their protest to the local headquarters of the New Democratic Party.  

The party was in opposition to the leader of Seoul, President Park Chung Hee. 

The fired women were welcomed at the New Democratic Party office. 

There they decided to stage a sit-in to bring attention to their situation. 

The worker’s sit-in only lasted three days. 

Then 1,000 police stormed the building. 

They overturned furniture and broke windows.

They dragged the women out of the building violently. 

One woman, 21-year old Kim Kyong-sook died in the raid

She fell from the roof of the building in a clash with the police. 

Four of the union leaders were sent to prison. 

More than two hundred of the workers were expelled out of Seoul, back home to rural areas. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1850. 

That was the day that two tailors who were out on strike in New York City were killed in a confrontation with the police. 

It is thought they were the first workers to die while participating in a strike in the United States. 

They certainly would not be the last. 

The United States has one of the bloodiest labor histories of any industrial nation. 

It is estimated that at least 700 people have lost their lives to violence during a strike. 

The vast majority of those slain were workers. 

Some of the most-bloody conflicts included the Great Upheaval of 1877. 

Across the country 100 workers lost their lives in an uprising of railway labor. 

Then in the 1892 strike against Carnegie Steel in Homestead, Pennsylvania nine strikers and three Pinkerton agents died. 

Two years later, thirty workers died across the country in a strike and boycott against the Pullman Palace Car Company. 

One of the most infamous labor massacres occurred in Ludlow, Colorado in 1914. 

During this coal mining strike gun thugs hired by the company rained machine gun bullets and fire down on a tent colony of the striking workers. 

At least nineteen people were killed. 

Eleven of them were children. 

In 1937, ten workers died on Memorial Day at a demonstration against Republic Steel in Chicago. 

These are just some of the battles, massacres and murders that shaped the American labor movement. 

Too often the toll of this blood-shed is not taught in history classes. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1890.  That was the day that one of the heroines of the US labor movement, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was born in Concord, New Hampshire.  Elizabeth learned her progressive politics at a young age.  Her father was a socialist and her mother was a feminist

On this day in Labor History the year was 1835. That was the day that began the “Baltimore Bank Riot.” The Bank of Maryland had failed in 1834.  Thousands of people who had deposited money in the bank saw their savings vanish. For nearly a year-and-a-half the depositors waited for their money to be returned.  Anger grew.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1993. That was the day that the Family Medical Leave Act went into effect. Union members worked hard to support this legislation, testifying before congress and holding rallies. It was an uphill battle to pass the bill. Starting in 1984 family medical leave was brought before Congress. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1942.  That was the day that the United States and Mexico signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement.  It became known as the Bracero Program.  The word “bracero” can be translated into “one who works with his arms” and refers to farm workers. 

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day that became known in California as the “Wheatland Riot.” The Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, were trying to organize hop pickers, who worked near the city of Wheatland in Northern California. Living conditions for the hop pickers were rough.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1939.  That was the day that the Hatch Act was enacted.  The law was named after Senator Carl Hatch, a Democratic Senator from New Mexico. The Hatch Act limits political activity by federal employees.  One of the reasons the law was passed was due to allegations of corruption by the Works Progress Administration.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1917.  Frank Little, an activist for the Industrial Workers of The World, or Wobblies was lynched near Butte, Montana.  His beaten body was found hung off of a railroad trestle.  On it was pinned a disturbing note.  

On this day in Labor History the year was 1970.  That was the day the NFL Players Association went out on strike.  The American Football League and the National Football League officially merged that year.  Each league had their own player’s association.  With the league merger they joined forces into one union.