Labor History in 2:00

Labor History in 2:00


Latest Episodes

June 15 - Metal Trades Department Established
June 15, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1908. That was the day that the Executive Board of the American Federation of Labor established its Metal Trades Department.  The goal was to coordinate the o

June 14 - Miner Shot Dead, Trying to Organize
June 14, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1921. During that summer the battle waged over the efforts to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coal mines. The miners had been evicted from their compa

June 13 - Trouble in the Ranks
June 13, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1914.  That was the day that the Miner’s Union Day parade was scheduled in Butte, Montana.   In spite of the festivities trouble was brewing down in the coppe

June 12 - Hog Butcher for the World
June 12, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1904.  That was the day that 18,000 workers in the Chicago’s stockyards went out on strike.  Work in the stockyards was often brutal and dangerous. Thousands

June 11 - The Death of an Icon
June 11, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1969. That was the day that labor leader John L. Lewis died. Born to a Welsh-American Coal mining family in Iowa, Lewis became the leading champion of industr

June 10 - Paid Prep Time
June 10, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1946.  That was the day that the US Supreme Court handed down a decision that would have massive implication for American workers. The case was known as Ander

June 9 - McCarthy’s Downfall
June 09, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1954.  That was the day that marked the public downfall of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. Senator McCarthy had become the public face of anti-Communist hy

June 8 - Shot Down by the Colorado Militia
June 08, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1904. That was the day that John Carley, a union miner, was shot down in Dunnville, Colorado.  He was part of a strike in the Cripple Creek gold mining region

June 7 - Strike at Loray Mills
June 07, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1929. That was the day that Police Chief Orville Aderholt was shot and killed, at a camp of striking textile workers in Gastonia, North Carolina.  The textile

June 6 - Mine Owners Riot at Cripple Creek
June 06, 2023

On this day in Labor History the year was 1894.  That was the day that the Colorado state militia troops came to Cripple Creek to intervene in a mining strike. But unlike every other time in US mining