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PUBLIC EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 1 SEPTEMBER 2014 13 12 LABOR DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION e Industrial Revolution (1820-1870) changed the very nature of work for mil- lions of Americans. Previously, workers engaged in hand and home production, working for themselves or in a small shop, crafting raw materials or growing crops. With the Industrial Revolution, however, came an emphasis on factory jobs, where workers engaged in repetitive manufac- turing work for large companies. Workers toiled, often in dangerous and unsani- tary conditions. ose conditions, along with the long hours and increasing use of child labor, contributed to the growth of labor unions. To help publicize their problems, workers organized strikes and work stoppages. RAILROAD STRIKES AND THE BIRTH OF LABOR DAY In 1877, a strike among railroad workers in a dozen cities shut down half the country’s rail network and rocked the nation. at strike, known today as “the Great Railroad Strike of 1877,” began after railroad com- panies cut already low wages ($1.75 a day for a twelve-hour day), and ignored soar- ing deaths and injuries among workers, including the loss of hands and feet. e THE LABOR MOVEMENT : A SHORT HISTORY PART I strike, which began in West Virginia, spread to three additional states over a 45 day period and was ended violently by National Guardsmen and federal troops. Never forget that people bled and died for workers’ rights and safe working conditions. In the early 1890s, the Pullman Palace Car Company severely cut wages in its factories. Dissatisfied workers joined the American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene V. Debs. ARU members across the nation boycotted the Pullman cars, refus- ing to switch them onto trains. President Grover Cleveland, citing the effect of the strike on the mail system, ordered troops to break the strike. 13 workers were killed and 57 were wounded. As a political move, President Cleveland pushed to make Labor Day an official In honor of Labor Day, Local 1 would like to provide a brief history of seminal events that gave rise to the modern labor movement. To know where we are going, we must remember where we have been. holiday. On June 28, 1894, just six days after the end of the Pullman Strike, Congress unan- imously passed the Labor Day legislation. Labor Day was first observed on September 5, 1882 in New York City. HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT In 1886, the labor movement took a turn for the worse with the Haymarket Square riot. On May 4, 1886, a rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago to protest the killing and wound- ing of several workers by the Chicago police turned violent. Toward the end of the rally, policemen arrived to disperse the crowd. When they did, an individual threw a bomb at police. e individual who threw the explosive was never identified. e police opened fire. Chaos ensued. Seven police officers and at least one civilian died as a result of the violence. Countless oth- ers were injured. Labor organizers were rounded up by the police in Chicago and elsewhere. Some were beaten during interrogation; a num- ber of forced confessions were obtained. In the end, eight people were put on trial and seven were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and given death sentences. On November 11, 1887, four of the men were hanged. One of the men committed suicide on the eve of his execution, and the other two had their death sentences com- muted to life in prison by Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby. Public opinion was divided. For some, the events further fueled anti-labor sen- timent; others strongly believed the men were unjustly convicted martyrs. TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE In 1911, a tragedy occurred in New York City that highlighted the deplorable con- ditions under which people were forced to work and the need for organized labor. On HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENTS UNIONS FOUGHT FOR AND WON FOR WORKERS 8-Hour Work Day 40 Hour Work Week Overtime Pay Mandatory Breaks The Weekend Abolition of Child Labor Abolition of Sweatshops Social Security Medicare Pensions Minimum Wage Unemployment Insurance Workers Compensation Workplace Safety Rules Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) Sick Leave Military Leave Paid Vacation Holiday Pay Pregnancy and Parental Leave Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Age Discrimination Laws Sexual Harassment Laws Civil Rights Legislation Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Employer Health Insurance Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) Whistleblower Protection Laws Equal Employment Opportunities Equal Pay Act of 1963 Fair and Open Evaluation Process Free Public Education for Children The Right to Unionize and Collectively Bargain Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the building that housed the Triangle Waist Company, a sweatshop factory. e fire spread quickly. Management had refused to install sprin- klers, and the factory had been arranged for maximum production output, not for safety. e safety exits on the burning floors had been locked, allegedly to prevent theft. e predominantly female and immigrant workforce, some as young as 14 years old, had to make a quick choice: burn to death or leap from the windows to the city streets, and certain death, below. In the end, 146 employees perished. e Triangle Fire illustrated that fire inspections and precautions were woefully inadequate. People demanded justice and action, an end to unsafe working condi- tions, and protection for the vulnerable and oppressed. Workers flocked to union headquarters to offer testimonies, to mobilize, and to demand that the owners be brought to trial. e 146 deaths led to government regulations setting minimum standards for wages, hours, sanitary conditions, and overall workplace safety. continued on pg. 15 By Eileen Bissen, Business Agent, Martinez Office

THE LABOR MOVEMENT HISTORIC A SHORT …THE LABOR MOVEMENT: A SHORT HISTORY PART I strike, which began in West Virginia, spread to three additional states over a 45 day period and was

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Page 1: THE LABOR MOVEMENT HISTORIC A SHORT …THE LABOR MOVEMENT: A SHORT HISTORY PART I strike, which began in West Virginia, spread to three additional states over a 45 day period and was

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 1 SEPTEMBER 2014 1312

LABOR DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The Industrial Revolution (1820-1870) changed the very nature of work for mil-lions of Americans. Previously, workers engaged in hand and home production, working for themselves or in a small shop, crafting raw materials or growing crops. With the Industrial Revolution, however, came an emphasis on factory jobs, where workers engaged in repetitive manufac-turing work for large companies. Workers toiled, often in dangerous and unsani-tary conditions. Those conditions, along with the long hours and increasing use of child labor, contributed to the growth of labor unions. To help publicize their problems, workers organized strikes and work stoppages.

RAILROAD STRIKES AND THE BIRTH OF LABOR DAY

In 1877, a strike among railroad workers in a dozen cities shut down half the country’s rail network and rocked the nation. That strike, known today as “the Great Railroad Strike of 1877,” began after railroad com-panies cut already low wages ($1.75 a day for a twelve-hour day), and ignored soar-ing deaths and injuries among workers, including the loss of hands and feet. The

THE LABOR MOVEMENT: A SHORT HISTORY PART I

strike, which began in West Virginia, spread to three additional states over a 45 day period and was ended violently by National Guardsmen and federal troops.

Never forget that people bled and died for workers’ rights and safe working conditions.

In the early 1890s, the Pullman Palace Car Company severely cut wages in its factories. Dissatisfied workers joined the

American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene V. Debs. ARU members across the nation boycotted the Pullman cars, refus-ing to switch them onto trains.

President Grover Cleveland, citing the effect of the strike on the mail system, ordered troops to break the strike. 13 workers were killed and 57 were wounded.

As a political move, President Cleveland pushed to make Labor Day an official

In honor of Labor Day, Local 1 would like to provide a brief history of seminal events that gave rise to the modern labor movement. To know

where we are going, we must remember where we have been.

holiday. On June 28, 1894, just six days after the end of the Pullman Strike, Congress unan-imously passed the Labor Day legislation.

Labor Day was first observed on September 5, 1882 in New York City.

HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT

In 1886, the labor movement took a turn for the worse with the Haymarket Square riot. On May 4, 1886, a rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago to protest the killing and wound-ing of several workers by the Chicago police turned violent. Toward the end of the rally, policemen arrived to disperse the crowd. When they did, an individual threw a bomb at police. The individual who threw the explosive was never identified. The police opened fire. Chaos ensued. Seven police officers and at least one civilian died as a result of the violence. Countless oth-ers were injured.

Labor organizers were rounded up by the police in Chicago and elsewhere. Some were beaten during interrogation; a num-ber of forced confessions were obtained.

In the end, eight people were put on trial and seven were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and given death sentences. On November 11, 1887, four of the men were hanged. One of the men committed suicide on the eve of his execution, and the other two had their death sentences com-muted to life in prison by Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby.

Public opinion was divided. For some, the events further fueled anti-labor sen-timent; others strongly believed the men were unjustly convicted martyrs.

TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE

In 1911, a tragedy occurred in New York City that highlighted the deplorable con-ditions under which people were forced to work and the need for organized labor. On

HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENTS UNIONS FOUGHT

FOR AND WON FOR WORKERS

8-Hour Work Day

40 Hour Work Week

Overtime Pay

Mandatory Breaks

The Weekend

Abolition of Child Labor

Abolition of Sweatshops

Social Security

Medicare

Pensions

Minimum Wage

Unemployment Insurance

Workers Compensation

Workplace Safety Rules

Occupational Safety

and Health Act (OSHA)

Sick Leave

Military Leave

Paid Vacation

Holiday Pay

Pregnancy and Parental Leave

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Age Discrimination Laws

Sexual Harassment Laws

Civil Rights Legislation

Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)

Employer Health Insurance

Employee Polygraph

Protection Act (EPPA)

Whistleblower Protection Laws

Equal Employment Opportunities

Equal Pay Act of 1963

Fair and Open Evaluation Process

Free Public Education for Children

The Right to Unionize and

Collectively Bargain

Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the building that housed the Triangle Waist Company, a sweatshop factory. The fire spread quickly. Management had refused to install sprin-klers, and the factory had been arranged for maximum production output, not for safety.

The safety exits on the burning floors had been locked, allegedly to prevent theft. The predominantly female and immigrant workforce, some as young as 14 years old, had to make a quick choice: burn to death or leap from the windows to the city streets, and certain death, below. In the end, 146 employees perished.

The Triangle Fire illustrated that fire inspections and precautions were woefully inadequate. People demanded justice and action, an end to unsafe working condi-tions, and protection for the vulnerable and oppressed.

Workers flocked to union headquarters to offer testimonies, to mobilize, and to demand that the owners be brought to trial. The 146 deaths led to government regulations setting minimum standards for wages, hours, sanitary conditions, and overall workplace safety.

continued on pg. 15

By Eileen Bissen, Business Agent, Martinez Office

Page 2: THE LABOR MOVEMENT HISTORIC A SHORT …THE LABOR MOVEMENT: A SHORT HISTORY PART I strike, which began in West Virginia, spread to three additional states over a 45 day period and was

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 1 DECEMBER 2014 1514

THE LABOR MOVEMENT: A SHORT HISTORY PART II

By Eileen Bissen, Business Agent, Martinez Office

WORLD WAR II The Second World War was a boon time for labor unions. Wartime labor shortages and increased wartime production needs put labor in high demand. Labor unions seized the opportunity to consolidate their power. Union membership exponentially increased during and immediately after World War II. By the end of the war, it is estimated more than 12 million work-ers belonged to a union. The good times would not last though. With the increase in union membership came a concerted effort, through anti-union legislation, to curtail the power unions had gained.

THE TAFT-HARTLEY ACT (1947)Republican majorities in both houses of Congress—the first since 1930—wanted to cure what they saw as union abuses permitted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), also known as the Wagner Act. The Taft-Hartley Act, designed to amend much of the NLRA, was enacted over President Harry S. Truman’s veto in 1947. The Taft-Hartley Act, a product of an anti-union climate in the United States following World War II, declared all closed shops illegal, forbade secondary boycotts, and disallowed unions from contributing to political campaigns. Fanning fears of Communism and scapegoating Labor at the same time, one provision of Taft-Hartley specifically required union leaders to take an oath that they were not Communists. Expectedly, Taft-Hartley eroded a number of union gains.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10988 LEADS TO SURGE IN COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTSBetween 1946 and 1962, the number of state and local employees nearly doubled. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, granting federal workers the power to unionize. That

Executive Order set off a flood of collective bargaining laws passed by state govern-ments in the 1960s and 1970s, which bettered the lives and working conditions of many public employees. Between 1959 and 1984, approximately 35 states granted collective bargaining rights to at least some public sector workers. Even today, collec-tive bargaining remains a vital cornerstone of union workers’ rights.

CESAR CHAVEZ, THE DELANO MANONGS, RFK & MLK: WORKERS’ RIGHTS EQUAL CIVIL RIGHTSIn the early sixties, Cesar Chavez emerged and changed the face of the labor move-ment. Along with other civil rights and labor leaders, he dovetailed methods from the civil rights movement to garner pub-lic attention and support for the plight of workers.

Chavez grew up as a migrant worker in the fields of California, enduring deplor-able conditions he would spend the rest of his life trying to rectify for others. He eventually rose to prominence for his involvement with the United Farm Workers (UFW), which he cofounded with Dolores Huerta. Chavez, the born leader

and captivating speaker, and Huerta, the skilled organizer and tough negotiator, made a dynamic team, but they were not the only labor leaders behind the UFW.

To form the UFW, Chavez and Huerta joined with Philip Vera Cruz’s Agriculture Worker Organizing Committee (AWOC). Vera Cruz, a Filipino-American labor leader, farm worker, and activist for the Asian American Civil Rights Movement, served as a long-time vice president of the UFW.

Cruz and Larry Itliong, also Filipino-American, and a self-taught labor leader and founder of the Filipino Farm Labor Union (FFLU), convinced Chavez and Huerta to join a strike the predominantly

Filipino workforce had started against grape growers in Delano, California. Under the leadership of Chavez, Huerta, Vera Cruz and Itliong, a multiethnic alliance of Latinos and Filipinos worked in concert to protest years of poor pay and working conditions.

The strike and grape boycott garnered international attention, becoming known as “La Huelga” (The Struggle). At the height of the boycott, more than 14 mil-lion Americans participated by refusing to buy grapes.

The struggle was not over, however. In 1970, in an effort to keep the UFW out of California lettuce and vegetable fields, growers sought a sweetheart deal that would benefit growers at the expense of workers. The Teamsters, in a self-serving move, betrayed their UFW union broth-ers and signed a backdoor deal with the growers. As a way to enforce their new deal against the UFW, Teamsters often resorted to violence, which is exactly the opposite practice of leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr and Mahatma Gandhi.

PRESIDENT REAGAN UNILATERALLY FIRES AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS Strikes by workers as a leverage tool, so prevalent between World War II and 1981, would soon come to a halt. In 1981, an infamous labor dispute between air traf-fic controllers and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ended with the President of the United States delivering an ultimatum to workers and breaking their union.

The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), the union repre-senting the air traffic controllers, sought an across-the-board annual wage increase and a reduction in work hours. In response

to the $770 million package sought by the union, the FAA made a $40 million coun-teroffer. On August 3, 1981, air traffic controllers walked off the job after talks with the FAA collapsed.

President Reagan unilaterally branded the strike illegal and two days later, fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who ignored his order to return to work.

This act set off long-lasting implications to labor. Private employers saw it as the beginning of the end for collective bar-gaining and strikes, and routinely replaced strikers with “scab” workers—often times less trained or untrained—rather than negotiate fairer deals.

Today, Reagan’s firing of the air traf-fic controllers is heralded by anti-union politicians, like Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, as the roadmap to eradicating public sector unions.

What Reagan did was essentially remove the one, final equalizer—a strike—which objectively, was what kept all employers from simply ignoring collective bargaining and imposing whatever terms they desire.

ANTI-LABOR FORCES TRYING TO ELIMINATE UNIONS ALTOGETHERIf we were to write the headline for the cur-rent status of the labor movement, what would it say? Sadly, it would likely reflect the steady decline in the union member-ship, despite the troubling rise in low-paid jobs, unemployment and underemploy-ment, declining wages and crippling health care costs.

While the unionization rate hit its peak at 35 percent after World War II, in 2010, union membership in this country fell to 11.9 percent, the lowest rate in more than 70 years. Things worsened in 2012,

when only 11.3 percent of workers were unionized.

The steady decline in union membership can be explained by the current anti-union ideology in this country.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR LABOR?)Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

So it’s the workers. It’s always been the workers.

Organized and unionized workers must take the lead and not wait for “friendly” elected officials to “do the right thing.” If the history of the labor movement in the US has taught us anything, it is that work-ers are taken advantage of and working conditions deteriorate in the absence of strong unions.

On the other hand, wages increase and working conditions improve when work-ers have strong unions advocating on their behalf. Strong unions have one thing in common: strong and active members willing to act, willing to participate, and willing to take action.

Today, despite the plight faced by work-ers, union membership is at a historic low.

Where do we go from here? The answer is that labor unions must rebuild and thrive, or perish. Union members must step up, commit, and invest. Unions are under severe, concerted attack by wealthy cor-porate forces, extreme, ideological forces, and a weak-kneed, feeble media that has forgotten its role as the fourth estate.

Labor must either band together and stand up to these forces now, or wait…

Wait for what?Wait till these forces absolutely crush

Labor, snap the backs of workers, break the spirit of the working class, and then take us back to the days of robber barons, poverty wages, and indentured servitude.

And perhaps, after 30 to 50 years of those “Darwinian Capitalism” conditions again, will the heart, passion, and courage of the working class be stoked enough to rise again.

The choice is ours.

“Labor cannot stand still. It must not retreat. It must go on, or go under.”

–Harry Bridges, Labor Leader, International Longshore and Warehouse Union