Timeline of Labor History
With thanks to The University of Hawaii’s Center for Labor Education and
Research for their labor history timeline.
v1 – 09/2011
1648
Shoemakers and coopers (barrel-makers) guilds organized in Boston.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu. Image:http://mattocks3.wordpress.com/category/mattocks/james-mattocks-mattocks-2/
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1776
Declaration of Independence signed in Carpenter's Hall.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu Image:blog.pactecinc.com
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1790
First textile mill, built in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was staffed
entirely by children under the age of 12.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu Image: creepychusetts.blogspot.com
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1845
The Female Labor Reform Association was created in Lowell, Massachusetts
by Sarah Bagley, and other women cotton mill workers, to reduce the work
day from 12-13 hours to10 hours, and to improve sanitation and safety in
the mills.
Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image: historymartinez.wordpress.com
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1868
The first 8-hour workday for federal workers took effect.
Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image: From Melbourne, Australia campaign but found at ntui.org.in
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1881
In Atlanta, Georgia, 3,000 Black women laundry workers staged one of
the largest and most effective strikes in the history of the south.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu, Image:http://www.apwu.org/laborhistory/10-1_atlantawomen/10-1_atlantawomen.htm
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1886
• March - 200,000 workers went on strike against the Union Pacific and Missouri
Pacific railroads owned by Jay Gould, one of the more flamboyant of the 'robber baron'
industrialists of the day.
• May 1 - in Chicago's Haymarket Square a bomb went off in the middle of a protest
rally against the killing of 4 strikers who had been on strike for the 8-hour day. This
began the international tradition of celebrating May Day for workers rights.
• December - The American Federation of Labor is formed representing 140,000
workers in 25 national unions.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html. Image:http://www.boisestate.edu/socwork/dhuff/us/chapters/CHAPTER%206.htm
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1902
147,000 miners striked over union recognition in the Great Anthracite Coal
Strike. President Roosevelt mediated.
Big Bill Haywood lead the Western Federation of Miners (WMF) through a
bloody series of conflicts spanning two years in what became known as the
Colorado Labor Wars.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html. Image: http://greatamericansclass.blogspot.com/2010/03/1902-anthracite-coal-strike.html
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1903
• The Department of Labor and
Commerce was created by an
act of Congress, and its
Secretary was made a member
of the President's Cabinet.
• “Mother” Jones led a protest
march of mill children, many of
whom were victims of industrial
accidents, from Philadelphia to
New York.
• November14 - At the AFL
convention in Boston, women
unionists unite to form the
National Women's Trade Union
League and elected Mary
Morton Kehew president and
Jane Addams vice-president.
Sources. Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html. Image:http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2010/03/another-us-radical-mother-jones.html
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1909
Female shirtwaist workers in New York striked against sweatshop
conditions. This “Uprising of 20,000” laid the groundwork for the
formation of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/triangle-newman/
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1911
The Triangle Waist Company Fire in New York on March 25, causes the
death of 146 workers. The majority of the deaths were of young
immigrant women between the ages of 16 and 23.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/nyregion/21triangle.html
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1912
In Lawrence, Massachusetts the IWW led a strike of 23,000 men, women
and children to organize the Lawrence Textile Mills. The "Bread & Roses"
Strike, was hailed as the first successful multi-ethnic strike.
Sources. Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-U0S.html. Image:libcom.org
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1919
In February, to protest two years of World War I wage controls, 65,000
workers went on strike in Seattle. 40,000 other workers joined them in
solidarity. The Seattle General Strike shut down the city.
Sources: Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html and http://www.examiner.com/history-in-seattle/90th-anniversary-of-theseattle-general-strike
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1934
The strike of 400,000 textile
workers from New England, the
Mid-Atlantic states and all over the
southeastern United States lasted
22 days. The strike's ultimate
failure and the union's defeat set
the groundwork for the
Southeastern portion of the United
States to become a largely
unorganized and anti-union
region.
Sources: Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html,
Image: http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-1330
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1943
Congress passed the Smith-Connally Act to restrict labor bargaining and
organizing. It required a 30-day "cooling off" period before strike,
criminal penalties for encouraging strikes, Presidential seizure of struck
plants, prohibitions against union campaign contributions. It was vetoed
by President Roosevelt.
Sources. Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image: http://www.newmediajournal.us/daily_columns/thanksgiving_fdr.htm
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1947
Following the largest strike wave in U.S. history, the Taft-Hartley Act was
passed, suppressing the rights of unions.
Sources. Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image:http://athomehesaturista.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/the-oakland-general-strike/
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1962
President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10988 giving federal workers the
right to join unions and bargain for wages and working conditions. This set
the groundwork for large scale unionization efforts in the public sector.
Sources: Text: http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html.
Image: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/Legislative-Summary-Main-Page/Legislative-Summary/Federal-Employees.aspx
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1963
On August 23, the March on
Washington for Jobs and
Freedom brought 250,000
men, women and children
together on the grounds of the
Lincoln Memorial to show their
support for the civil rights
movement. In addition to
supporting civil rights, the
leaders and planners of the
march stressed economic
inequities and called for
passage of a new federal jobs
program and a higher
minimum wage.
Sources: Text: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_march_on_washington_for_jobs_and_freedom/
Image:http://www.motleymoose.com/diary/2644/march-on-washington-2102010
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1964
On July 2, President Johnson signed the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, which banned discrimination in the workplace.
Sources: Image:http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=70626
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1965
September 8, Delano Grape Strike began when the Agricultural Workers
Organizing Committee - mostly Filipino farm workers in Delano, California walked off the farms demanding wages on level with the federal minimum
wage. A week after the strike began, the predominantly Mexican-American
National Farmworkers Association, led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta,
joined the strike. Eventually the two groups merged, forming the United Farm
Workers of America. The strike quickly spread to over 2,000 workers.
Sources:Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image:http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/tag/water-harvesting/
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1968
On April 3, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support
AFSCME sanitation workers. That evening, he delivered his famous
“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech to a packed room of
supporters. The next day he was assassinated.
Sources: Text and Images:http://www.afscme.org/union/history/mlk
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1981
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association struck in defiance of the
law. Newly elected President Ronald Reagan fired all the strikers and broke
the union, sanctioning the practice of hiring "permanent replacements" for
striking workers. Solidarity day labor rally drew 400,000 supporters to the
Mall in Washington D.C.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image: http://www.ufcw324.org/Current_Events/News/The_Strike_That_Busted_Unions/
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1993
The Family and Medical leave Act was passed.
Sources: Text:http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html, Image: http://myjourney.hubpages.com/hub/What-Does-FMLA-Mean-to-you
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
1999
Unions and social justice activists came together to protest the World
Trade Organization in Seattle. The meetings were shut down by the
protests.
Sources: Image: http://content.lib.washington.edu/wtoweb/
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
2005
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers
won a major victory by getting Yum
Foods, the parent company of Taco
Bell, to agree to raise the rate they
pay for tomatoes. This victory came
after a three-year boycott of Taco Bell.
Sources: Text and Images: http://www.ciw-online.org/agreementanalysis.html
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
2010
The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights went into effect in New York State thanks
to the amazing work of Domestic Workers United. The bill reforms New York
laws to guarantee basic work standards and protections for the nannies,
caregivers, and housekeepers who keep New York families functioning and
make all other work possible.
Source: domesticworkersunited.org
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
2011
In Wisconsin Union workers fought against legislation that would take
away collective bargaining rights for public employees.
Sources: Image: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2011/2/27/madison-wisconsin-day-12-sea-people-inside-and-out
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center
2011
Just 11.9% of the population are unionized.
Meanwhile the top 1% of the population receives 24% of the income.
Source: Text and Image: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/01/20/173738/report-incomes/
Labor History Timeline – Western States Center