Category Archives: Labor

Toledo Electric Auto-Lite Strike 1934

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April 12, 1934, the ELECTRIC AUTO-LITE STRIKE begins in Toledo Ohio over union recognition and wages. The strike lasts nearly two months, during which occurs a brutal five-day pitch battle between some 6,000 strikers and the Ohio National Guard, leaving two striking workers dead and more than 200 injured. The highly publicized struggle happens at the height of the Great Depression and comes to be known as the Battle of Toledo. The strike is regarded by many labor historians as one of the most important strikes in U.S. history…

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The State of the Unions

Pullman strikers outside Arcade Building in Pu...

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Union Websites

Labor History

Labor Biographies

Federal Labor Laws -US Dept of Labor

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Remembering Bloody Harlan County

Miners work in a mine with a low roof

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On May 5, 1931 the pot boiled over; in Harlan County Kentucky, heavily armed deputies and company men, called “gun thugs” by miners, confronted disgruntled union men on a road near Evarts. The coal miners, lean and tough from Kentucky mountain life, knew how to fight back… More>>

“Big Bill” Haywood (1869-1928)

A Wobbly membership card, or "red card"

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Haywood was a relentless organizer who mobilized workers and consistently antagonized company owners and management. John Reed, the journalist author of Ten Days That Shook the World, described Haywood’s face as “scarred like a battlefield.”… More>>