Today in Labor History July 20, 1934: Police shot at picketing strikers on Bloody Friday of the Minneapolis General Strike, killing two and wounding 67. The teamsters strike had begun in May. While the teamsters’ national leadership was conservative and opposed to strikes, Local 574, in Minneapolis, was affiliated with the Communist Party, and Local 544 was connected with the Trotskyist Communist League. They began organizing their members for a strike in spite of the national leadership. They effectively shut down nearly all transport in the city, except for food, which they permitted to prevent starvation. The police, and vigilantes working for the bosses, routinely attacked them on the picket line. Consequently, workers in other industries joined them in solidarity, leading to a General Strike. On July 20, as the cops tried escort scabs onto a worksite, picketers with clubs tried to block them. The cops opened fire with shotguns. An eyewitness said he saw a man stepping on his own intestines and another carrying his own severed hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7cTjkAY14
#scab
New Podcast! "5 July 1777: Scab first used in print" on @Spreaker #history #scab #workers
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/5-july-1777-scab-first-used-in-print--66871181
Today in Labor History July 3, 1936: Striking workers battled scabs and undercover cops outside the Remington Rand plant in Norwood, Ohio. The riot last four days, as the company repeatedly tried to bring in scabs on buses, without uniformed police protection, in hopes of provoking violence they could exploit to discredit the union. On July 7, strikers boarded the buses and drove off the scabs. On August 12, police shot 2 Remington Rand workers in Syracuse, NY, provoking the governor to threaten calling in the National Guard. Much of the violence in this strike was instigated by undercover cops, posing as scabs. The strike had begun in May and lasted through April of 1937. During the strike, company president James Rand, Jr. devised the "Mohawk Valley formula" a corporate plan for strikebreaking that was utilized by many corporations since. The plan included strategies for discrediting union leaders, frightening the public with threats of violence, use of local cops and vigilantes to intimidate and bully the strikers, puppet organizations composed of of "loyal employees" to influence public debate, fortified workplaces, the hiring of strikebreakers, and threats to close the plant and ruin the local economy if work was not promptly resumed. One example from this formula was when Rand lied to the media that the strike was over. This led to an uproar amongst the rand and file, who accused union leadership of selling them out. In another dirty trick, the company told the picketers that many of their fellow workers had decided to come back to work. They had 85 security guards dress up as workers and armed them with bricks and clubs. When they “came back to work,” picketers attacked them. The media photographed and printed images of these “labor goons’” unprovoked attack on “honest working men.”
Today in Labor History June 8, 1904: A battle between the Colorado state militia and striking miners occurred in Dunnville, Colorado. As a result, six union members died and 15 were taken prisoner. The authorities deported 79 of the strikers to Kansas. Most of this was done under the auspices of Rockefeller, who effectively owned the state government and militia.
This incident occurred during the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903-1904. Big Bill Haywood and the Western Federation of Labor (WFM) led the strikes. However, they were violently suppressed by Pinkerton and Baldwin-Felts detectives, local cops and militias. Scholars have said “There is no episode in American labor history in which violence was as systematically used by employers as in the Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904.”
James McParland ran the Pinkerton agency in Denver. He had served as an agent provocateur in the Pennsylvania miners’ union in the 1870s. The state convicted and executed 20 innocent Irish coal miners because of his false testimony. (I depict that story in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”) McParland also tried to sabotage the WFM, in Colorado, by placing spies and agents provocateur within the union. And he unsuccessfully tried to get Big Bill Haywood convicted for murdering former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Haywood was innocent.
You can read more on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/
You can pick up my novel here:
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/
https://christophersbooks.com/
https://boundtogether.org//
https://www.historiumpress.com/michael-dunn
Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!
#workingclass #LaborHistory #colorado #laborwars #bigbillhaywood #wfm #union #strike #Pinkertons
#scab #solidarity #jamesmcparland #books #novel #historicalfiction #author #writer #AnywhereButSchuylkill @bookstadon
Today in Labor History June 3, 1913: IWW Marine Transport Workers Union in New Orleans continued their strike against United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita) after wages were cut by five dollars per month. The strike, which started on June 2, turned deadly on June 13, when police opened fire on strikers trying to stop scabs from loading a ship, killing two of them. The IWW lost this strike. However, they were highly successful in other longshore strikes up and down the Eastern Seaboard. At this time, the IWW controlled all but 2 of the Philadelphia docks. Their multiracial union was led by Ben Fletcher, an African-American docker. Fletcher was also instrumental in organizing the Baltimore dockers.
You can read my longer article about Ben Fletcher here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/
𓅠 Woolworths wins Fair Work Commission bid against United Workers Union
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-06/woolworths-lawyer-accuses-union-of-metaphorical-gun/104692632
This is grim news for Woolies workers.
And, it sets a bad precedent. Other large retailers with distribution centres around Australia will be looking at this news and thinking they can screw their workers the same way and not face a picket-line outside their warehouses.
It's also worth noting that the Fair Work Commission has been stacked by LNP cronies over the last few years when the LNP were in government and had power over appointments. I'm sure many people at the Fair Work Commission try to be impartial, but it shouldn't come as a surprise when they sometimes make decisions that favour big business. The LNP has a long history of undermining "independent umpires" -- workers at Woolies and the United Workers Union are not on a level playing field.
The good news is that the United Workers Union is likely lodge an appeal, so they're still in with a fight.
My personal boycott of Woolies remains in place -- my partner & I are instead shopping at other supermarkets and local grocers, and we're thinking of making the boycott permanent. I suggest you show solidarity with the workers and boycott Woolies.
The NewsGuild's president says Vance should know better than to write for a publication whose workers are on strike.
JD Vance Is A ‘Scab’ For Crossing Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Picket Line: Union
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance-scab-pittsburgh-post-gazette_n_671a61a8e4b0ede6b2c075a0
Love has such luscious
layers, it shouldn't been covered
by outer hiding
#MastoPrompt
#scab
#haiku
#senryu
#poetry
#SmallPoems
#writing
#music
Landscape of my youth
integument of welfare
a world that vanished
#MastoPrompt
#scab
#dailyhaikuprompt
#WillowLeaves
#haiku
#senryu
#poetry
#SmallPoems
#writing
#photography
@stevencudahy
@dailyhaikuprompt
Old Dutch Landscape - (unknown photographer)
"Donald Trump is already receiving pushback after threatening striking workers in his trainwreck interview with #ElonMusk.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk. “You walk in, you say, ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, &you say, ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.’”
In response, the United Auto Workers on Tuesday morning filed federal labor charges against Trump & Musk, calling the two “disgraced billionaires.”
The UAW accused them of “illegal attempts to threaten & intimidate workers who stand up for themselves by engaging in protected concerted activity, such as strikes.”
“When we say Donald #Trump is a #scab, this is what we mean. Trump stands against everything our union stands for,” said UAW President Shawn Fain.
Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for going on strike. Threatening to do so is illegal under the Natl. Labor Relations Act." https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-musk-payback-threatening-striking-155307809.html
“When we say #DonaldTrump is a #scab, this is what we mean. When we say #Trump stands against everything our #union stands for, this is what we mean,” said #UAW President #ShawnFain.
Under #federalLaw, workers cannot be fired for going on #strike. Threatening to do so is illegal under the #NationalLaborRelationsAct.
#laborViolations #TrumpIsAScab #MuskIsAScab #MuskIsADick #FuckElonMusk #ElonIsATwat #VoteBlue #VoteBlue2024 #VoteBlueToSaveDemocracy
https://newrepublic.com/post/184821/trump-elon-musk-payback-threatening-striking-workers-uaw
…The #UAW's international executive board on July 31 endorsed MVP #KamalaHarris. Since then, UAW President #ShawnFain has stepped up his familiar role as a top booster for the Democratic ticket & a Trump opponent.
"When we say Donald Trump is a #scab, this is what we mean. When we say Trump stands against everything our #union stands for, this is what we mean," Fain said.
Despite Sean O’Brien’s support for Trump at the RNC, let’s be clear: A second Trump term would not be a win for the labor movement.
Donald Trump Is Not a Friend to American Workers
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/donald-trump-is-not-a-friend-to-american-workers/
#striking members of #OPSEU picket line in progress against a wedding of venture capitalists at the Art Gallery of #Ontario staffed by #scab labour. #toronto #Solidarity #generalstrike
The existence of the law empowered the #union and many sympathizing #students, who are often unaware of the #professor's situation, to be over-passionate vigilantes for #scab behaviour. Classes were disrupted due to perceived scabbing*, and there are increasing speculation on the technicalities regarding what does and does not constitute scabbing. This further limits the options that #professors have and creates an atmosphere that encourages witchhunting. 3/
* https://reddit.com/r/mcgill/comments/1boobr2/biol301_lab_ta_strike/kwve5yz/
The #university has demanded the #faculty to #scab - that is, to perform tasks usually delegated to the TAs, such as grading - despite being in a jurisdiction that explicitly prohibits scabbing. This puts every #professor between a rock and a hard place: by scabbing, they break the law and betray the #students; by not scabbing, they lose their job (most are not unionized here, and although it is wrongful dismissal, one simply cannot afford the lawsuit) and also betray the students. 2/
Today in Labor History January 12, 1876: Working class novelist Jack London was born. As a kid, he was an oyster pirate in Oakland, along the shores of the San Francisco Bay. As a young man, he became a hobo, riding the rails from town to town, looking for handouts and sometimes work. He wrote about these experiences in his short novel, “The Road.” He was also a lifelong alcoholic, which contributed to his early death. In his novel, “John Barleycorn,” he wrote about both his alcoholism and his experiences as a laborer in numerous low-paid, backbreaking jobs. He was also a socialist and a champion of unions and working-class activism. With respect to strikebreakers, he famously wrote: "After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a cork-screw soul, a water-logged brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles." London was also one of the first Haoles (non-Native Hawaiian, or white person) to learn how to surf in Hawaii.
#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #jacklondon #fiction #union #scab #socialism #hawaii #surfing #novel #alcoholism #oakland #pirate #books #author #writer @bookstadon
Never cross a picket line!!!
#Scab #unionize #NoBillionaires