Today in labor history June 9 Labor activist Helen Marot was born

[Omaha Steve]

June 9



June 9, 1865 - Labor activist Helen Marot was born. A librarian from a wealthy family in Philadelphia, she became active in investigating working conditions, particularly among children and women. She joined the Women's Trade Union League, organized the Bookkeepers, Stenographers and Accountants Union in New York, and organized and led the 1909-1910 Shirtwaist Strike in New York. In 1912, she was part of a commission that investigated the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire. From 1913 on, she devoted herself to writing, primarily about the labor movement.

She said, " Labor union men are like other men: they are not eager to trust office-holding to women.
Labor union women are like other women; they lack the courage and determination to overcome the prevailing attitude that women are unfit to assume executive responsibility. It is the lack of the executive representation of women rather than lack of membership in the unions that endows the labor movement with a masculine point of view and limits it to masculine ability." For more on Helen Marot, see www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAWmarot.htm

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_06_09_2009