Today in Labor History Apr 11, 25,000 marchers support strawberry workers, Ford signs first UAW mor

[Omaha Steve]

April 11


April 11, 1896 - The first issue of the Labor World newspaper was published in Duluth, Minnesota, by Sabrie Akin, an activist and single mother. The paper is still in publication and is one of the best labor newspapers in the United States. Read the latest issue and learn about the newspaper's history at its website, www.laborworld.org

April 11, 1934 - Frank Norman, leader of the citrus workers union, was kidnapped from his Lakeland, Florida, home and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. Norman had championed the rights of all workers, regardless of their race.

Ford Motor Company signs first contract with United Auto Workers - 1941

Jackie Robinson, first black ballplayer hired by a major league team, plays his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbetts Field - 1947

United Mine Workers President W. A. "Tony" Boyle is found guilty of first-degree murder, for ordering the 1969 assassination of union reformer Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski. Yablonski, his wife and daughter were murdered on December 30, 1969. Boyle had defeated Yablonski in the UMW election earlier in the year -- an election marred by intimidation and vote fraud. That election was set aside and a later vote was won by reformer Arnold Miller - 1974

34,000 New York City Transit Authority workers, eleven days into a strike for higher wages, end their walkout with agreement on a 9 percent increase in the first year and 8 percent in the second, along with cost-of-living protections - 1980

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issues regulations prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by supervisors in the workplace - 1980

Police in Austin, Minn. tear-gas striking Hormel meatpacking workers. Seventeen strikers are arrested on felony riot charges - 1986


Some 25,000 marchers in Watsonville, Calif. show support for United Farm Workers organizing campaign among strawberry workers, others - 1997

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_04_11_2011