Timeline of labor issues and events - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Timeline of organized labor history
1790s - 1800s - 1810s - 1820s - 1830s - 1840s - 1850s - 1860s - 1870s - 1880s - 1890s - 1900s - 1910s - 1920s - 1930s - 1940s - 1950s - 1960s - 1970s - 1980s

1790s

1797 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Profit sharing originated at Albert Gallatin's glass works in New Geneva, Pennsylvania.

1800s

1806 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Commonwealth vs. Pullis was the first reported case arising from a labor strike in the United States. After a three-day trial, the jury found the defendants guilty of "a combination to raise their wages" and fined.

1820s

27 April 1825 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Carpenters in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

were the first to stage a strike for the 10-hour work-day.

1830s

3 July 1835 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Children employed in the silk mills in Paterson

Paterson, New Jersey

Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

go on strike for the 11-hour day, 6 days a week.

1840s

March 1842 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Commonwealth v. Hunt

Commonwealth v. Hunt was a landmark legal decision issued by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the subject of labor unions. Before this decision, based on Commonwealth v. Pullis, labor unions which attempted to 'close' or create a unionized workplace could be charged with conspiracy...

was a landmark legal decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...

on the subject of labor unions. Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled that unions were legal organizations and had the right to organize and strike. Before this decision, labor unions which attempted to 'close' or create a unionized workplace could be charged with conspiracy. See Commonwealth vs. Pullis

1847 (Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

)

The Educational Institute of Scotland

Educational Institute of Scotland

The Educational Institute of Scotland is the oldest teachers' trade union in the world, having been founded in 1847 when dominies became concerned about the effect of changes to the system of education in Scotland on their professional status....

, the oldest teachers' trade union in the world, was founded.

1850s

July 1851 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Two railroad strikers are shot dead and others injured by the state militia in Portage, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

21 April 1856 (Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

)

Stonemasons and building workers in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

achieve an Eight-hour day

Eight-hour day

The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...

, the first organized workers in the world to achieve an 8-hour day, with no loss of pay.

1860s

1860 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

800 women operatives and 4,000 workmen marched during a shoemaker's strike in Lynn

Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

1863 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

The first railroad labor union, The Brotherhood of the Footboard (later renamed the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen is a labor union founded in Marshall, Michigan, on May 8, 1863, as the Brotherhood of the Footboard. A year later, its name was changed to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, sometimes referred to as the Brotherhood of Engineers...

) is formed in Marshall

Marshall, Michigan

Marshall is a city located in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 7,459. It is the county seat of Calhoun County...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

1866 (United States)

National Labor Union

The National Labor Union was the first national labor federation in the United States. Founded in 1866 and dissolved in 1873, it paved the way for other organizations, such as the Knights of Labor and the AF of L . It was led by William H...

formed - 1st national labor federation in the US.

1868 (Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

)

The General German Federation of Trade Unions (ADGB) was founded and represented 142,000 workers.

1869 (United States)

Uriah Stephans organized a new union known as the Knights of Labor

Knights of Labor

The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...

1870s

1873 (United States)

In 1873 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was established. In 1906 it became the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen.

13 January 1874 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

The original Tompkins Square Riot

Tompkins Square Riot (1874)

The Tompkins Square Park Riot occurred on January 13, 1874 when the New York Police Department crushed a demonstration involving thousands of unemployed in New York City's Tompkins Square Park, located in what is now called the East Village.-Background:...

. As unemployed workers demonstrated in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's Tompkins Square Park, a detachment of mounted police charged into the crowd, beating men, women and children indiscriminately with billy clubs and leaving hundreds of casualties in their wake.

Commented Abram Duryee, the Commissioner of Police: "It was the most glorious sight I ever saw..."

12 February 1877 (United States)

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 -- U.S. railroad workers began strikes to protest wage cuts. It started in Martinsburg, West Virginia

Martinsburg, West Virginia

Martinsburg is a city in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia, United States. The city's population was 14,972 at the 2000 census; according to a 2009 Census Bureau estimate, Martinsburg's population was 17,117, making it the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle and the eighth largest...

, and then spread to many other states.

14 July 1877 (United States)

A general strike halted the movement of U.S. railroads. In the following days, strike riots spread across the United States. The next week, federal troops were called out to force an end to the nationwide strike. At the "Battle of the Viaduct" in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, between protesting members of the Chicago German Furniture Workers Union, now Local 1784 of the Carpenters Union, and federal troops (recently returned from an Indian massacre) killed 30 workers and wounded over 100.

1880s

5 September 1882 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Thirty thousand workers marched in the first Labor Day

Labor Day

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...

parade in New York City

New York City

1883 (Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

)

The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada

Trades and Labour Congress of Canada

The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1883 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor...

(TLC), a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions was formed.

1884 (United States)

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions

Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada was a federation of labor unions created on November 15, 1881, in Pittsburgh...

, forerunner of the American Federation of Labor

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...

, passed a resolution stating that "8 hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886."

1885 (United States)

Ten coal-mining activists ("Molly Maguires

Molly Maguires

The Molly Maguires were members of an Irish-American secret society, whose members consisted mainly of coal miners. Many historians believe the "Mollies" were present in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania in the United States from approximately the time of the American Civil War until a...

") were hanged in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

March 1886 (United States)

The Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886

Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886

The Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1885 was a labor union strike against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads involving more than 200,000 workers. In March 1886, railroad workers in the Southwest United States conducted an unsuccessful strike against railroads owned by Jay Gould,...

was a labor union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

strike

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

against the Union Pacific

Union Pacific Railroad

The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....

and Missouri Pacific

Missouri Pacific Railroad

The Missouri Pacific Railroad , also known as the MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , Texas and Pacific...

railroads involving more than 200,000 workers.

1 May 1886 (United States)

Workers protested in the streets to demand the universal adoption of the eight hour day. Hundreds of thousands of American workers had joined the Knights of Labor

Knights of Labor

The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...

1 May 1886 (United States)

Bay View Tragedy

The Bay View Massacre was the culmination of events that began on Saturday May 1, 1886 when 7,000 building-trades workers joined with 5,000 Polish laborers who had organized at St...

-- About 2,000 Polish workers walked off their jobs and gathered at St. Stanislaus Church in Milwaukee

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, angrily denouncing the ten hour workday. The protesters marched through the city, calling on other workers to join them. All but one factory was closed down as sixteen thousand protesters gathered at Rolling Mills. Wisconsin Governor Jeremiah Rusk called the state militia. The militia camped out at the mill while workers slept in nearby fields. On the morning of May 5th, as protesters chanted for the eight-hour workday, General Treaumer ordered his men to shoot into the crowd, some of whom were carrying sticks, bricks, and scythes, leaving seven dead at the scene, including a child.

The Milwaukee Journal reported that eight more would die within twenty-four hours, adding that Governor Rusk was to be commended for his quick action in the matter.

4 May 1886 (United States)

The Haymarket Riot, in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, is the origin of international May Day

May Day

May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....

observances.

22 November 1887 (United States)

In the Thibodaux massacre

Thibodaux massacre

The Thibodaux Massacre was a violent labor dispute and racial attack in Thibodaux, Louisiana in November 1887. Although the number of casualties is unknown, at least 35 and as many as three hundred workers were killed, making it one of the most violent labor disputes in U.S. history...

in Thidodaux, Louisiana a local militia, aided by bands of "prominent citizens," shot at least 35 unarmed black sugar workers striking to gain a dollar-per-day wage, and lynched two strike leaders.

June 1888 (United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

)

The London matchgirls strike of 1888

London matchgirls strike of 1888

The London match-girls’ strike of 1888 was a strike of the women and teenage girls working at the Bryant and May Factory in Bow, London.-The strike:...

was a strike

Industrial action

Industrial action or job action refers collectively to any measure taken by trade unions or other organised labour meant to reduce productivity in a workplace. Quite often it is used and interpreted as a euphemism for strike, but the scope is much wider...

of the women and teenage girls working at the Bryant and May Factory in Bow

Bow, London

Bow is an area of London, England, United Kingdom in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a built-up, mostly residential district located east of Charing Cross, and is a part of the East End.-Bridges at Bowe:...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The strike was prompted by the poor working conditions in the match

Match

A match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...

factory, including fourteen hour work days, poor pay, excessive fines, and the severe health complications of working with yellow (or white) phosphorus

Phosphorus

Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...

, such as phossy jaw

Phossy jaw

Phossy jaw, formally phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, is an occupational disease of those who work with white phosphorus, also known as yellow phosphorus, without proper safeguards. It was most commonly seen in workers in the match industry in the 19th and early 20th century...

1890s

1890 (United States)

Labor Leader Eugene V. Debs

Eugene V. Debs

Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...

founded the American Railway Union

American Railway Union

The American Railway Union , was the largest labor union of its time, and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. It was founded on June 20, 1893, by railway workers gathered in Chicago, Illinois, and under the leadership of Eugene V...

(ARU) as an all craft organization. The ARU, however, was destroyed a few years later by company management, with government collusion and the use of federal troops during the Pullman Strike

Pullman Strike

The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the United States in 1894. The conflict began in the town of Pullman, Illinois on May 11 when approximately 3,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent...

in 1894.

25 July 1890 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

New York garment workers won the right to unionize after a seven-month strike. They secured agreements for a closed shop, and firing of all scabs.

6 July 1892 (United States)

Homestead Strike

The Homestead Strike was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. It was one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history...

-- Pinkerton

Pinkerton National Detective Agency

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...

Guards, trying to pave the way for the introduction of scabs, opened fire on striking Carnegie mill steel-workers in Homestead

Homestead, Pennsylvania

Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

. In the ensuing battle, three Pinkertons surrendered; then, unarmed, they were set upon and beaten by a mob of townspeople, most of them women. Seven guards and eleven strikers and spectators were shot to death.

11 July 1892 (United States)

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892

There were two related incidents between miners and mine owners in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho: the labor strike of 1892, and the labor confrontation of 1899....

-- Striking miners in Coeur D'Alene

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Coeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. Coeur d'Alene has the second largest metropolitan area in the state of Idaho. As of the 2010 census the population of Coeur...

, Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

dynamited the Frisco Mill, leaving it in ruins.

1893 (United States)

Unions helped win the passage of the Safety Appliance Act. Among other things, the Act outlawed the “old man-killer link and pin coupler” by railroads.

1894 (United Kingdom

United Kingdom

)

History of Trade Unionism
History of Trade Unionism
History of Trade Unionism is a book by Sidney and Beatrice Webb.First published in 1894, it is a detailed and influential accounting of the roots and development of the British trade union movement. The research materials collected by the Webbs form the Webb Collection at the London School of...

, the influential book by Sidney

Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield

Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield PC OM was a British socialist, economist, reformer and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. He was one of the early members of the Fabian Society in 1884, along with George Bernard Shaw...

and Beatrice Webb

Beatrice Webb

Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...

is first published.

7 February 1894 (United States)

In Cripple Creek, Colorado

Cripple Creek, Colorado

The City of Cripple Creek is a Statutory City that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located southwest of Colorado Springs near the base of Pikes Peak. The Cripple Creek Historic District, which received National Historic...

, miners went on strike

Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894

The Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894 was a five-month strike by the Western Federation of Miners in Cripple Creek, Colorado, USA. It resulted in a victory for the union and was followed in 1903 by the Colorado Labor Wars...

when mine owners announced an increase from eight to ten hours per day, with no increase in wages. This strike marked perhaps the only time in American history that a state militia was called out to protect miners from sheriff's deputies.

21 April – June 1894 (United States)

Bituminous Coal Miners' Strike of 1894 -- A two-month nation-wide strike by miners of hard coal in the United States. This unsuccessful strike almost destroyed the United Mine Workers

United Mine Workers

The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...

union.

11 May – 10 July 1894 (United States)

Pullman Strike

-- A nation-wide strike against the Pullman Company begins with a wildcat walkout on 11 May after wages are drastically reduced. On 5 July, the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago's Jackson Park

Jackson Park (Chicago)

Jackson Park is a 500 acre park on Chicago's South Side, located at 6401 South Stony Island Avenue in the Woodlawn community area. It extends into the South Shore and Hyde Park community areas, bordering Lake Michigan and several South Side neighborhoods...

was set ablaze, and seven buildings were burned to the ground. The mobs raged on, burning and looting railroad cars and fighting police in the streets, until 10 July, when 14,000 federal and state troops finally succeeded in putting down the strike, killing 34 American Railway Union

American Railway Union

members. Leaders of the strike, including Eugene Debs, were imprisoned for violating injunctions, causing disintegration of the union.

1895 (France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

)

The Confédération Générale du Travail

Confédération générale du travail

The General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.It is the largest in terms of votes , and second largest in terms of membership numbers.Its membership decreased to 650,000 members in 1995-96 The General...

(CGT), was formed. This French union is the oldest confederation still in existence.

21 September 1896 (United States)

The state militia was sent to Leadville, Colorado to break a miner's strike

Leadville Colorado, Miners' Strike

Silver was discovered in Leadville, Colorado in the 1870s, initiating the Colorado Silver Boom. The Leadville miners' strike in 1896-97 occurred during, and as a result of, rapid industrialization and consolidation of the mining industry. Mine owners had become more powerful, and they resolved not...

10 September 1897 (United States)

Lattimer Massacre

Lattimer massacre

The Lattimer massacre was the violent deaths of 19 unarmed striking immigrant anthracite coal miners at the Lattimer mine near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1897. The miners, mostly of Polish, Slovak, Lithuanian and German ethnicity, were shot and killed by a Luzerne County sheriff's...

-- 19 unarmed striking coal miners and mine workers were killed and 36 wounded by a posse organized by the Luzerne County sheriff for refusing to disperse near Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census, an increase of 8.6% from the 2000 census count .-Greater Hazleton:...

. The strikers, most of whom were shot in the back, were originally brought in as strike-breakers, but later organized themselves.

1898 (United States)

The Erdman Act was passed providing for mediation and voluntary arbitration on the railroads. It made it a criminal offense for railroads to dismiss employees or to discriminate against prospective employees because of their union membership or activity. It provided legal protection of employees’ rights to membership in a labor union, a limit on the use of injunctions in labor disputes, lawful status of picketing and other union activities, and requirement of employers to bargain collectively. Subsequently, a portion of the Erdman Act

Erdman Act

The Erdman Act of 1898 was a United States federal law pertaining to railroad labor disputes. The law provided for arbitration for disputes between the interstate railroads and their workers organized into unions.-Major provisions:...

, which would have made it a criminal offense for railroads to dismiss employees or discriminate against prospective employees based on their union activities, was declared invalid by the United States Supreme Court.

1899 (United States)

Miners in Idaho dynamite a mill

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899

There were two related incidents between miners and mine owners in Coeur d'Alene: the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892, and the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899....

in retaliation for the Bunker Hill Mining Company

Bunker Hill Mining Company

The Bunker Hill Mining Company was a mining company with facilities in Wardner, Idaho and surrounding areas.-History:When the mining boom began in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho mining district, the area was lightly inhabited...

firing 17 union members.

1900s

12 October 1902 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

The Anthracite Coal Strike -- Fourteen miners were killed and 22 wounded by scabherders at Pana, Illinois

Pana, Illinois

Pana is a city in Christian County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,847 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Pana is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

. The miners get to raise their wages 10% higher and 9-hour day.

23 November 1903 (United States)

Colorado Labor Wars

Colorado's most significant battles between labor and capital occurred primarily between miners and mine operators. In these battles the state government, with one clear exception, always took the side of the mine operators....

-- Troops were dispatched to Cripple Creek

Cripple Creek, Colorado

, Colorado to defeat a strike by the Western Federation of Miners

Western Federation of Miners

The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...

, with the specific purpose of driving the union out of the district. The strike had begun in the ore mills earlier in 1903, and then spread to the mines.

July 1903 (United States)

Labor organizer Mary Harris "Mother" Jones leads child workers in demanding a 55 hour work week.

8 June 1904 (United States)

A battle between the Colorado Militia and striking miners at Dunnville ended with six union members dead and 15 taken prisoner. Seventy-nine of the strikers were deported to Kansas two days later.

17 April 1905 (United States)

The Supreme Court held that a maximum hours law for New York bakery workers was unconstitutional under the due process clause of the 14th amendment

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...

1908 (United States)

The Federal Employers’ Liability Act was passed. Also that year, the Erdman Act

Adair v. United States

Adair v. United States, , is a United States Supreme Court case which upheld "yellow-dog" contracts that forbade workers from joining labor unions. The decision reaffirmed the doctrine of freedom of contract which was first recognized by the Court in Allgeyer v. Louisiana...

was further weakened by the Supreme Court when Section 10, related to use of "yellow dog" contracts, was declared unconstitutional (see 1898).

22 November 1909 (United States)

The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909

New York shirtwaist strike of 1909

The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909, also known as the Uprising of the 20,000, was a labor strike primarily involving Jewish women working in New York shirtwaist factories. Led by Clara Lemlich and supported by the National Women's Trade Union League of America , the strike began in November 1909...

(Uprising of the 20,000). Female garment workers went on strike in New York; many were arrested. A judge told those arrested: "You are on strike against God."

1910s

1910 (United States)

The 1910 Accident Reports Act was passed and a 10-hour work day and standardization of rates of pay and working conditions were won by the Railway Brotherhoods.

Union membership topped 8 million workers in 1910.

October 1, 1910 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

building bombing killed twenty people and destroyed the building. Calling it "the crime of the century," the newspaper's owner Harrison Gray Otis blamed the bombing on the unions, a charge denied by unionists.

25 December 1910 (United States)

A dynamite bomb destroyed a portion of the Llewellyn Iron works in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, where a bitter strike was in progress. In April 1911 James McNamara and his brother John McNamara, secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, were charged with the two crimes. James McNamara pleaded guilty to murder and John McNamara pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the dynamiting of the Llewellyn Iron Works.http://www.history.umd.edu/Gompers/fnnp.htm

1911 (United States)

The Locomotive Inspection Act passed. Four years later, the Hours of Service Act passed. The Railroad Brotherhoods had won an 8-hour day.

The Supreme Court in Gompers v. Buck's Stove and Range Co. (221 U.S. 418) affirmed a lower court order for the AFL to stop interfering with Buck's Stove and Range Company's business or boycotting its products or distributors.

On June 24, 1912 in the second contempt trial, the defendants (Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell, and Frank Morrison) were again found guilty and sentenced to prison. The Supreme Court overturned the convictions because the new proceedings had not been instituted within the three-year statute of limitations (233 U.S. 604 1914).

1911 (Wales)

Two men are shot dead by police during the Llanelli railway strike

Llanelli railway strike

In August 1911, the railway strike in Llanelli was brutally suppressed by the police, and 2 men - John 'Jac' John and Leonard Worsell - were shot dead by troops of the Worcester Regiment...

of August 1911, leading to rioting.

25 March 1911 (United States)

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history...

-- The Triangle Shirtwaist Company, occupying the top three floors of a ten-story building in New York City, was consumed by fire. One hundred and forty-six people, mostly women and young girls working in sweatshop conditions, died.

January–March 1912 (United States)

Lawrence textile strike

The Lawrence Textile Strike was a strike of immigrant workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912 led by the Industrial Workers of the World. Prompted by one mill owner's decision to lower wages when a new law shortening the workweek went into effect in January, the strike spread rapidly through the...

in Lawrence

Lawrence, Massachusetts

Lawrence is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States on the Merrimack River. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 76,377. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the southeast. It and Salem are...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

, often known as the "Bread and Roses

Bread and Roses

The slogan "Bread and Roses" originated in a poem of that name by James Oppenheim, published in The American Magazine in December 1911, which attributed it to "the women in the West." It is commonly associated with a textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts during January-March 1912, now often...

" strike. Dozens of different immigrant communities united under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

(IWW) in a largely successful strike led to a large extent by women. The strike is credited with inventing the moving picket line, a tactic devised to keep strikers from being arrested for loitering.

It also adopted a tactic used before in Europe, but never in the United States, of sending children to sympathizers in other cities when they could not be cared for by strike funds. On 24 February, women attempting to put their children on a train out of town were beaten by police, shocking the nation.

18 April 1912 (United States)

The National Guard was called out against striking West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

coal miners.

7 July 1912 (United States)

Striking members of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers and supporters are involved in an armed confrontation with the Galloway Lumber Company and supporters in the Grabow Riot

Grabow Riot

On July 7, 1912, a violent confrontation known as the Graybow Riot occurred between factions of the timber industry, primarily the Galloway Lumber Company, and a party of the striking union mill workers and supporters, near Grabow , Louisiana...

, resulting in four deaths and 40 to 50 wounded.

11 June 1913 (United States)

Police shot three maritime workers (one of whom was killed) who were striking against the United Fruit Company

United Fruit Company

It had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the...

in New Orleans.

1914 (United States)

According to a report by the Commission on Industrial Relations, approximately 35,000 workers were killed in industrial accidents and 700,000 workers were injured in the U.S.

5 January 1914 (United States)

The Ford Motor Company raised its basic wage from $2.40 for a nine hour day to $5 for an eight hour day.

20 April 1914 (United States)

The "Ludlow Massacre

Ludlow massacre

The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914....

." In an attempt to persuade strikers at Colorado's Ludlow Mine Field to return to work, company "guards," engaged by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son among the five children of businessman and Standard Oil industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the father of the five famous Rockefeller brothers...

and other mine operators and sworn into the State Militia just for the occasion, attacked a union tent camp with machine guns, then set it afire. Five men, two women and 12 children died as a result.

13 November 1914 (United States)

A Western Federation of Miners

Western Federation of Miners

strike is crushed by the militia in Butte

Butte, Montana

Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

19 January 1915 (United States)

World famous labor leader Joe Hill

Joe Hill

Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle , and also known as Joseph Hillström was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World...

was arrested in Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. He was convicted on trumped up murder charges, and was executed 21 months later despite worldwide protests and two attempts to intervene by President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

. In a letter to Bill Haywood

Bill Haywood

William Dudley Haywood , better known as "Big Bill" Haywood, was a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World , and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America...

shortly before his death he penned the famous words, "Don't mourn - organize!"

On this same day, twenty rioting strikers were shot by factory guards at Roosevelt

Roosevelt, New Jersey

Roosevelt was originally called Jersey Homesteads, and was created during the Great Depression as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal. The town was home to a cooperative farming and manufacturing project...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

25 January 1915 (United States)

The Supreme Court upholds "yellow dog" contracts, which forbid membership in labor unions.

22 July 1916 (United States)

A bomb was set off during a "Preparedness Day" parade in San Francisco, killing 10 and injuring 40 more. Thomas J. Mooney

Thomas Mooney

Thomas Joseph "Tom" Mooney was an American political activist and labor leader, who was convicted with Warren K. Billings of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916...

, a labor organizer and Warren K. Billings, a shoe worker, were convicted, but were both pardoned in 1939.

19 August 1916 (United States)

Strikebreakers hired by the Everett Mills owner Neil Jamison attacked and beat picketing strikers in Everett, Washington. Local police watched and refused to intervene, claiming that the waterfront where the incident took place was Federal land and therefore outside their jurisdiction. (When the picketers retaliated against the strikebreakers that evening, the local police intervened, claiming that they had crossed the line of jurisdiction.)

Three days later, twenty-two union men attempted to speak out at a local crossroads, but each was arrested; arrests and beatings of strikebreakers became common throughout the following months, and on 30 October vigilantes forced IWW speakers to run the gauntlet, subjecting them to whipping, tripping kicking, and impalement against a spiked cattle guard at the end of the gauntlet. In response, the IWW

Industrial Workers of the World

called for a meeting on 5 November. When the union men arrived, they were fired on; seven people were killed, 50 were wounded, and an indeterminate number wound up missing.

7 September 1916 (United States)

Federal employees win the right to receive Worker's Compensation insurance

Workers' compensation

Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence...

5 November 1916 (United States)

The Everett Massacre (also known as Bloody Sunday) was an armed confrontation between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union, commonly called "Wobblies", which took place in Everett, Washington on Sunday, November 5, 1916. The tragic event marked a time of rising tensions in Pacific Northwest labor history.

15 March 1917 (United States)

The Supreme Court approved the Eight-Hour Act under the threat of a national railway strike.

12 July 1917 (United States)

The Bisbee Deportation

Bisbee Deportation

The Bisbee Deportation was the illegal deportation of about 1,300 striking mine workers, their supporters, and citizen bystanders by 2,000 vigilantes on July 12, 1917. The workers and others were kidnapped in the U.S. town of Bisbee, Arizona and held at a local baseball park. They were then loaded...

: After seizing the local Western Union telegraph office in order to cut off outside communication, several thousand armed vigilantes forced 1,185 men in Bisbee

Bisbee, Arizona

Bisbee is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, 82 miles southeast of Tucson. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 6,177...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

into manure-laden boxcars and "deported" them to the New Mexico desert. The action was precipitated by a strike when workers' demands (including improvements to safety and working conditions at the local copper mines, an end to discrimination against labor organizations and unequal treatment of foreign and minority workers, and the institution of a fair wage system) went unmet. The "deportation" was organized by Sheriff Harry Wheeler. The incident was investigated months later by a Federal Mediation Commission set up by President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

; the Commission found that no federal law applied, and referred the case to the State of Arizona, which failed to take any action, citing patriotism and support for the war as justification for the vigilantes' action.

1 August 1917 (United States)

IWW

Industrial Workers of the World

organizer Frank Little

Frank Little (U.S. Trade Unionist)

Frank Little was an American labor leader who was lynched in Butte, Montana in 1917 for his union and anti-war activities. He joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1906, organizing miners, lumberjacks, and oil field workers. He was a member of the union's Executive Board at the time of...

was lynched in Butte

Butte, Montana

, Montana

Montana

5 September 1917 (United States)

Federal agents raid the IWW headquarters in 48 cities.

3 June 1918 (United States)

A Federal child labor law

Child labor laws in the United States

Child labor laws in the United States include numerous statutes and rules regulating the employment of minors. According to the United States Department of Labor, child labor laws affect those under the age of 18 in a variety of occupations....

, enacted two years earlier, was declared unconstitutional. A new law was enacted 24 February 1919, but this one too was declared unconstitutional (on 2 June 1924).

27 July 1918 (Canada)

United Mine Workers

organizer Ginger Goodwin was shot by a hired private policeman outside Cumberland

Cumberland, British Columbia

Cumberland is a town in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.-History:The village was originally named Union, British Columbia after the Union Coal Company, which was in turn named in honour of the 1871 union of British Columbia with Canada. The town was renamed after...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

1919 (International)

The International Labour Organization

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...

(ILO), now a specialized agency of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, was formed through the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

, and was initially an agency of the League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

26 August 1919 (United States)

United Mine Worker organizer Fannie Sellins

Fannie Sellins

Fannie Sellins was an American union organizer.Born Fanny Mooney in New Orleans, Louisiana, she married Charles Sellins in St. Louis, Missouri. After his death she worked in a garment factory to support her four children. She helped to organize Local # 67 of the International Ladies' Garment...

was gunned down by company guards in Brackenridge

Brackenridge, Pennsylvania

Brackenridge is a borough in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, along the Allegheny River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area.The town is named for Henry Marie Brackenridge. The borough once had glass factories...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

19 September 1919 (United States)

Looting, rioting and sporadic violence broke out in downtown Boston and South Boston for days after 1,117 Boston policemen declared a work stoppage due to their thwarted attempts to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

put down the strike by calling out the entire state militia.

22 September 1919 - 8 January 1920 (United States)

The "Great Steel Strike

Steel strike of 1919

The Steel Strike of 1919 was an attempt by the weakened Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers to organize the United States steel industry in the wake of World War I. The strike began on September 22, 1919, and collapsed on January 8, 1920.The AA had formed in 1876. It was a...

" began. Ultimately, 350,000 steel workers walked off their jobs to demand union recognition. The AFL Iron and Steel Organizing Committee called off the strike on 8 January 1920, their goals unmet.

11 November 1919 (United States)

Centralia Massacre

Centralia Massacre (Washington)

The Centralia Massacre was a violent and bloody incident that occurred in Centralia, Washington on November 11, 1919, during a parade celebrating the first anniversary of Armistice Day...

-- IWW organizer Wesley Everest

Wesley Everest

Wesley Everest was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World and a World War I veteran...

was lynched after a Centralia, Washington

Centralia, Washington

Centralia is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 16,336 at the 2010 census.-History:In pioneer days, Centralia was the halfway stopover point for stagecoaches operating between the Columbia River and Seattle. In 1850, J. G. Cochran came from Missouri with his...

IWW hall was attacked by Legionnaires.

22 December 1919 (United States)

Amid a strike for union recognition by 395,000 steelworkers (ultimately unsuccessful), approximately 250 "anarchists," "communists," and "labor agitators" were deported to Russia, marking the beginning of the so-called "Red Scare."

1920s

2 January 1920 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

The U.S. Bureau of Investigation began carrying out the nationwide Palmer Raids

Palmer Raids

The Palmer Raids were attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States. The raids and arrests occurred in November 1919 and January 1920 under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer...

19 May 1920 (United States)

The Battle of Matewan

Battle of Matewan

The Battle of Matewan was a shootout in the town of Matewan, West Virginia in Mingo County on May 19, 1920 between local miners and the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency....

. Despite efforts by police chief (and former miner) Sid Hatfield

Sid Hatfield

William Sidney "Sid" Hatfield , was Police Chief of Matewan, West Virginia during the Battle of Matewan, a shootout that followed a series of evictions carried out by detectives from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency....

and Mayor Cabel Testerman to protect miners from interference in their union drive in Matewan, West Virginia

Matewan, West Virginia

Matewan is a town in Mingo County, West Virginia, USA at the confluence of the Tug Fork River and Mate Creek. The population was 498 at the 2000 census...

, Baldwin-Felts detectives

Baldwin-Felts

The Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency was a private detective agency in the United States.-Formation of the agency:The agency was founded in the early 1890s by William Gibbony Baldwin as the Baldwin Detective Agency....

hired by the local mining company arrived to evict miners and their families from the Stone Mountain Mine camp. A gun battle ensued, resulting in the deaths of 7 detectives, Mayor Testerman, and 2 miners. The movie Matewan

Matewan

Matewan is an American drama film written and directed by John Sayles, illustrating the events of a coal mine-workers' strike and attempt to unionize in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia....

is based on the event.

Baldwin-Felts detectives

Baldwin-Felts

assassinated Sid Hatfield

Sid Hatfield

15 months later, sparking off an armed rebellion of 10,000 West Virginia coal miners at the "Battle of Blair Mountain

Battle of Blair Mountain

The Battle of Blair Mountain was one of the largest civil uprisings in United States history and the largest armed insurrection since the American Civil War...

," dubbed the "redneck war" and "the largest insurrection this country has had since the Civil War." Army troops later intervened against the striking mineworkers in West Virginia.

22 June 1922 (United States)

Herrin massacre

The Herrin Massacre took place in June 1922 in Herrin, Illinois. Three union miners were killed in a strike-related confrontation on June 21. The following day, 19 of of fifty strikebreakers and union guards were killed, many of them in a brutal way...

-- Thirty-six people are killed, 21 of them non-union miners, during a coal-mine strike at Herrin, Illinois

Herrin, Illinois

Herrin is a city in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,501 at the 2010 census. It is home to Country Musicstar David Lee Murphy, the hometown of baseball's Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman, and the hometown of San Diego State University men's basketball coach Steve...

July 1922 (United States)

Great Railroad Strike of 1922

The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 was a nationwide railroad shop workers strike in the United States. The action began on July 1 and was the largest railroad work stoppage since 1894.-History:...

1 September 1922 (United States)

Federal judge James H. Wilkerson issues a sweeping injunction against striking, assembling, picketing, and a variety of other union activities, known as the "Daugherty Injunction."

14 June 1923 (United States)

Maritime strike. A San Pedro, California IWW hall was raided. Several children were scalded when the hall was demolished.http://www.iww.org/en/unions/iu510/sanpedro http://www.iww.org/en/unions/iu510/sanpedro/images1.shtml

2 June 1924 (United States)

Child Labor Amendment

The Child Labor Amendment is a proposed and still-pending amendment to the United States Constitution offered by Republican Ohio Congressman Israel Moore Foster on April 26, 1924, during the 68th Congress, in the form of House Joint Resolution No. 184....

to the U.S. Constitution was proposed. Only 28 of the necessary 36 states ever ratified it.

1 May 1925 (China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

)

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions

All-China Federation of Trade Unions

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions , is the sole national trade union federation of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest trade union in the world with 134 million members in 1,713,000 primary trade union organizations...

(ACFTU) was officially founded. With 134 million members it is the largest trade union in the world. However many, such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions , and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour to form the...

, maintain the position that the ACFTU is not an independent trade union organization.

25 May 1925 (United States)

Two company houses occupied by nonunion coal miners were blown up and destroyed by labor "racketeers" during a strike against the Glendale Gas and Coal Company in Wheeling

Wheeling, West Virginia

Wheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, West Virginia

West Virginia

11 June 1925 (Canada)

1 coal miner was killed and many injured during a protest as a result of a major strike at the British Empire Steel and Coal Company (BESCO) in New Waterford, Nova Scotia

New Waterford, Nova Scotia

New Waterford is a Canadian urban community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality.-Geography:New Waterford is located north of Sydney and northwest of Glace Bay. It is named after the city of Waterford, in Ireland. It is located near the ocean and is bordered on one side by cliffs...

. Davis Day

Davis Day

Davis Day, also known as Miners Memorial Day , is an annual day of remembrance observed on June 11 in coal mining communities in Nova Scotia, Canada whereby citizens recognize all miners who were killed on the job in the province.Davis Day originated in memory of William Davis, a coal miner who was...

was established in the memory of Bill Davis

William Davis (miner)

William Davis, , was a coal miner from Cape Breton Island. He was born in Gloucestershire, England and died in New Waterford, Nova Scotia....

, the miner who was murdered by company police. The labor dispute resulted in the deployment of 2,000 soldiers during the largest peacetime deployment of the Canadian Army for an internal conflict since the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.

1926 (United States)

The Railway Labor Act passed. It required employers, for the first time and under penalty of law, to bargain collectively and not to discriminate against their employees for joining a union. It provided also for mediation, voluntary arbitration, fact-finding boards, cooling off periods and adjustment boards.

Textile workers fought with police in Passaic, New Jersey

Passaic, New Jersey

Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...

. A year-long strike

1926 Passaic Textile Strike

The 1926 Passaic Textile Strike was a work stoppage by over 15,000 woolen mill workers in and around Passaic, New Jersey over wage issues in several factories in the vicinity...

ensued.

21 November 1927 (United States)

Picketing coal miners marching under the banner of the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

were massacred in the Columbine mine massacre

Columbine Mine massacre

The first Columbine Massacre, sometimes called the Columbine Mine massacre to distinguish it from the Columbine High School massacre, occurred in 1927, in the town of Serene, Colorado. A fight broke out between Colorado state police and a group of striking coal miners, during which the unarmed...

in the company town of Serene

Serene, Colorado

Serene, Colorado was a company town owned by the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company.Serene had company housing, a post office, a tipple, and was the site of the Columbine Mine.- History :...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

1 April 1929 Loray Mill Strike

Loray Mill Strike

The Loray Mill Strike of 1929 in Gastonia, North Carolina was one of the most notable strikes in the labor history of the United States. Though largely unsuccessful in attaining its goals of better working conditions and wages, the strike was considered very successful in a lasting way; it caused...

Gastonia, North Carolina

Gastonia is the largest city and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is also the third largest suburb of the Charlotte Area, behind Concord and Rock Hill. The population was 71,226 as of Gastonia is the largest city and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina,...

(United States)

Violent and relatively unsuccessful Loray Mill Strike

Loray Mill Strike

during which the National Guard was called, and 100+ masked men destroyed the National Textile Workers Union (NTWU) building. Crushing Southern textile worker's collective bargaining

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...

efforts made a furor in US national news, giving momentum and urgency to the more successful labor movement of the 1930s

1929 (Australia

Australia

)

The 1929 Timber Workers strike

1929 Timber Workers strike

The 1929 Timber Workers strike was a labour dispute in Australia caused by Judge Lukin of the Arbitration Court handing down an industrial award decision on 23 December 1928 to reduce the wages and increase the hours for 20,000 timber workers from a 44-hour week to a 48-hour week...

was the first large strike after the onset of the Great Depression in Australia arising from a new timber industry award that increased the working week from 44 to 48 hours and reduced wages. A fifteen month lockout during 1929-1930 of miners on the Northern New South Wales Coalfields was particularly bitter with police shooting at miners, killing Norman Brown and seriously injuring many more at the Rothbury Riot

Rothbury Riot

On 16 December 1929, New South Wales Police drew their revolvers and shot into a crowd of locked-out miners in the New South Wales town of Rothbury in Australia, killing a 29-year-old miner, Norman Brown, and injuring approximately forty five other miners...

1930s

3 February 1930 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

"Chicagorillas" -- labor racketeers -- shot and killed contractor William Healy, with whom the Chicago Marble Setters Union had been having difficulties.

14 April 1930 (United States)

Over 100 farm workers were arrested for their unionizing activities in Imperial Valley, California. Eight were subsequently convicted of "criminal syndicalism."

4 May 1931 (United States)

Gun-toting vigilantes attack striking miners in Harlan County, Kentucky.

14 May 1931 (Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

)

Five persons were killed by bullets fired by Swedish military troops called in as reinforcements by the police during a protest later known as Ådalen riots.

7 March 1932 (United States)

Police kill striking workers at Ford's Dearborn

Dearborn, Michigan

-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...

, Michigan

Michigan

plant.

10 October 1933 (United States)

18,000 cotton workers went on strike in Pixley, California. Four were killed before a pay-hike was finally won.

1934 (United States)

The Electric Auto-Lite Strike

Auto-Lite strike

The Toledo Auto-Lite strike was a strike by a federal labor union of the American Federation of Labor against the Electric Auto-Lite company of Toledo, Ohio, from April 12 to June 3, 1934....

. In Toledo

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, two strikers were killed and over two hundred wounded by National Guardsmen. Some 1,300 National Guard troops, including included eight rifle companies and three machine gun companies, were called in to disperse as many as 10,000 strikers and protestors.

May 1934 (United States)

Police attacked and fired upon striking Teamster truck drivers in Minneapolis who were demanding recognition of their union, wage increases, and shorter working hours. As violence escalated, Governor Olson went so far as to declare martial law in Minneapolis, deploying 4,000 National Guardsmen. The strike ended on August 21 when company owners finally accepted union demands.

1–22 September 1934 (United States)

A strike in Woonsocket

Woonsocket, Rhode Island

Woonsocket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 41,186 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Woonsocket lies directly south of the Massachusetts border....

, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

, part of a national movement to obtain a minimum wage for textile workers, resulted in the deaths of three workers. Over 420,000 workers ultimately went on strike.

1935 (United States)

The National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, was passed. It clearly established the right of all workers to organize and to elect their representative for collective bargaining purposes.

9 November 1935 (United States)

The Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) was formed to expand industrial unionism.

11 February 1937 (United States)

General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers

United Auto Workers

The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...

union following a sit-down strike

Flint Sit-Down Strike

The 1936–1937 Flint Sit-Down Strike changed the United Automobile Workers from a collection of isolated locals on the fringes of the industry into a major labor union and led to the unionization of the domestic United States automobile industry....

in Flint

Flint, Michigan

Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...

, Michigan

Michigan

, that began in December 1936.

Two months later, company guards beat up United Auto Workers

United Auto Workers

leaders at the River Rouge Plant

River Rouge Plant

The Ford River Rouge Complex is a Ford Motor Company automobile factory complex located in Dearborn, Michigan, along the Rouge River, upstream from its confluence with the Detroit River at Zug Island...

, in River Rouge

River Rouge, Michigan

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,917 people, 3,640 households, and 2,504 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,713.9 per square mile . There were 4,080 housing units at an average density of 1,528.0 per square mile...

, Michigan

Michigan

30 May 1937 (United States)

Police kill 10 and wounded 30 during the "Memorial Day Massacre" at the Republic Steel plant in Chicago.

25 June 1938 (United States)

The Wages and Hours (later Fair Labor Standards) Act is passed, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week. The Act went into effect in October 1940, and was upheld in the Supreme Court on 3 February 1941.

27 February 1939 (United States)

The Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes are illegal.

1940s

20 June 1941 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Henry Ford

Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...

recognizes the UAW.

15 December 1941 (United States)

The AFL pledges that there will be no strikes in defense-related industry plants for the duration of the war.

28 December 1944 (United States)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Army to seize the executive offices of Montgomery Ward and Company

Montgomery Ward

Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...

after the corporation failed to comply with a National War Labor Board

National War Labor Board

The National War Labor Board was a federal agency created in April 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson. It was composed of twelve representatives from business and labor, and co-chaired by Former President William Howard Taft. Its purpose was to arbitrate disputes between workers and employers in...

directive regarding union shops.

1946 (United States)

Workers in packinghouses nation-wide went on strike.

1 April 1946 (United States)

A strike by 400,000 mine workers in the U.S. began. U.S. troops seized railroads and coal mines the following month.

4 October 1946 (United States)

The U.S. Navy seized oil refineries in order to break a 20-state post-war strike.

20 June 1947 (United States)

The Taft-Hartley Labor Act, curbing strikes, was vetoed by President Truman. Congress overrode the veto.

20 April 1948 (United States)

Labor leader Walter Reuther

Walter Reuther

Walter Philip Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century...

was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassins.

1950s

1950 (International)

The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948

The Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise or Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention is an International Labour Organization Convention...

, one of the two primary labor conventions of the ILO

International Labour Organization

, came into force on July 4.

27 August 1950 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

President Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize all the nation's railroads to prevent a general strike. The railroads were not returned to their owners until two years later.

1951 (International)

The Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949

The Convention concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively or Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention is an International Labour Organization Convention. It is one of 8 ILO fundamental conventions.- Ratifications:-External...

, one of the two primary labor conventions of the ILO

International Labour Organization

, came into force on July 18.

8 April 1952 (United States)

President Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize the nation's steel mills to avert a strike. The act was ruled to be illegal by the Supreme Court on 2 June.

April 1955 (United States)

Textile workers strike of 1955, in both New Bedford

New Bedford, Massachusetts

New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...

and Fall River

Fall River, Massachusetts

Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located about south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and west of New Bedford and south of Taunton. The city's population was 88,857 during the 2010 census, making it the tenth largest city in...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

. Strike over a nickel raise was led and negotiated by Union President Manuel "Manny" Fernandes Jr., who resolved the strike and got the workers a nickel raise.

5 December 1955 (United States)

The two largest labor organizations in the U.S. merged to form the AFL-CIO, with a membership estimated at 15 million.

April 1956 (Canada

Canada

)

The largest Canadian trade union center, the Canadian Labour Congress

Canadian Labour Congress

The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.- Formation :...

(CLC), was formed.

5 April 1956 (United States)

Columnist Victor Riesel

Victor Riesel

Victor Riesel was an American newspaper journalist and columnist who specialized in news related to labor unions. At the height of his career, his column on labor union issues was syndicated to 356 newspapers in the United States...

, a crusader against labor racketeers, was blinded in New York City when a hired assailant threw sulfuric acid in his face.

14 September 1959 (United States)

The Landrum-Griffin Act passes, restricting union activity.

7 November 1959 (United States)

The Taft-Hartley Act

Taft-Hartley Act

The Labor–Management Relations Act is a United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. The act, still effective, was sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr. and became law by overriding U.S. President Harry S...

is invoked by the Supreme Court to break a steel strike.

1960s

1962 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

President John F Kennedy issues Executive Order 10988 establishing limited collective bargaining rights for federal employees and widely regarded as the impetus for the expansion of public sector bargaining rights at state and local levels in the years to come.

1 April 1963 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

The 1962 New York City newspaper strike

1962 New York City newspaper strike

The 1962-63 New York City Newspaper Strike ran from December 8, 1962 until March 31, 1963, lasting for a total of 114 days.-Preliminary actions:...

, longest newspaper strike in U.S. history ended. The 9 major newspapers in New York City had ceased publication over 114 days before.

10 June 1963 (United States)

Congress passes a law mandating equal pay to women.

1968 (United States)

Members of four railroad unions voted overwhelmingly for the largest union merger ever in the railroad industry. The merger created a powerful new union called the United Transportation Union (UTU).

May 1968 (France)
What began as a student protest developed into a nationwide general strike

General strike

A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

1970s

5 January 1970 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Joseph Yablonski

Joseph Albert "Jock" Yablonski was an American labor leader in the United Mine Workers in the 1950s and 1960s. He was murdered in 1969 by killers hired by a union political opponent, Mine Workers president W. A. Boyle...

, unsuccessful reform candidate to unseat W. A. Boyle as President of the United Mine Workers

United Mine Workers

, was murdered, along with his wife and daughter, in their Clarksville

Clarksville, Pennsylvania

Clarksville is a borough in Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 234 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Clarksville is located at ....

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

home by assassins acting on Boyle's orders. Boyle was later convicted of the killing.

West Virginia

miners went on strike the following day in protest.

18 March 1970 (United States)

The first mass work stoppage in the 195-year history of the United States Post Office Department began with a walkout of letter carriers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, soon involving 210,000 of the nation's 750,000 postal employees. With mail service virtually paralyzed in New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia, President Nixon declared a state of national emergency and assigned military units to New York City post offices. The stand-off culminated two weeks later.

29 July 1970 (United States)

United Farm Workers

The United Farm Workers of America is a labor union created from the merging of two groups, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee led by Filipino organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association led by César Chávez...

forced California grape growers to sign an agreement after a five-year strike.

1979 (United States)

The film Norma Rae, based on a real life character trying to unionize a textile mill, is released. It wins an Academy Award for best actress.

1980s

September 1980 (Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

)

The trade union Solidarity (Solidarność) is established at the Gdańsk Shipyard

Gdansk Shipyard

Gdańsk Shipyard is a large Polish shipyard, located in the city of Gdańsk. The yard gained international fame when Solidarity was founded there in September 1980...

, and originally led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Wałęsa

Lech Wałęsa

Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...

. Within the year the government implements martial law

Martial law in Poland

Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...

in an attempt to quell nationwide civil unrest and protest.

3 August 1981 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Federal air traffic controllers began a nationwide strike after their union rejected the government's final offer for a new contract. Most of the 13,000 striking controllers defied the back-to-work order, and were dismissed by President Reagan on 5 August. Reagan ordered them to leave.

October 1982 (United States)

A boycott was initiated by the Industrial Association of Machinists

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is an AFL-CIO/CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries.-Formation and early history:...

(IAM) against Brown & Sharpe

Brown & Sharpe

Brown & Sharpe is a division of Hexagon Metrology, Inc., a multinational corporation focused mainly on metrological tools and technology. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Brown & Sharpe was one of the most well-known and influential firms in the machine tool industry...

. The National Labor Relations Board

National Labor Relations Board

The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...

later charged Brown & Sharpe with regressive bargaining, and of entering into negotiations with the express purpose of not reaching an agreement with the union. (See IAM
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is an AFL-CIO/CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries.-Formation and early history:...

for more details.).

1984 (United States)

Hormel meat strike fails. The documentary American Dream chronicles the strike.

1985 (Vatican City

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

)

The Association of Vatican Lay Workers was formed, but was not recognized by the Vatican authorities until 1993. It is the sole trade union in Vatican City

Vatican City

and represents the majority of the 3000 employees who work in the city state.

6 October 1986 (United States)

Female flight attendants won an 18-year lawsuit against United Airlines

United Airlines

United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...

, which had fired them for getting married. The lawsuit was resolved when a U.S. district court approved the reinstatement of 475 attendants and $37 million back-pay settlement for 1,725 flight attendants. (United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald, 432 U.S. 385 (1977))http://www.feminist.org/research/chronicles/fc1986.html http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=432&invol=385

4 April 1989 (Poland

Poland

)

Round table negotiations between Solidarity and the then-Communist government result in semi-free parliamentary elections in Poland, a pivotal moment in fall of the Iron Curtain

Iron Curtain

The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...

in Eastern Europe. Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa

Lech Wałęsa

is elected President in August of that year.

1790s

1800s

1820s

1830s

1840s

1850s

1860s

1870s

1880s

1890s

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

See also