April 1

Eleven-day strike by 34,000 New York City transit workers begins, halts bus and subway service in all five boroughs before strikers return to work with a 17 percent raise over two years plus a cost-of-living adjustment – 1980

Also on this date: Many believe that Cincinnati on this day became the first U.S. city to pay fire fighters a regular salary. UMW win 8 hour day. San Francisco laundry workers strike. More than 2,000 workers strike the Draper Corp. power loom manufacturing plant in Hopedale, Mass. Unionized miners at West Virginia’s Coal River Colliery Co. strike. Strike of cotton mill workers begins in Gastonia, NC. 400,000 members of the United Mine Workers strike. 40,000 textile workers strike in cotton and rayon mills of six southern states. Longest newspaper strike in U.S. history, 114 days, ends in New York City. Major league baseball players begin what is to become a 13-day strike. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters merge with Brotherhood of Railway, Airline & Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express & Station Employees. United Cement, Lime & Gypsum Workers Int’l Union merges with Boilermakers. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers granted a charter by the AFL-CIO. U.S. minimum wage increases to $3.80 per hour…United Mine Workers of America dedicates the John L. Lewis Mining and Labor Museum. U.S. minimum wage increases to $4.25 per hour. Players begin the first strike in the 75-year history of the National Hockey League.

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