July 8

First anthracite coal strike in U.S. - 1842

Labor organizer Ella Reeve "Mother" Bloor born on Staten Island, NY. Among

her activities: investigating child labor in glass factories and mines, and

working undercover in meat packing plants to verify for federal

investigators the nightmarish working conditions that author Upton Sinclair

had revealed in "The Jungle" - 1862

The Pacific Mail Steamship Co. fires all employees who had been working an

eight hour day, then joins with other owners to form the "Ten-Hour League

Society" for the purpose of uniting all mechanics "willing to work at the

old rates, neither unjust to the laborers nor ruinous to the capital and

enterprise of the city and state." The effort failed - 1867

Founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W., or

Wobblies) concludes in Chicago. Charles O. Sherman, a former American

Federation of Labor organizer, is elected president – 1905

_([20]Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW is a wonderful

collection of IWW members’ oral histories interspersed with the authors’

comments about this fascinating and vitally important piece of American and

labor history. Includes more than 50 photos and cartoons. Originally

published in 1985, now in its fourth printing and available now in the UCS

bookstore.)_

Links:

20.

More info & ammo for unionists is available
online from Union Communication Services.

http://www.unionist.com