Responding to unrest among Irish laborers building the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, President Andrew Jackson orders first use of American troops to suppress a labor dispute - 1834
Six thousand railway workers strike for a union and the end of 18-hour day - 1889
New York City maids organize to improve working conditions - 1734
Mine explosion in Mount Pleasant, Pa., leaves more than 100 dead - 1891
First meeting of the Int?l Labor Organization (ILO) - 1920
In what could be considered the first workers? compensation agreement in America, pirate Henry Morgan pledges his underlings 600 pieces of eight or six slaves to compensate for a lost arm or leg. Also part of the pirate?s code, reports Roger Newell: shares of the booty were equal regardless of race or sex, and shipboard decisions were made collectively - 1695
Samuel Gompers, first AFL president, born in London, England. He emigrated to the U.S. as a youth - 1850