Today in labor history June 16 FDR signed the National Industrial Recovery Act

[Omaha Steve]

June 16

Eight local unions organize the International Fur Workers Union of U.S. and Canada. The union later merged with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen - 1913

Railroad union leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs speaks in Canton, Ohio on the relation between capitalism and war. Ten days later he is arrested under the Espionage Act, eventually sentenced to 10 years in jail - 1918


June 16, 1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act. One of its provisions recognized the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively through unions. The legislation, though later found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, helped spurred massive union organizing. Finally, in 1935, Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act, the foundation of today's labor law.

Charles Morris' book, The Blue Eagle at Work, is an insightful analysis of the NIRA and how it is still useful today. Read a review of his book at http://www.nathannewman.org/laborblog/archive/002541.shtml


Inacom Corp., once the world’s largest computer dealer, sends most of its 5,100 employees an e-mail instructing them to call a toll-free phone number; when they call, a recorded message announces they have been fired - 2000