Today in labor history June 21, 10 miners are hanged in Pennsylvania (updated)

[Omaha Steve]

June 21

In England, a compassionate parliament declares that children can’t be required to work more than 12 hours a day. And they must have an hours’ instruction in the Christian Religion every Sunday and not be required to sleep more than two in a bed - 1802


June 21, 1877 - Ten miners, allegedly members of the Molly Maguires and convicted as murderers, were hanged in Pennsylvania. Historians question whether the Molly Maguires, allegedly a secret miners’ organization, actually existed. Decades after the hangings, the Molly Maguires became familiar to millions of moviegoers through a film by the same name starring Richard Harris and Sean Connery.

June 21, 1964 - Civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner disappeared near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Federal agents eventually found their mangled bodies; Klansmen and Mississippi police had kidnapped the activists and beaten them to death with clubs and chains.

100,000 unionists and other supporters march in solidarity with striking Detroit News and Detroit Free Press newspaper workers - 1997

[BlooInBloo]

1. :(

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. What gets me is how many working class folks are anti-union. I married into a family that

really buys into the "unions are bad, let the markets do all the work, it'll trickle on down, pull yourself up by your bootstraps" gunk.

[OutNow]

3. Pennsylvania Coal Miners - Lattimer

Your subject head brought another event to mind: In 1972, on the 75th anniversary of the Sept. 10, 1897 Lattimer Massacre where sheriffs gunned down unarmed UMW members, a monument was dedicated to the miners.

I attended the dedication ceremony. In addition to several leaders of the UMW, Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers also spoke. This was during the massive boycott of non-union grapes and lettuce and Brother Chavez was well received that day. But the thing I remembered best was the sudden arrival of a large green Army helicopter in the field next to the monument. The helicopter landed and out jumps this older fellow with a wax mustache wearing a red cape and tuxedo. He ran over to the crowd and began shaking hands and then went up to the podium and gave a speech about John L. Lewis and the UMW union that just blew me away.

I finally asked a friend of mine who this guy was. It was the local Democratic congressman, Dan Flood. He was VERY eccentric, but worked 200% for the rank and file. Legend had it that all the U.S. Army barracks in Europe after WWII were required by a law sponsored by Dan Flood to burn Pennsylvania union coal for heat, even the ones located in the German coal region.