Today in labor history Sept 2 First time the US government drops bombs on its own citizens

[Omaha Steve]

September 02

Rioters attack, set fire to Chinese section of Rock Springs, Wyo., kill 28 Chinese miners, wound 15. The “Rock Springs Massacre” resulted from mounting anti-Chinese sentiment over their role as cheap labor and as strikebreakers. Sixteen white suspects were arrested, tried and acquitted - 1885

Operating railway employees win 8 hour day - 1916

September 2, 1921 - The Battle of Blair Mountain took place, in which U.S. troops blocked miners’ attempts to organize in southern West Virginia. The battle marked the first time the government used airplanes to drop bombs on its own citizens. Although the union effort failed, it remained an example of solidarity and heroism that has inspired West Virginia’s miners for decades since. For more on the Battle of Blair Mountain, visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvcoal/red.html

Macbeth Mine explodes, kills 10 workers at the Hutchinson Coal Co. mine in Logan County, W. Va. Six months later 18 more miners were killed in another explosion - 1936

As female flight attendants testify before a House Labor committee about age discrimination, Rep. James H. Scheuer (D-NY) asks the attendants to “stand up, so we can see the dimensions of the problem.” The airlines were firing most attendants by age 35 because management saw them as no longer attractive - 1965

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was signed by President Ford, regulating and insuring pensions and other benefits, and increasing protections for workers - 1974

September 2, 1991 - Twenty-five workers were killed when a fire broke out at the nonunion Imperial Foods poultry processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. The plant’s fire exit doors were illegally locked and blocked, leaving the workers no escape. The 11-year-old plant had never once been inspected by federal or state safety and health officials. Eerily reminiscent of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire 80 years before, the Hamlet tragedy brought renewed calls for stronger enforcement of workplace safety laws. For more on the Hamlet fire, visit http://www.organicanews.com/news/article.cfm?story_id=103 and http://www.etext.org/Politics/AlternativeOrange/1/v1n1_lda.html