Today in labor history Sept 9 Boston police walked off the job

[Omaha Steve]

September 9, 1919 - During a wave of strikes that swept the country that year, Boston police walked off the job. The police had affiliated their local organization with the American Federation of Labor, prompting the police commissioner to suspend 19 policemen. The officers then went on strike. While local unionists debated whether to call a general strike in support, Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge moved swiftly. He announced that none of the strikers would be rehired and mobilized the state police. An entirely new police force was recruited from among unemployed veterans of the Great War (now known as World War I).