Today in Labor History October 12, 1898: A gun battle at the Chicago-Virden Coal Company, in Virden, Illinois, killed 8 coal miners and 5 private detectives, during the Virden Massacre. The Company hired the private cops to protect African-American strikebreakers they had brought in by train to operate their mine during the strike. 30 members of the UMWA were injured, as were several of the strikebreakers. The UMWA told the black miners they would be cared for if they came to the union hall. But the next day, the UMWA told them that their protection would end at 6 pm that evening. After that, Virden became a sundown town and most black miners were expelled. The mayor of Springfield sent the African American workers to East Saint Louis by train and abandoned them there without money, food or warm clothes. The governor then mustered the National Guard to prevent any more black strikebreakers from entering the state, telling his soldiers that if another train tried to enter the state, they should “shoot it to pieces with Gatling guns.” The next month, the mine owners recognized the union and agreed to keep the workers segregated. Virden remained a sundown town for decades after that.

Ever since Bacon’s Rebellion in 1876, the wealthy have been exploiting race to pit workers against each other, provoking mistrust, hatred, and violence. It was common for bosses to bring in African American replacement workers during strikes and lie to them about their employment status, deny that there was a strike going on, promise them equal treatment. Even when strikes were not going on, employers would (and still do) hire workers from different backgrounds, races, genders, ethnicities, ages, at different pay, status and working conditions, in order to divide them and sow mistrust among them. The mine owners of eastern Pennsylvania were infamous for this in the late 1800s. My novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill, shows how they’d hire native whites and English immigrants as the mine bosses and foremen, at the highest pay and status; Welsh and German miners as “skilled” or “contract” miners and engineers, at a middling pay and status; and Irish as Laborers at the lowest pay and status. They’d also hire Welsh workers to moonlight as coal cops, provoking sectarian violence between them and the Irish. And when the workers managed to overcome their mistrust, and unite in solidarity during a strike, the bosses would simply offer the higher status workers a tiny raise and that would often be enough to get them to break solidarity and bust the strike.

But these tactics did not always work. During the Matewan strike in West Virginia, in 1920, union organizers were able to successfully unite Italian immigrants, black workers who had initially been hired as scabs, and local whites, and to maintain solidarity between them, in spite of evictions and attacks by gun thugs. During the Great Upheaval of 1877, a 4-month nationwide labor uprising in which cops and National Guards slaughtered 100 people, black and white workers united in solidarity in Saint Louis, taking over the city in a Commune that lasted for several days. Black longshoremen in Galveston, Texas won a raise, inspiring white workers to join them. In Louisville, Kentucky, black sewer workers initiated a strike wave that quickly included coopers, textile workers, brick makers, cabinet workers and factory workers. Throughout the south, black workers demanded equal pay to whites and, in many cases, won it.

In 1887, the predominantly white Knights of Labor organized and supported black sugarcane workers in New Orleans. However, white paramilitaries attacked the strike, slaughtering up to 50 black workers. The KOL were unique for their time, organizing men, women, immigrants and black workers in one big union. However, even they weren’t immune to racism, xenophobia, and propaganda from the bosses and yellow press. Indeed, they were the primary culprits behind the Rock Springs Massacre of 1883, in Wyoming, where they slaughtered up to 50 immigrant Chinese miners and drove the survivors from town because they believed the Chinese workers were taking their jobs and driving down wages.

In the 1910s, the IWW were famous for organizing workers regardless of race, nationality, religion, gender, or employment status. Ben Fletcher, an African American longshoreman in Philadelphia, was one of the union’s most effective organizers. He successfully united black, native whites, Polish and Irish immigrants, giving the IWW control of nearly every dock in town. They also had considerable success at other ports along the eastern seaboard. The IWW was also instrumental in the multi-ethnic strike against United Fruit, in New Orleans, in 1913. Frank Little, a Cherokee worker, was another of the IWW’s top organizers. He helped organize oil workers, timber workers, and migrant farm workers in California, and helped pioneer many of the passive resistance techniques later used by the Civil Rights movement. He was lynched by vigilantes, during the Anaconda miners’ strike in 1917.

For the sake of space and time, I’m going to limit my discussion to these historical examples from the late 1800s to the 1910s. However, there are many more examples of worker solidarity across race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, particularly in the mid- to late 20th century.

Read more about the Great Upheaval here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/31/the-great-upheaval/

Read more about the Matewan massacre here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/14/the-battle-of-blair-mountain/

Read more about Ben Fletcher here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/

Read more about Frank Little here https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/

You can pick up my novel, ANYWHERE BUT SCHUYLKILL at
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/
https://www.historiumpress.com/michael-dunn
Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #virden #massacre #illinois #coal #mining #strike #union #scabs #racism #police #PoliceBrutality #IWW

#Subsidizing #Clearcuts.
Communities and forest workers need a new social contract, not a corporate bailout.

https://watershedsentinel.ca/article/subsidizing-clearcuts/

In June, USW Local 1-1937 went on strike in Tree Farm License 64 because the company insists on hiring non-union contractors to do union work. The new TFL is held by Western Forest Products and La-Kwa sa muqw, a partnership of four Vancouver Island First Nations: Tlowitsis, We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum, and K’omoks.

Forest industry losses will continue because the Canadian lumber industry is barely profitable. Almost all the old growth forests are gone. The easy-to-reach, low-elevation, high-value trees were taken years ago. What’s left is the “guts and feathers,” as Wilderness Committee campaign director Joe Foy says.

It costs politicians nothing to claim that this bailout will benefit workers. But the only thing they can guarantee is a new round of austerity: cutting wages and benefits and replacing union workers with non-union contractors – the same gambit that led to the Steelworkers’ strike.

#BCpoli #CDNpoli #BCForestryReform #BCForestryWorkers #WorkerUnions #Greenwashing #Scabs #Logging

Larger Nows #DemocracyInChains

Hello
¿\ TENT CITIES: ZILLOW STUDY SHOWS HOW WALL STREET IS CAUSING HOMELESSNESS WHILE PROFITING FROM THE HARM

{ Posted by Thom Hartmann | Oct 21, 2021 |

https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/featured/tent-cities-zillow-study-shows-wall-street-causing-homelessness-profiting-harm/

#OnTyranny // #BelieveInTruth || #BewareTheOnepartyState

#Scabs

#PoliticsOfResponsibility

#RoadToUnfreedom #gotv

One of my favorite Sifillis Celebrities is Scabatha, who is based on my dear late friend Kelly who had a horrible skin disease that took her toes and fingers. Now thanks to my illustrator Lucas she's running happily with new hands! Figure drawn by Lucas Alukkart, colored and composited by me. #book #books #illustration #illustrator #artwork #illustrationart #illustrationartwork #farts #scabs #puke #kites #drivein

Today in Labor History September 8, 1909: The bosses bent to the demands of striking Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World, IWW) in McKees Rock, Pa. They agreed to improved working conditions, a raise of 15% and an end to the “pool system” that gave foremen control over each worker’s pay. It was the Wobbly’s biggest victory to date. The strike started on July 13. The bosses tried to bring in hundreds of scabs, but the strikers shot at the boats, forcing many of them to turn back. Others quietly snuck in by rail. However, many scabs quit or formed their own union after suffering abuses by the bosses, including being held in boxcars against their will and served rotten food. On Sunday, August 22, a shootout occurred between strikers and police and private thugs. 12-26 people died, including 2 state troopers. One of the leaders of the strike was IWW cofounder William Trautman. He later wrote a novel based on the strike called “Riot.” Joe Etter and Big Bill Haywood also helped lead the strike.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #wobblies #pennsylvania #strike #union #scabs #police #policebrutality #books #novels #writer #author #fiction #bigbillhaywood #williamtrautman #joeetter @bookstadon

CPH Daily Bulletin 9/6/2025

CRY ABOUT IT: I’m a #Stanford Grad Student. The Graduate Student Union Is Trying to Get Me Fired.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/stanford-student-union-graduate-workers

#UnionStrong #Scabs #GradStudentUnion #Janus #Beck #RightToWork #WorkersRights

Today in Labor History September 6, 1912: Duluth streetcar drivers went on strike. On September 9, riots erupted, with workers stoning scab drivers and battling police in the streets. They overturned street cars and blockaded the streets. A 16-year-old clubbed a cop in the face. 14 were arrested. The workers were mostly Scandinavian immigrants. They were fighting for the right to form a union, and to cut their workday down to 9 hours. During a strike in 1899, Duluth drivers dynamited several streetcars off their tracks.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #streetcar #strike #union #duluth #Riot #scabs #police #sabotage

Today in Labor History August 17, 1985: Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) in Austin, Minnesota, went on strike against Hormel, makers of SPAM, after the company slashed wages by nearly $2.50 per hour, and this after an 8-year wage freeze. They ignored the advice of their national union and struck anyway. Workers continued to strike even after the company tried to reopen the plant with replacement workers, including some union members who crossed the picket lines, and even after the national union cut ties with them, seized funds, and changed the locks on the local’s office. The UFCW national organization accused the Hormel local of being fascists. The Communist Party sided with the national. The AFL-CIO refused the local’s request to call for a boycott. The authorities called out the National Guards who, along with the police, beat and arrested striking workers. After ten months the strike ended, with no gains for union members.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #hormel #spam #minnesota #union #strike #wages #police #policebrutality #scabs #boycott #communism

Today in Labor History July 11, 1892: Frisco Mine was dynamited by striking Coeur D’Alene miners after they discovered they had been infiltrated by Pinkertons and after one of their members had been shot. The striking miners belonged to the Western Federation of Miners. Prior to this, the mine owners had increased work hours, decreased pay and brought in a bunch of scabs to replace striking workers. Ultimately, over 600 striking miners were imprisoned without charge by the military in order to crush the strike.

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/?s=pinkerton

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mining #union #strike #bombing #pinkertons #wfm #scabs #friscomine

Today in Labor History July 6, 1892: Locked out workers out at the Homestead Steel Works battled 300 Pinkerton detectives hired by Carnegie, who owned the Homestead mill. Homestead boss, Henry Clay Frick, had locked the workers out on July 1 and brought in Pinkertons to import and protect scabs brought in to replace striking workers. Determined to keep the plant closed and inoperable by scabs, the strikers formed military units that patrolled the grounds around the plant, and the Monongahela River in boats, to prevent access by strikebreakers and their Pinkerton guards. On the night of July 5, Pinkertons, armed with Winchester rifles, attempted to cross the river. Reports conflict as to which side fired first, but a gun battle ensued. Steelworkers defended themselves with guns and a homemade cannon. Women participated in the action, calling on strikers to kill the Pinkertons. 3-7 Pinkertons and 11 union members were killed in the battle. The Pinkertons eventually fled, but the strike continued for months. Court injunctions eventually helped to crush the union, protecting the steel industry for decades from organized labor.

Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman plotted to assassinate Homestead Boss Henry Clay Frick for his role in killing the workers. Berkman later carried out the assassination attempt, failed, and went to prison for 14 years. He wrote a book about his experience called, “Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist” (1912). He also wrote “The Bolshevik Myth” (1925) and “The ABC of Communist Anarchism” (1929).

K. Friedman wrote about the strike in “By Bread Alone” (1901). Friedman was a Chicago socialist, settlement-house worker and journalist. His novel was an early example of the transformation in socialist fiction from "utopian" to "scientific" socialism. More recently, Trilby Busch wrote about the strike in her novel, “Darkness Visible” (2012). @robertatracy also references the strike in her recent novel “Zigzag Woman” (2024). And the Pinkertons play prominently in my novel “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”

You can read my history of the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

You can get a copy of my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill,”
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #homestead #carnegie #socialism #pinkertons #scabs #anarchism #alexanderberkman #emmagoldman #pittsburgh #steel #fiction #books #novel #writer #author #historicalfiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 2, 1892: Carnegie Steel locked out workers at its Homestead, PA, plant. The lockout culminated in a major battle between strikers and Pinkerton security agents on July 6. Determined to keep the plant closed and inoperable by scabs, the strikers formed military units that patrolled the grounds around the plant, and the Monongahela River in boats, to prevent access by strikebreakers and their Pinkerton guards. On the night of July 5, Pinkertons, armed with Winchester rifles, attempted to cross the river. Reports conflict as to which side fired first, but a gun battle ensued. Both sides suffered numerous deaths and injuries. Women also participated in the action. In the end, the Pinkertons gave up and surrendered. However, the governor called in the state militia, which quickly displaced the picketers and allowed the scabs in, thus ending the strike. In the wake of the bloody strike, Alexander Berkman, an anarchist, tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick, Carnegie’s agent at Homestead.

K. Friedman wrote about the strike in “By Bread Alone” (1901). Friedman was a Chicago socialist, settlement-house worker and journalist. His novel was an early example of the transformation in socialist fiction from "utopian" to "scientific" socialism. More recently, Trilby Busch wrote about the strike in her novel, “Darkness Visible” (2012). @robertatracy also references the strike in her recent novel (2024), “Zigzag Woman.” And the Pinkertons play prominently in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill” @michaeldunnauthor

You can read my history of the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #homestead #carnegie #socialism #Pinkertons #scabs #anarchism #alexanderberkman #pittsburgh #steel #fiction #books #novel #writer #author #historicalfiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 1, 1983: Copper miners began a strike against Phelps-Dodge in Clifton, Arizona. During the strike, company-owned railroad bridges were set on fire and strikers smashed windows of scab vehicles. Governor Bruce Babbitt repeatedly sent in state police and National Guardsmen to suppress and ultimately crush the 3-year-long strike. Replacement workers then voted to decertify the union in the largest mass decertification in U.S. history. 35 locals of 13 different unions representing Phelps-Dodge workers were all decertified. Within a couple of years, their profits skyrocketed 15-fold to $420 million per year. This was one of the most effective and historically significant union-busting campaigns of the post-WWII era, along with the PACTCO strike, and Reagan’s mass-firing of the air traffic controllers in 1981.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #copper #miners #arizona #unionbusting #union #strike #police #policebrutality #phelpsdodge #patco #Reagan #scabs

Today in Labor History June 27, 1905: The Industrial Workers of the World (AKA IWW or the Wobblies) was founded at Brand's Hall, in Chicago, Illinois. The IWW was a radical syndicalist labor union, that advocated industrial unionism, with all workers in a particular industry organized in the same union, as opposed by the trade unions typical today. Founding members included Big Bill Haywood, James Connolly, Eugene V. Debs, Lucy Parsons, and Mother Jones. The IWW was and is a revolutionary union that sought not only better working conditions in the here and now, but the complete abolition of capitalism. The preamble to their constitution states: The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. It also states: Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."
They advocate the General Strike and sabotage as two of many means to these ends. However, sabotage to the Wobblies does not necessarily mean bombs and destruction. According to Big Bill Haywood, sabotage is any action that gums up the works, slowing down profits for the bosses. Thus, working to rule and sit-down strikes are forms of sabotage. The IWW is the first union known to have utilized the sit-down strike. They were one of the first and only unions of the early 20th century to organize all workers, regardless of ethnicity, gender, nationality, language or type of work (e.g., they organized both skilled and unskilled workers). They also were subjected to extreme persecution by the state and by vigilantes working for the corporations. Hundreds were imprisoned or deported. Dozens were assassinated or executed, including Joe Hill, Frank Little, Wessley Everest and Carlo Tresca. And scores were slaughtered in massacres, like in McKees Rock railway strike, PA (1909); Lawrence Textile Strike, MA (1912); San Diego Free Speech Fight, CA (1912); Grabow, LA Lumber Strike (1912); New Orleans, LA banana strike (1913); Patterson, NJ textile strike (1913); Mesabi Range Strike, MN (1916); Everett, WA massacre (1916); Centralia, WA Armistice Day riot (1919) and the Columbine, CO massacre (1921). There was also the Hopland, CA riot (1913), in which the police killed each other, accidentally, and framed Wobblies for it.

There are lots of great books about the IWW artwork and music. The Little Red Songbook. The IWW, Its First 50 Years, by Fred Thompson. Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology, by Joyce Kornbluth. But there are also tons of fictional accounts of the Wobblies, too. Lots of references in Dos Passos’, USA Trilogy. Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett, was influenced by his experience working as a Pinkerton infiltrator of the Wobblies. The recent novel, The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter, has a wonderful portrayal of Elizabeth Gurly Flynn, during the Spokane free speech fight. And tons of classic folk and protest music composed by Wobbly Bards, like Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, Haywire Mac and T-Bone Slim.

To learn more about the IWW and its organizers you can read the following articles I wrote:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/03/16/the-haywire-mac-story/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #generalstrike #sabotage #bigbillhaywood #freespeech #scabs #pinkertons #eugenedebs #motherjones #lucyparsons #assassination #prison #deportation #anarchism #socialism #books #fiction #folkmusic #author #write @bookstadon

Today in Labor History May 26, 1937: Henry Ford unleashed his company goons and local police on United Auto Workers organizers at the “Battle of the Overpass” near the River Rouge plant. General Motors and Chrysler signed collective bargaining agreements with the UAW in 1937, but Ford held out until 1942. Ford Motor Co. security guards attacked union organizers and supporters attempting to distribute literature outside the plant. The guards tried to destroy any photos showing the attack. However, a few survived and they inspired the Pulitzer committee to establish a prize for photography. No one died in the attack, but 16 workers were injured. 5 years earlier, workers had been attacked by gunfire at the same location.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #union #uaw #henryford #scabs #photography #pulitzer #police #policebrutality

Today in Labor History May 25, 1936: The notorious 11-month Remington Rand strike began. Remington Rand made office equipment, like typewriters. The federal union striking against them was affiliated with the AFL. The strike spawned the “Mohawk Valley (N.Y.) formula,” described by investigators as a corporate plan to discredit union leaders, frighten the public with the threat of violence, and use thugs to beat up strikers. The National Labor Relations Board termed the formula “a battle plan for industrial war.” No one died during the strike, but violence was rampant. Both sides fought with bricks, bottles, fists, clubs and other weapons. However, it was later revealed that many of the violent acts on the workers’ side were committed by agents provocateur, employed by the company. Remington Rand also hired large numbers of private security to protect their scabs and properties. Furthermore, local police were used to intimidate entire towns. Squads of cops armed with shotguns would stand guard at the edge of town, demanding identification from anyone wishing to enter or leave.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #police #PoliceBrutality #acab #scabs

Today in Labor History May 25, 1805: The authorities arrested striking shoemakers (cordwainers) in Philadelphia. They were charged with criminal conspiracy for violating an English common law that barred schemes aimed at forcing wage increases. In 1794, the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers organized around protecting wages and blocking scabs from taking their jobs at lower wages. They struck several times over the next decade, sometimes winning wage increases. However, in November, 1805, the master shoemakers took the issue to court. As a result, a grand jury indicted 8 journeymen of “conspiracy to increase wages,” thus ending the strike. Prosecutors argued that the journeymen societies (precursors to modern unions) threatened the entire economy of the city. (Of course, it might, if other workers joined in and it became a General Strike). They further argued that if allowed to organize, such worker combinations could lead to civil war. The judge was a Federalist. He denounced the workers and told the jurors that organizing was illegal. Consequently, they found all eight workers guilty. The judge fined them eight dollars each. This trial upheld the Federalist ideal of the sanctity of private property and industrial growth, unhindered by workers’ organizations.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #union #wages #conspiracy #scabs

Today in Labor History May 7, 1907: Bloody Tuesday occurred in San Francisco. The Street Car workers were among the most militant workers in the city and San Francisco, one of the strongest labor cities in the country. The mayor, Eugene Schmitz, and two city supervisors were from the Union Labor Party. San Francisco workers, particularly the streetcar union, had struck in five of the six years from 1902 to 1907. Capitalists were fed up with the power of the city’s unions and wanted to crush them once and for all. Led by Rudolph Spreckels (the sugar magnate), the bosses hired the Burns Detective agency to undermine the political establishment. They did this by exposing the corruption of the mayor and the board of supervisors. However, the violence started when scabs tried to run the streetcars, resulting in an exchange of gunfire between union men and scabs.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #scabs #sanfrancisco #police #strike #privatepolice

#Boycott #Molson #Coors
Ils utilisent des #scabs pour remplacer les employés en #grève
#syndicat #union
https://vinepair.com/articles/hop-take-teamsters-molson-coors-history/

Today In Labor History March 27, 1904: The authorities kicked Mother Jones out of Colorado for “stirring-up” striking coal miners. Earlier in March, the authorities deported 60 striking miners from Colorado. In June, they arrested 22 in Telluride. For nearly 2 years, strikers, led by the Western Federation of Miners, were violently attacked by Pinkerton and Baldwin-Felts detectives. 33 strikers were killed. At least two scholars have said “There is no episode in American labor history in which violence was as systematically used by employers as in the Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #colorado #union #strike #mining #motherjones #WorkplaceViolence #scabs #coal #pinkertons #colorado #minewars #wfm #WesternFederationOfMiners #womenshistorymonth

Today In Labor History March 27, 1912: Start of the 8-month Northern railway strike in Canada by the IWW. Over 8,000 construction workers walked off the job at Northern Railway workcamps Wobblies picketed employment offices in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Tacoma and Minneapolis in order to block the hiring of scabs.

Fellow workers pay attention to what I'm going to mention,
For it is the fixed intention of the Workers of the World.
And I hope you'll all be ready, true-hearted, brave and steady,
To gather 'round our standard when the red flag is unfurled.

CHORUS:
Where the Fraser River flows, each fellow worker knows,
They have bullied and oppressed us, but still our union grows.
And we're going to find a way, boys, for shorter hours and better pay, boys
And we're going to win the day, boys, where the river Fraser flows.

For these gunny-sack contractors have all been dirty actors,
And they're not our benefactors, each fellow worker knows.
So we've got to stick together in fine or dirty weather,
And we will show no white feather, where the Fraser river flows.
Now the boss the law is stretching, bulls and pimps he's fetching,
And they are a fine collection, as Jesus only knows.
But why their mothers reared them, and why the devil spared them,
Are questions we can't answer, where the Fraser River flows.

(Lyrics by Joe Hill, 1912, to the tune of “Where the River Shannon Flows.”)

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #strike #union #railroad #FraserRiver #joehill #scabs #sanfrancisco #vancouver #seattle #minneapolis