Today in Labor History: April 20

Today in Labor History April 20, 1812: Luddites attacked factories in Middleton, Manchester, Bolton, Ashton, Oldham and Cheshire England.

April 20, 1912: Nearly 10,000 demonstrators celebrated the textile workers’ victory in Lawrence, MA. They won a 10-20% pay hike and grievance committees after a brutal strike that united workers from 51 nationalities. During the strike, police beat protesters and faced off against them with bayonets and rifles.

The Ludlow Massacre

Today in Labor History April 20, 1914: National Guards opened fire on a mining camp during a strike in Ludlow, Colorado. The killed five miners, two women, and twelve children. However, they killed over 75 people throughout the course of the strike. 10,000 members of the united Mine Workers of America (UMW) participated in the strike. 1,200 of them had been living in the Ludlow tent colony. During the assault, guardsmen opened fire on strikers and their families with machine guns and set fire to the camp.

Mining was (and still is) a dangerous job. At the time, over .7% of Colorado miners died on the job. Working conditions were not only unsafe, but terribly unfair, too. Bosses paid workers by the ton for coal they extracted, but not for “dead work,” like shoring up unstable roofs and tunnels. This encouraged miners to risk their lives by ignoring safety precautions so they could extract and deliver more coal.

Miners also lived in “company towns.” The bosses charged inflated prices at their company stores. Furthermore, workers were paid in “scrip,” a currency that was valid only in their company stores. So even if workers had a way to get to another store, they had no money to purchase anything. Therefore, much of what the miners earned went back into the pockets of their bosses.

1940s

Today in Labor History April 20, 1948: United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassins while he was eating dinner. It permanently impaired his right arm. He survived and ultimately died in a plane crash in 1970 under suspicious circumstances. Reuther also survived an attempted kidnapping in April, 1938, while his brother Victor was shot and nearly killed by police in 1949. The UAW headquarters was also bombed in 1949. Both Walter and Victor were again nearly killed in a small private plane near Dulles Airport. Despite this history of attempts on his life, virtually no media addressed the possibility that his actual death may have been an assassination.

1980s

April 20, 1980: United Auto Workers members ended a successful 172-day strike against International Harvester. They were protesting management demands for new work rules and mandatory overtime provisions.

Today in Labor History April April 20, 1985: 250,000 people marched in Washington, D.C., to protest US policy in Central America.

2000s

April 20, 2008: Danica Patrick won the Indy 300 Japan, becoming the first woman to win an Indy car race.