Today in Labor History September 15

1910s-1930s

Today in Labor History September 15, 1919: President Coolidge busted the Boston police labor strike.

Today in Labor History September 15, 1931: Sailors at Invergordon, Scotland, mutinied over pay cuts.

1960s

September 15, 1963: Four members of the local KKK planted 19 sticks of dynamite in the Sixteenth Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama. As a result, 4 young African-American girls died. The outrage helped mobilize support for the civil rights movement. By 1965, the FBI knew who the perpetrators were. However, no prosecutions occurred until 1977. Others weren’t convicted until 2001-2002.

1970s

Today in Labor History September 15, 1970: Over 350,000 members of the United Auto Workers went on strike against General Motors. UAW leader Walter Reuther had recently died (or been assassinated) and there was a power vacuum in the UAW leadership. The current leadership knew a strike would build members’ support for and loyalty to the union. They hoped it would unite rank and file factions against a common enemy (GM) and in support of them. Both the UAW leadership and GM management hoped that a strike would whittle down members’ expectations and demands, as hunger and privation set in. This would allow them to negotiate a contract more favorable to GM management, while still keeping their members under their control.

The strategy almost backfired. Rank and file members refused to agree on local issues. This prevented the UAW from coming to a national agreement with GM and risked them losing control of the strike. To avoid this, the UAW leadership entered into secret talks with GM to settle the dispute.