Today in Labor History December 4, 1906: The National Federation of Postal Clerks was chartered. In 1971, they merged with four other postal unions to form the modern APWU. Go Postal!
Today in Labor History December 4, 1951: Walter Reuther, President of the United Autoworkers (UAW), was elected head of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Four years later, he led the merger of the CIO with the AFL. Reuther led the UAW from 1946 until 1970, when he died under suspicious circumstances.
Today in Labor History December 4, 1964: Police arrested over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, after they took over the administration building during the Free Speech Movement. They occupied the building in protest of the Regents’ decision to forbid protests on the college campus.
Today in Labor History December 4, 1969: Chicago Black Panthers, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, were assassinated by the Chicago Police, with assistance from the FBI. Hampton was chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party (BPP) and deputy chairman of the nation BPP. He founded the antiracist, anti-classist Rainbow Coalition, which included the Black Panthers, Young Lords and Young Patriots (a radical poor white people’s movement). On the night of the assassination, an infiltrator drugged Hampton with barbiturates. He remained unconscious when the cops entered his bedroom, dragged away his pregnant girlfriend, then fired several shots into his chest and head.
Today in Labor History December 4, 1970: The authorities jailed Cesar Chavez for 20 days during the Salinas Salad Bowl Strike. The strike was, in many ways, a turf war between the UFW and the teamsters, who had already signed a deal with the growers. It was the largest farm workers strike in U.S. history. It cost the lettuce growers $500,000 per day. The UFW also initiated a nationwide boycott of lettuce. On November 4, someone bombed their headquarters. Chavez’s arrest, on December 4, was his first of many arrests. Ethyl Kennedy, widow of Robert Kennedy, visited him in jail. As she left, an anti-union mob attacked her. The Brown Berets collaborated with the police to prevent a full-scale riot from breaking out.
Today in Labor History December 4, 2005: tens of thousands of people protested for democracy in Hong Kong and demanded universal equal suffrage.
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