Today in Labor History January 28, 1861: The first national coal miners union, the American Miners Association, was founded.
January 28, 1909: U.S. troops finally left Cuba for good. They had been there 11 years, since the Spanish American War, in 1898. Of course, they remained in a tiny corner of the island, known as Guantanamo Bay. They have held prisoners of war there, without charge, for 21 years since 2001.
1910s
Today in Labor History January 28, 1914: The Edmonton, Canada city council caved in to the IWW, agreeing to provide a large hall to house the homeless. They also agreed to pass out three 25-cent meal tickets per day to each man, and to employ 400 people on a public project. On December 27, 1913, IWW workers in Edmonton had begun a rebellion to force the city to house 400 unemployed during winter.
January 28, 1918: General strikes occurred in the large cities throughout Germany. The Berlin strike lasted through February 3
Today in Labor History January 28, 1918: During the Finnish Civil War, Red Guard rebels seized control of Helsinki. Members of the Finnish Senate went underground.
January 28, 1935: Iceland became the first Western country to legalize therapeutic (elective) abortion. The Soviet Union legalized it in 1919. And the Nazis legalized abortion in 1935, but only to get rid of what they considered genetically inferior people. They prohibited women of Protestant German heritage from having abortions.