Today in Labor History February 17, 1906: The authorities arrested “Big Bill” Haywood and two other union members on trumped up charges for the murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Stuenenberg. Clarence Darrow successfully defended them. He told jurors, “If at the behest of this mob you should kill Bill Haywood, he is mortal, he will die, but I want to say that a million men will grab up the banner of labor where at the open grave Haywood lays it down.” The actual perpetrator was a one-time WFM union member named Harry Orchard. Orchard was also a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners’ Association.
1930s
Today in Labor History February 17, 1932: Florence Kelley (b.1859) died on this date. Kelley was a social and political reformer. She worked against sweatshops and fought for the minimum wage, eight-hour workday and children’s rights. She coined the term “wage abolition.” She also helped create the NAACP. Kelley was a follower of Karl Marx and a personal friend of Friedrich Engels. As a youth, she belonged to the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. She was also an activist for women’s suffrage and African-American civil rights.
Today in Labor History February 17, 1936: The United Rubber Workers launched a sit-down strike at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio. The United Rubber Workers formed in 1935 in response to the depression, low wages and poor working conditions. The union regularly used the sit-down strike. It was particularly effective on the assembly line because workers who refused to work up the line, prevent anyone down the line from working, even if they hadn’t planned to strike. It also kept the workers on the premises, making it harder to bring in scab workers. The IWW tried to organize the rubber workers in the 1910s. However, vigilantes and martial law crushed their organizing drive.
Today in Labor History February 17, 1937: Workers at Fansteel Corporation staged a sit-down strike for union recognition. The bosses fired them. In March, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board ordered the company to rehire 90 of the fired workers.
1990s-2000s
Today in Labor History February 17, 1996: A 3-day UAW wildcat strike began at the Chrysler truck plant in Warren, Michigan. 3,100 workers struck when their bosses fired several union representatives.
Today in Labor History February 17, 2011: Protests against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi launched the Libyan part of the Arab Spring. Meanwhile, security forces violently attacked protesters in Pearl Roundabout, in Manama, Bahrain on Bloody Thursday. They killed four protesters and injured 300. Most were sleeping at the time of the unprovoked attack.