1800s
Today in Labor History February 19, 1807: The authorities arrested former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr for treason. They alleged that he was behind a plot to create an independent country in the southwest of the U.S., but had to acquit him for lack of evidence. Some believed he intended to take Texas or all of Mexico, but accounts vary as to how many supporters he had (anywhere from 40 to 7,000). In 1808, he traveled to England and attempted to garner support for a revolution in Mexico. The Brits kicked him out of the country. Prior to all this, while still vice president he had killed Alexander Hamilton in an illegal duel. He was never tried and all charges against him were dropped.
Today in Labor History February 19, 1855: Bread riots occurred in Liverpool.
1910s-1920s
Today in Labor History February 19, 1912: During the IWW Bread & Roses Strike in Lawrence, MA, 200 police attacked 100 women picketers, knocking them to the ground and beating them. As a result, several pregnant women lost their babies.
February 19, 1927: A General Strike occurred in Shanghai. In March, Communist union workers launched an uprising in Shanghai. However, the Kuomintang quashed the rebellion, slaughtering 5,000-10,000 in the Shanghai Massacre.
1940s
Today in Labor History February 19, 1948: Joe Ettor died on this date. Ettor was an IWW union organizer, who helped spearhead the Lawrence Bread & Roses Strike of 1912. “If the workers of the world want to win, all they have to do is recognize their own solidarity. They have nothing to do but fold their arms and the world will stop. The workers are more powerful with their hands in their pockets than all the property of the capitalists. As long as the workers keep their hands in their pockets, the capitalists cannot put theirs there. With passive resistance, with the workers absolutely refusing to move, lying absolutely silent, they are more powerful than all the weapons and instruments that the other side has for attack.”
Ettor was active in the 1907 Portland lumber strike, the 1909 McKees Rocks Strike, the Pennsylvania coal strike of 1909-10, and a Brooklyn shoe factory strike in 1910-11.
1980s-1990s
Today in Labor History February 19, 1986: The Farm Labor Organizing Committee signed an agreement with Campbell Soup, ending a seven-year-old boycott.
History February 19, 1986: The Sri Lankan Army slaughtered 80 Tamil farm workers in the Akkaraipattu massacre.
Today in Labor History February 19, 1990: After a 10-month strike, rank-and-file miners at the Pittston Coal Co. ratified a new contract. Ninety-eight miners and a minister occupied a Pittston Coal plant in Carbo, Virginia, inaugurating the year-long strike. While a one-month Soviet coal strike dominated the U.S. media, the year-long Pittston strike received almost no media coverage.
History February 19, 1997: 1,200 rallied in support of the striking musician’s union, forcing the cancellation of the opening night Disney production of “Beauty & the Beast” at 5th Ave. Theater in Seattle, Washington.
2000s
Today in Labor History February 19, 2006: A methane explosion in a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, killed 65 miners. Workers had gone on strike at least 14 times against the company for safety violations.