Today in Labor History November 19, 1904: 6,000 members of the United Garment Workers of America struck at 27 wholesale houses in Chicago, which were then members of the National Wholesale Tailors’ Association.
November 19, 1915: Joe Hill, IWW organizer and song writer was executed by a Utah firing squad after being convicted of murder on trumped-up charges. His final message from prison was “Don’t mourn, Organize!” His ashes were sprinkled in every state of the union, except Utah because he didn’t want to be found dead in Utah. However, it is said that the IWW still keeps a small vial of some of his remaining ashes.
Today in Labor History November 19, 1943: The Nazis liquidated the Janowska concentration camp in Lviv, Ukraine, murdering at least 6,000 Jews after a failed uprising and mass escape attempt.
November 19, 1984: A series of explosions occurred at the Pemex petroleum storage facility in San Juan Ixhuatepec, Mexico City, in the San Juanico disaster. The resulting fire killed 500 people.
Today in Labor History November 19, 2010: The first of four explosions occurred at the Pike River Mine in New Zealand. Twenty-nine people died in the nation’s worst mining disaster since 1914.