Labor History Feb 9 President JFK asks Congress to approve creation of the Medicare program & more!

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history & http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_02_09_2012

February 9

Wobblie activist Tom Mooney convicted in bombing frame-up orchestrated by Pinkerton Detective Agency. He was pardoned and released 22 years later - 1917

And this:
February 9, 1917 - California labor activist Tom Mooney was convicted for allegedly setting off a bomb at a San Francisco parade. The case of Mooney and co-defendant Warren Billings became a cause celebre for unions, who said they were victims of an antiunion conspiracy. Eventually, convincing evidence of Mooney's innocence came to light and he was pardoned in 1939.


From Blackjacks to Briefcases is the first book to document the systematic and extensive use by American corporations of professional unionbusters, an ugly profession that surfaced after the Civil War and has grown bolder and more sophisticated with the passage of time. From the Pinkertons of old to the Special Response Corporation and Vance International’s Assets Protection Team of today, you’ll see just how low some employers will sink in their quest for unchecked profit and control. In the UCS bookstore now.

Congress approves legislation allowing for a total of $940,000,000 to be used for Depression-era relief projects. $790,000,000 of this money was intended to be used to fund work relief and flood recovery programs - 1937

U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy falsely charged that the State Department was riddled with Communists. It seems that just about everyone else the Wisconsin senator didn’t like was a Communist as well, including scores of unionists. This was the beginning of "McCarthyism." He ultimately was officially condemned by the senate and died of alcoholism - 1950

President Kennedy asks Congress to approve creation of the Medicare program, financed by an increase in Social Security taxes, to aid 14.2 million Americans aged 65 or older - 1961

Some 19,000 Boeing engineers and technical workers in Washington state and Oregon begin what is to become a 40-day strike over economic issues - 2000