Labor History Aug 15 Will Rogers killed, Nixon announces a 90-day freeze, Horgan killed, more

[Omaha Steve]

August 15


Populist social commentator Will Rogers killed in a plane crash, Point Barrow, Alaska. One of his many classic lines: "I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts" - 1935

August 15, 1963 - Some 170 women began a sit-in protest against employment discrimination by a bank in East St. Louis, Illinois.

President Richard M. Nixon announces a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents in an attempt to combat inflation - 1971

Gerry Horgan, chief steward of CWA Local 1103 and NYNEX striker in Valhalla, NY, is struck on the picket line by a car driven by the daughter of a plant manager and dies the following day. What was to become a four-month strike over healthcare benefits was in its second week - 1989

Eight automotive department employees at a Wal-Mart near Ottawa won an arbitrator-imposed contract after voting for UFCW representation, becoming the giant retailer's only location in North America with a collective bargaining agreement. Two months later the company closed the department. Three years earlier Wal-Mart had closed an entire store on the same day the government announced an arbitrator would impose a contract agreement there - 2008

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_08_15_2011

[October]

1. Thank you. /nt