Labor history Sept 18 First direct primary election in the US, A 20-month illegal lockout ends, more

September 18

September 18, 1900 - The first direct primary election in the United States took place in Hennepin County, Minnesota, an area that includes the city of Minneapolis.


The Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) is formally founded at an Ohio convention, during a period of serious corruption in the union. Two years earlier at an IBT convention in Las Vegas a union reform leader who (unsuccessfully) called for direct election of officers and a limit on officers’ salaries had been beaten by thugs - 1978

A 20-month illegal lockout of 2,900 Steelworkers members at Kaiser Aluminum plants in three states ends when an arbitrator orders a new contract. Kaiser was forced to fire scabs and fork over tens of millions of dollars in back pay to union members - 1999

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_09_18_2011

Gotta love the "Semper Fidelis" of labor...