Labor history Nov 8 FDR announces plans for the CWA 4 million jobs, Dorothy Day was born, more

November 8

20,000 workers, black and white, stage general strike in New Orleans, demanding union recognition and hour and wage gains - 1892

November 8, 1897 - Catholic worker leader Dorothy Day was born. In 1933, along with Peter Maurin, she founded the Catholic Worker movement. It combined a spiritual vision of social justice with the efforts of labor unions and other activist groups to improve the economic condition of working people. “The greatest challenge of the day,” said Day, “is how to bring about a revolution of the heart . . .” Efforts have been launched within the Catholic Church to seek sainthood for Day.

Read more about Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement at http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/


President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces plans for the Civil Works Administration to create four million additional jobs for the Depression-era unemployed. The workers ultimately laid 12 million feet of sewer pipe and built or made substantial improvements to 255,000 miles of roads, 40,000 schools, 3,700 playgrounds, and nearly 1,000 airports (not to mention 250,000 outhouses still badly needed in rural America) - 1933

In one of the U.S. auto industry’s more embarrassing missteps over the last half-century, the Ford Motor Co. decides to name their new model the Edsel, after Henry Ford’s only son. Ford executives rejected 18,000 other potential names - 1956

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_11_8_2011