Labor history Nov 14 Women’s Trade Union League founded, Carter-era OSHA publishes standard, much mo

November 14

Trade unions formed the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Organizations, later becoming the AFL. Under the leadership of Samuel Gompers and Peter McGuire, the AFL became the most influential labor organization in the nation - 1881

Women’s Trade Union League founded, Boston - 1903

The American Railway Supervisors Association is formed at Harmony Hall in Chicago by 29 supervisors working for the Chicago & North Western Railway. They organized after realizing that those railroaders working under their supervision already had the benefits of unionization and were paid more for working fewer hours - 1934

The Depression-era Public Works Administration agrees with New York City today to begin a huge slum clearance project covering 20 acres in Brooklyn, where low cost housing for 2,500 families will be completed. It was the first of many such jobs-and-housing projects across the country - 1934

The National Federation of Telephone Workers – later to become the Communications Workers of America – is founded in New Orleans - 1938

And this: November 14, 1938 - The National Federation of Telephone Workers was founded in New Orleans. It later became the Communications Workers of America, now one of the largest unions in the United States. In 1948, President Harry S Truman visited the CWA convention – becoming the first president ever to attend a union convention.

To “organize workers into a powerful industrial union,” United Mine Workers of America President, John L. Lewis called a meeting in Pittsburgh’s Islam Grotto, founding the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) - 1938

Jimmy Carter-era OSHA publishes standard reducing permissible exposure of lead, protecting 835,000 workers from damage to nervous, urinary and reproductive systems - 1978


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Federation of Professional Athletes granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1979

Labor history found here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_11_14_2011 & here: http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history