QUIZ

Labor History

QUESTION #1

In what year did Labor Day become a federal holiday?

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1. 1882
2. 1885
3. 1887
4. 1894

ANSWER #1�D. 1894

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1882 - First U.S. Labor Day celebration – 20,000 marched in New York City parade

1885 - Minnesota celebrated its first Labor Day – became a legal holiday in 1893

1887 - Oregon was the first to declare Labor Day an official holiday. Colorado, Massachusetts and New York soon followed.

In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the law that Congress passed designating the first Monday in September a national holiday

QUESTION #2

What event led to the creation of Labor Day as a federal holiday in 1894?

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• Pullman Strike
• Homestead Strike
• Great Railroad Strike
• Hard Hat Riot

ANSWER #2�A. Pullman Strike

• Started May 1894 after wages were cut by 25% while housing/food remained in the Pullman company town near Chicago
• 35% of Pullman workers were represented by the American Railway Workers
• Railroad switchman refused to handle Pullman Cars and were fired
• Strike spread to 250,000 people in 27 states, including Minnesota
• Stopped most rail traffic in Midwest by the end of June
• The Illinois state guard was called out
• President Cleveland became involved when a US mail car was damaged
• Called in Federal national guard
• Injunction to prevent union leaders from speaking to subordinates
• On July 7, federal national guard opened fire on strikers on strikers near Chicago, killing 4 to 30 people.
• Ended in September with no demands met

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The strike had a high level of public support so just prior to using the unprecedented injunction and calling in federal troops, the labor day law passed Congress and signed into law at the end of June.

QUESTION #3

The first known labor strike in the United States was by what type of workers?

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• Printers
• Shoemakers
• Tailors
• Coopers (Barrel-makers)

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ANSWER #3

C. Tailors

United States

1768: America’s first labor strike - New York journeymen tailors

1794: The first trade union is formed - Shoemakers in Philadelphia form the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers in Philadelphia. Local craft unions emerged in cities throughout the country shortly after.

Guilds of coopers and shoemakers, focused on ensuring quality, were legally recognized in Boston by as early as 1648

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Minnesota

1854: First Strike - journeymen tailors in St. Paul

1856: First official union - printers in St. Paul

1868: About 75 Minneapolis and St. Anthony coopers strike for 3 cents more pay per barrel

1619 - The Jamestown Polish craftsmen successfully went on strike to secure voting rights when the colony intended to prevent many settlers from voting in the first election on the grounds that they were not of English descent.

QUESTION #4

Which of the following was the first national federation of labor unions that welcomed unskilled workers, women, African Americans and emigrants?

• American Federation of Labor
• National Labor Union
• Congress of Industrial Organizations
• Industrial Workers of the World

ANSWER #4�D. Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies – f. 1905)

• Advocated an inclusive form of unionism open to all workers, men and women, immigrants and native-born, black and white, etc.
• Believed craft unions caused separation rather than unity among workers
• Emphasized rank-and-file leadership as opposed to empowering leaders who bargain with employers on behalf of workers
• Founded by socialists and anarchist opposed to capitalism - wanted to replace capitalism with a form of socialism based on “workers managing the industries.” 

National Labor Union 1866-1873 - several hundred thousand members, included including skilled and unskilled workers but many member unions excluded African Americans who formed the Colored National Labor Union in 1869

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American Federation of Labor (AFL – f. 1886) – federation of unions organized by craft (skill-based) not by industry. Initially, focused on pure trade unionism and no political involvement in labor reform. Included unions that banned women and/or African Americans.

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Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO - f.1935) – unions expelled from AFL in 1935 for organizing unskilled workers by industry, rather than by craft.

Successfully organized the automobile and steel industry by 1941

AFL and CIO merged in 1955

QUESTION #5

Which woman was a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies)?

(Choose all that apply)

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• Jane Adams
• Mary Harris Jones
• Margaret Dreier Robins
• Lucy Parsons

ANSWER #5�B. and D Mary Harris Jones and Lucy Parsons

Mary Harris Jones “Mother” Jones

• Emigrated due to famine in Ireland to Canada then US, lost husband and four children to yellow fever epidemic in Memphis and lost dressmaker shop to Chicago Fire
• Organizer for Knights of Labor and then Mine Workers 
• Gained prominence for organizing the wives and children of striking workers in demonstrations
• In 1903, led a march, including children, from Philadelphia to Long Island home of President Theodore Roosevelt
• By age 60, she had assumed the persona of "Mother Jones" by claiming to be older than she was

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Lucy Parsons

• Enslaved as a child, escaped when enslaver moved family to Texas
• Married Albert Parsons, a white newspaper editor, in 1872 during a small window when interracial marriage was legal (they moved to Chicago when became illegal)
• Became well known public speaker on workers rights after husband was executed following the 1886 Haymarket Affair (an unknown person threw a bomb at police while protesting for 8 hour day, rioting caused 8 deaths)
• Anarchist who thought suffragists were “dupes” but worked with Jane Adams around economic rights of women and children

Suffragists Jane Adams and Margaret Dreier Robins were active members of the National Women’s Trade Union League of America (NWTUL)

• Adams often acted as a labor arbitrator, including during the Pullman Strike in 1894

QUESTION #6

Which young, Jewish, working class, immigrant woman led New York’s shirtwaist makers in the 1909 Uprising of the 20,000, the largest American strike by female workers up to that time?

Choose all that apply

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• Mary Dreier
• Clara Lemlich
• Pauline Newman
• Rose Schneiderman

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ANSWER #6

B, C, D

Clara Lemlich, Pauline Newman and Rose Schneiderman all worked as shirtwaist makers as children and were already successful strike organizers, at a time when the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (founded in 1900 by Jewish men) and other unions were not particularly interested in organizing women.

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The Uprising of the 20,000 (Nov 1909 - Feb 15, 1910) sought better pay, safety and working conditions; decreased hours; access to higher paying skilled jobs reserved for men and freedom from sexual harassment/assault.

• All but 14 of the city’s 353 shops signed contracts.
• Won 52-hour workweek, 4 paid holidays, employer-paid tools and materials, collectively bargained wages but not safety
• The anti-union Triangle Shirtwaist Factory never settled with the workers. 147 children and women died in the March 25, 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

Clara Lemlich‘s speech, delivered in Yiddish, is credited with galvanizing workers to start a general garment worker strike. 100 workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had been on strike for 2 months.

Pauline Newman organized workers, lobbied and organized middle class women to support the strike. During strike hired as the first woman organizer for ILGWU.

Rose Schneiderman was a organizer and vice president of the NY Women’s Trade Union League. In 1933, appointed to National Labor Advisory Board

Mary Dreier, a middle class social reformer, was President of the New York Woman’s Trade Union League

QUESTION #7

What New Deal legislation established the right of private sector employees to unionize, collective bargain and engage in collective action?

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• Fair Labor Standards Act
• National Labor Relations Act
• Davis-Bacon Act
• Taft-Hartley Act

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ANSWER #7

B. National Labor Relations Act

The National Labor Relations Act (1935), AKA the Wagner Act, guarantees the right of private sector employees

• to unionize
• engage in collective bargaining
• take collective action
• strike if necessary

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It also established the National Labor Relations Board, which supervises labor union elections and investigates unfair labor practices.  

Davis-Bacon Act (1931) – prevailing wages in federally funded construction

Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) – minimum wage, overtime

Taft-Hartley Act (1947) - restricts the activities and power of labor unions

QUESTION #8

Who founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA)in 1962?

(Choose all that apply)

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A. Cesar Chavez

B. Larry Itliong

C. Dolores Huerta

D. Gilbert Padilla

ANSWER #8

1. Cesar Chavez and C. Dolores Huerta

1955 - Dolores Huerta co-founded the Stockton Chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO), a Latino civil rights organization - Chavez and Gilbert Padilla also worked as CSO organizers

1956 - Larry Itliong founded Filipino Farm Labor Union

1962 - Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez founded National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). Gilbert Padilla also an early leader in the NFWA.

1965 - Larry Itliong cofounded the AFL affiliated Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee

1965 - Itliong led the AWOC Delano grape strike which the National Farm Workers Association(NFWA) joined after 12 days.

1966 - NFWA and AWOC merged to form the United Farm Workers

1970 - growers signed a contract which included a pay raise, health-care benefits, and safety protections from pesticides (about 10,000 workers benefited)

Cesar Chavez and

Larry Itliong

Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez and Gilbert Padilla with Senator Ted Kennedy

QUESTION #9

Hattie Canty, President of Culinary Workers Local #226, led the longest service industry strike in US history in what city?

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• Atlanta, Georgia
• Jackson, Mississippi
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin

ANSWER #9�C. Las Vegas

The Frontier Hotel Strike (Sept 1991 - Feb 1998)

6 years, 4 months and 10 days

• Began in response to elimination of workers' pensions, wage and health care cuts, elimination of job security and owner’s refusal to bargain with the workers' unions.
• 5 Unions – Culinary 266, Bartenders 165, Teamsters 995, Operating Engineers 501 and Carpenters 1780
• Culinary Union has a diverse membership which is 55% women and 45% immigrants, 54% Latinx.
• More than 500 workers maintained a 24-7 picket line and not one striker crossed the line
• Ended after Phil Ruffin bought the resort from Margaret Elardi and promised to restore the original workers to their jobs, honor union contracts, and provide back pay and benefits for the strikers
• Striking employees received a total of nearly $5 million in back-pay and trust fund contributions. Original owner lost of an estimated billion dollars during strike
• By the mid-1990s, maids and other hotel employees in Las Vegas could earn more than double the average wage of service workers in other cities

Jackson 1866 – formerly enslaved washer women successfully set wage rates

Atlanta 1881 -July-Aug - 3000 washer women

Sheboygan 1954 – 1965 – Longest strike in US history - UAW against Kohler

QUESTION #10

Who was the first woman inducted into the Department of Labor’s Hall of Honor?

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• Mother Jones
• Francis Perkins
• Helen Keller
• Delores Huerta

ANSWER #10

B. Francis Perkins

• Only woman among the first eight inductees in 1989
• Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President Franklin Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945.
• She was the first woman to hold a Cabinet position.
• Established U.S. Employment Service, a minimum wage and a law guaranteeing the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively
• Directed the formulation and enactment of the Social Security Act 

Mother Jones - 1992

Helen Keller - 2010

Dolores Huerta -2012

Labor History Quiz

Perfect Score is 14

10 questions

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2 points for #5

3 points for #6

2 points for #8