You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Friday September 18, 1903
More from the Denver Post: Is Organized Labor Treasonable in the State of Colorado?
In Cripple Creek the thing at which Peabody has struck with all the power of the state is not physical...but up in the air. That is to say, men said they were afraid to go to work; but there were no criminal acts. The governor's excuse for his action is that he levels the armed force of the state against fear. To the man who cares nothing sympathetically, one way or the other, but who as a regard for law, the view of the mater is that the governor should have refused to act until there was evident lawlessness and disorder.
The fact of the business is that the reasons for Peabody's action would justify the seizure of all union labor leaders on the charge of treason, regardless of any strikes. In fact, it may be doubted if the governor realizes what he is doing. The real, vital interest in the thing is that Governor Peabody of Colorado, has cast a dye which, unless he backs out, to use plain words, means that organized labor is treasonable and, if his attitude is accepted, will mean the crushing of labor organization by the government as being a society or organization which challenges the supremacy of government. As soon as the country realizes what is being done in Colorado it will be recognized as a national issue.
The outcome of Governor Peabody's action may bear results of which perhaps he never thought or dreamed. Whether he is killed politically or his party is destroyed are results insignificant beside the issue of what the law may finally do.
Only one thing was ever settled in this country by any process, save that of law, and that one thing was slavery.
emphasis added
SOURCE
The Cripple Creek Strike
-by Emma F Langdon
(Part I, 1st pub 1904)
NY, 1969
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Thursday September 18, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado - The Demands of District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America
Frank Hayes, UMWA Vice-President (left)
with Ed Doyle, District 15 Secretary-Treasurer
The demands agreed upon during the Special Convention which voted to strike on Tuesday are seven in number:
1. Union recognition
2. A wage scale for various types of mine work
3. The eight-hour work day
4. Pay for all narrow work and dead work
(The coal companies have historically expected the men to work without pay when
brushing, timbering, removing falls, handling impurities, etc.)
5. A checkweighman at every mine, elected by the miners
6. The right of the miners to shop where they please, board where they please, and to
choose their own doctors.
7. Enforcement of the Colorado Mining Laws and:
abolition of the the notorious and criminal guard system which has prevailed in the mining camps of Colorado for many years.
emphasis added
As the convention ended, Vice President Hayes told the cheering delegates that most of the demands were simply a demand for compliance by the coal companies with mining laws which were on the law books of the state of Colorado, and had been for many years.
Hayes continued:
I was never more hopeful for success than I am in this strike. I do not think it will last long. The operators cannot fight an organization of 450,000 men for long. I think we shall realize in Colorado the greatest victory in the history of our organization. I know we cannot lose because our demands are just, and, having made every honorable effort to adjust the differences, the responsibility rest not on us, but on the operators. I hope that when next Tuesday comes every miner will lay down his tools and never take them up again until they take them up as United Mine Workers, recognized by the operators.
SOURCE
Out of the Depths
Barron B. Beshoar
(1st ed 1942)
CO, 1980
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Wednesday September 18, 2013
From the National Women's Law Center: Fair Pay for Home Care Workers
Liz Watson, Senior Counsel, reported this good news yesterday:
Because of a new rule out today from the Department of Labor, home care workers will no longer be left out of the basic wage and hour protections guaranteed by the FLSA. Today’s rule extends wage and hour protections to all direct care workers employed by home care agencies and other third parties. This is excellent news, and it’s about time!
The exclusion of home care workers from the FLSA is emblematic of all that is wrong with the way our society values (or doesn’t value) women’s work. This 90% female workforce does vitally important work for their clients, such as bathing, clothing, and administering medication. Yet, this work – like work in many female-dominated jobs – is among the most poorest paid. Home care workers typically earn below $10 an hour.
Read full article here:
http://www.nwlc.org/...
National Women's Law Center
"Who We Are"
Since 1972, the Center has expanded the possibilities for women and girls in this country. We have succeeded in getting new laws on the books and enforced; litigating ground-breaking cases all the way to the Supreme Court, and educating the public about ways to make laws and public policies work for women and their families. Today, an experienced staff of nearly 60 continues to advance the issues that cut to the core of women's lives in education, employment, family and economic security, and health and reproductive rights—with special attention given to the needs of low-income women and their families.
Department of Labor-Information on the Final Rule:
Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service
http://www.dol.gov/...
Carsey Institute:
Lack of Protections for Home Care Workers
Overtime Pay and Minimum Wage
pdf: http://www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu/...
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Working Girl Blues-Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard
My boss said a raise is due almost any day
But I wonder will my hair be all turned gray
Before he turns that dollar loose and I get my dues
And lose a little bit of these working girl blues
-Hazel Dickens