You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
Friday June 26, 1903
San Francisco, California - West Coast Linemen's Strike Now 100% Effective
The West Coast linemen's general strike is now complete up and down the coast. Organizer F. A. Holland made this statement last night:
All local unions of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers affiliated with the Western Conference have endorsed the wage scale presented to the Pacific States Telegraph and Telephone Company, and all union men, members of the following locals, are out on strike...
Holland then went on to name towns and cities up and down the West Coast. He continued with reports from the local secretaries, some of whom described conditions:
All out except three non-union men.
Several reported this good news:
All out to a man!
SOURCE
San Francisco Chronicle
-of June 26, 1903
Thursday June 26, 1913
New York City, New York - Paterson Silk Strikers Receive Help from the East Side
Fifty striking silk workers, twenty-five men and twenty-five women, came to the East Side with four trucks yesterday to collect donations of food, clothing, and money. Food was contributed by delicatessens and bakeries. Money was also collected. The trucks were decked out with banners:
Help the striking silk weavers of Paterson and New York.
The strike has been on now for seventeen weeks and the relief fund is nearly empty.
SOURCE
The New York Times
-of June 26, 1913
http://select.nytimes.com/...
(scroll down)
Wednesday June 26, 2013
From The Nation: Walmart Workers Arrested at Yahoo Headquarters
There is a reason that Josh Eidelson is my favorite labor reporter, hands down. You simply must click on the link below; a few blockquotes cannot do justice to this story, or the way Eidelson captures the spirit, courage, and strength of these fellow workers.
Here is just a small preview:
Sunnyvale, California—Five activists were arrested at Yahoo! headquarters Monday afternoon in a protest over the firing of eleven Walmart employees who this month went on strike. The planned civil disobedience action followed an hour-long demonstration in the Yahoo! lobby; about thirty workers and supporters gathered to demand a meeting with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, who joined Walmart’s board last year....
After the police arrived, those activists not planning to be arrested moved their protest outdoors; the remaining five sat down on the floor. An organizer told fired worker Yvette Brown that Brown’s mother—also an OUR Walmart activist, and also fired over the weekend—had started crying outside when describing how proud she was of Brown for choosing to commit civil disobedience. At that point Brown began tearing up. “We’ve gone through many challenges in life,” she explained. “And just to have that moment where my mom definitely told me she was proud of me, that’s the first time.”
Here is the Link, don't miss this story!
http://www.thenation.com/...
Videos of the protest and the arrests:
OUR Walmart
http://forrespect.org/
Making Change at Walmart
http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/
Corporate Action Network
(Find an Action to fit your schedule from a few minutes
to a few hours!)
http://corporateactionnetwork.org/
"Us poor folks ain't got a chance unless we organize."
Which Side Are You On by Florence Reese,
Performed by Dropkick Murphys