Labor History

Feb 17

The 75th Anniversary of the American Dream


Excerpts of a letter from Michael Moore

On this day 25 years ago, in 1987, a group of autoworkers came together on the lawn of General Motors’ soon-to-be-closed Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac assembly plant to raise their voices against the closing – and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Great Flint Sit-Down Strike, which had begun at that very factory.

Dec 31

Ray Phillips and the 1983 Strike


The world was a very violent place on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 1983: American troops were on the ground in Lebanon and Grenada, and U.S.-backed “contras” were fighting in Nicaragua. Al Pacino’s Scarface was filling movie theaters. That was the day that 12,700 drivers, mechanics and clerks struck Greyhound. By the time the walkout ended 47 days later, the union had been forced to accept pay cuts, health rollbacks and elimination of pensions, and striker Ray Phillips had paid the ultimate price in the name of labor solidarity.  More>>

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