Today in Labor History February 23, 1887: The Journeyman Bakers National Union was charted by the American Federation of Labor. Its founder, George Block, was also nominated to head the newly-formed AFL. When he declined, Samuel Gompers was unanimously chosen. Today the bakers’ union is known as the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. In July 2021, BCTGM struck against Frito-Lay in response to 12-yr workdays, 7-day workweeks, low wages and dangerous working conditions. In August 2021, they struck against Nabisco. And in October 2021, they struck against Kelloggs.
Today in Labor History February 22, 1918: At the height of the first Red Scare, U.S. authorities raided the office of “Cronaca Sovversiva.” Sacco and Vanzetti had written for this anarchist paper and donated money to it. It was their first documented link to the anarchist movement. Luigi Galleani published the paper from 1903 to 1920. He came to the U.S. in 1901 after escaping from an Italian prison. He participated in the Paterson silk strike where he was wounded and charged with rioting.
I am slowly making my peace with the idea that D&D’s incoherence is one of its strongest features, and is a reason why so many attempts to “fix” D&D fail long before the size of the business even enters the picture.
D&D is, ultimately, just enough of an excuse for an infinite toy box of wild bullshit. The imaginary toys are the point, and that’s glorious.
But it’s also super frustrating if you want it to make any kind of sense. Which is too bad, but not enough to stop the fun.
@rdonoghue dude. There are coherent and well designed rules that allow for this. Try #Strike!
Hell, once you understand how the math works, you can do this in Pathfinder 2e without difficulty. There's no reason to put up with a badly designed system just because the holes are big enough to drive your fantasy truck through.
Today in Labor History February 21, 1934: Augusto Cesar Sandino, Nicaraguan independence fighter, was assassinated by Somoza’s Nation Guard. While in exile in Mexico during the early 1920s, Sandino participated in strikes led by the IWW. Inspired by the anarcho-syndicalist union, he adopted their red and black logo as the colors for the revolutionary Nicaraguan flag. The Sandinistas, or FSLN, who overthrew the dictator, Anastasio Somoza, in 1979, were named for Sandino.
Today in Labor History February 19, 1990: After a 10-month strike, rank-and-file miners at the Pittston Coal Co. ratified a new contract. Ninety-eight miners and a minister occupied a Pittston Coal plant in Carbo, Virginia, inaugurating the year-long strike. While a one-month Soviet coal strike dominated the U.S. media, the year-long Pittston strike received almost no media coverage. The wildcat walkouts involved 40,000 miners in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Over 2,000 people occupied Camp Solidarity. Miners and their families engaged in Civil Disobedience, pickets, work stoppages and sometimes sabotage, vandalism and violence. Over 4,000 were arrested.
Today in Labor History February 19, 1912: During the IWW Bread & Roses Strike in Lawrence, MA, 200 police attacked 100 women picketers, knocking them to the ground and beating them. As a result, several pregnant women lost their babies.
Today in Labor History February 16, 1885: The Knights of Labor struck Jay Gould’s Wabash Railroad when he fired members of their union. The strike tied up the entire line in the Southwest. Members of the union on other railroad lines refused to operate any trains with Wabash cars on it. Gould eventually agreed not to discriminate any more against members of the union. As a result, membership in The Knights of Labor swelled. When they struck again in 1886, at least 10 people were killed. The strike unraveled within a couple of months, leading to the demise of the union.
I hope courts reverse themselves and rule these companies are taxi companies and their drivers are employees, because these are taxi companies and their drivers are employees.
Today in Labor History February 15, 1910: The ILGWU declared the Uprising of Twenty Thousand shirtwaist strike officially over. The garment workers strike began September 27, 1909, in response to abysmal wages and safety conditions. The majority of striking workers were immigrant women, mostly Yiddish-speaking Jews (75%) and Italians (10%), and mostly under the age of 20. Five women died in the strike, which the union won, signing contracts with 339 manufacturing firms. However, 13 firms, including Triangle Shirtwaist Company, never settled. One of the demands had been for adequate fire escapes and for open doors to the streets for emergencies. In 1911, 146 girls and women were killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.
Today in Labor History February 15, 1764: the city of St. Louis was established in Spanish Louisiana (now Missouri). In the 1800s, St. Louis would grow to become the second largest port in the U.S. and one of the major centers of labor organizing. In 1877, during the Great Train Strike, black and white workers united to take over the town in what some called the St. Louis Commune, after the Paris Commune, a few years earlier. The uprising in St. Louis was led by the socialist Workingmen’s Party, fighting for the 8-hour workday and an end to child labor. The Commune was quashed after soldiers killed 18 workers.
BBC: Deliveroo and Uber Eats riders strike on Valentine's Day.
Takeaway delivery drivers are planning to strike on Valentine's Day to demand better pay and improved working conditions.
The action, impacting four food apps including Deliveroo and Uber Eats, is thought to involve as many as 3,000 drivers and riders on Wednesday between 17:00 and 22:00 GMT.
Alaska Air flight attendants have taken a significant step in their labor negotiations by authorizing a strike mandate for the first time in three decades.
Today in Labor History February 7, 1923: Soldiers shot striking workers on the Peking-Hankow railroad in China. The Federation of Workers' Unions of the Beijing–Hankou Railway held a ceremony on February 1, 1923 to launch their new federation. Warlord Wu Peifu sent his military police to sabotage the meeting. The Federation launched a strike on February 7 in protest. Again, Wu Peifu sent his troops to attack the Workers' Union. They arrested the union’s chief, Lin Xiangqian, and executed him. They also violently suppressed workers' movements in Changxindian, Zhengzhou, Baoding, and Gaobeidian.
Today in Labor History February 7, 1913: A county sheriff and his deputies on the “Bull Moose Special” (an armored train fitted with machine guns), attacked a miners’ tent colony at Holly Grove, in West Virginia. This was during the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike (4/18/1912 through July 1913). Mother Jones was one of the main organizers. Over 50 people died during the violent confrontations with scabs, goons and private detectives. Countless more died from starvation and malnutrition. In terms of casualties, it was one of the worst strikes in U.S. history. It was a prelude to the bigger and even more violent Battle of Matewan, and the Battle of Blair Mountain (Aug-Sep, 1921). The latter was the largest labor uprising in U.S. history, and the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. 10,000 minors battled 3,000 lawmen and scabs, and only ended with the U.S. army intervened. Up to 100 people died. And during the battle, bombs were dropped on the striking miners by airplane, the 2nd time in U.S. history that had been done. (The first was just months earlier, during the Tulsa Race Massacre).