Today in Labor History Dec 30 GM sit-down strike spreads to Flint, Mich, Frank Steunenberg killed

[Omaha Steve]

December 30

December 30, 1883 - John Swinton's Paper graphically described how immigrants were being lured to the United States under false pretenses, only to find hardship. Contractors "tell the stories of fabulous wages to be gotten in America . . ." Swinton, a pre-eminent New York journalist, wrote. "When they reach the districts of this country . . . they find their golden dreams turned into nightmares, as they are put to work in mines, factories or on railroads, at even lower wages than those of them whom they throw out of work . . ."

Gathering in the back room of Behrens’ cigar shop in Sedalia, Missouri, 33 railroad clerks form Local Lodge Number 1 of a union they named the Order of the Railroad Clerks of America - 1899

Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg, who had brutally suppressed the state’s miners, is killed by an assassin's bomb. Legendary Western Federation of Miners leader William "Big Bill" Haywood and two other men were put on trial for the death but were ultimately declared innocent - 1905

GM sit-down strike spreads to Flint, Mich., will last 44 days before ending in union victory - 1936

And this: December 30, 1936 - Auto workers began their historic sitdown strike at the Fisher plant of General Motors in Flint, Michigan. Read more at http://www.uaw.org/solidarity/03/0103/feature07.html

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_12_30_2010