People forget! Wake up ! Rise up ! Own up to the past.

1791	First strike in building trades by Philadelphia carpenters for a 10-hour day bill of Rights adopted

1835	General strike for 10-hour day in Philadelphia

1877	National uprising of railroad workers Ten Irish coal miners ("Molly Maguires") hanged in Pennsylvania; nine more subsequently were hanged

1909	“Uprising of the 20,000” female shirtwaist makers in New York strike against sweatshop conditions Unorganized immigrant steel workers strike in McKees Rocks, Pa. And win all demand

1912	Bread and Roses strike begun by immigrant women in Lawrence, Mass., ended with 23,000 men and women and children on strike and with as many as 20,000 on the picket line Bill creating

1914	Ludlow Massacre of 13 women and children and seven men in Colorado coal miners’ strike

1877	National uprising of railroad workers Ten Irish coal miners ("Molly Maguires") hanged in Pennsylvania; nine more subsequently were hanged

1890	Carpenters President P.J. McGuire and the union strike and win the eight-hour day for some 28,000 members
1892	Iron and steel workers union defeated in lockout at Homestead, Pa. Integreated general strike in New Orleans succeeds

1909	“Uprising of the 20,000” female shirtwaist makers in New York strike against sweatshop conditions Unorganized immigrant steel workers strike in McKees Rocks, Pa. And win all demand
1911	Triangle Shirtwaist factory in fire in New York kills nearly 150 workers
1912	Bread and Roses strike begun by immigrant women in Lawrence, Mass., ended with 23,000 men and women and children on strike and with as many as 20,000 on the picket line Bill creating Department of Labor passes at the end of congressional session

1935	National Labor Relations Act and Social Security Act passed Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) formed within AFL

1938	Fair Labor Standards Act establishes first minimum wage and 40-hour week Congress of industrial Organizations forms as an independent federation

1962	President John Kennedy's order gives federal workers the right to bargain
1963	March on Washington for jobs and Justice Equal Pay Act bans wage discrimination based on gender

1999

More than 75,000 human service workers are unionized in Los Angeles County 30,000 to 50,000 working family activists take to Seattle streets to tell the World Trade Organization and its allies, “If the Global Economy Doesn’t Work for Working Families, It Doesn’t Work” 5,000 North Carolina textile workers gain a union after a 25-year struggle 65,000 Puerto Rico public-sector workers join unions Broad Campaign for Global Fairness pushes for economic and social justice worldwide Union movement organizes biggest program of grassroots electoral politics ever

I picked a few moments in the labor movement that I find interesting.  People forget how others fought for rights for workers to organize and improve workers lot in life. People forget that unions put a stop to the 6 day and 60 hr. work week. Unions put a stop to child labor and helped pass laws that made childres go to school. Many people forget that unions fought for safety rules for the workplace.  People forget or as i suspect,don't know what the workplace was like before people banded together and demanded a better life. People forget and this fight may about to beguin all over again unless workers wake up and support their neighbors and friends over corporations.

Unions have contributed remarkable things to the American way of life: the growth of the middle class; expansion of health care and social security; paid vacations and paid sick leave; a work week that leaves time for families to enjoy each other. None of these things were possible in the days before unions. Workers never heard of vacations, let alone vacations with pay until unions cams along.
Make no mistake: What is at risk in Wisconsin, and every state in America, is the quality of life that American workers have fought -- and died -- for during the past century. When Conservatives like the Koch brothers tell the governor of an American state to roll back the clock on public employees, they are seeking to end protections for all workers. The Kochs are part of an ideological movement that hopes to end all legislation controlling wages, hours, and workplace safety -- returning America to a "Social Darwinism" that ensures survival of the fittest (read: richest). This is what that prevailed before the New Deal. To these extremists, ANYTHING GOES!
We must never forget that the most important achievement of the union movement was the protection of the right that makes all other rights possible -- freedom of speech. The First Amendment comes with a union label.