On This Day in Working Class History

On this day, 27 October 1948, a two-week wildcat strike of New York City brewery workers had grown to 3500 people. Two of the city's brewers then decided to abandon the Board of Trade's collective position and agree to the strikers' demands to drop a punitive scheduling system which gave drivers insufficient time to unload their vehicles. Meanwhile, 10 breweries went on the offensive, suing the Un...

On this day, 26 October 1983, the Northwood and Pinner hospital in England was occupied by its workers in protest at its proposed closure, led by matron Jean Carey.  From the following day, they ran the hospital themselves collectively and eventually the workers won, and it stayed open for a further 25 years.  More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9867/...

On this day, 25 October 1983, the Hayes Cottage Hospital in England was occupied by its staff and run under workers' control in protest at its proposed closure the following week.  A leaflet about the occupation issued at the time stated: "This action was taken after a lot of thought but it was clearly the only way to stop the closure after other avenues had been exhausted. "The reaction of the pe...

On this day, 24 October 1975, 500 workers at the La Tondeña distillery in the Philippines went on strike and occupied the plant, despite president Ferdinand Marcos have declared martial law. The workers were organised in the Kaisahan ng Malayang Manggagawa ng La Tondeña union, and were demanding numerous improvements including: permanent status for casual workers, better pay and maternity leave. A...

On this day, 23 October 1913, suffragettes carried out an arson attack on Bristol University's recently-built boat house at their athletics ground.  Suffragette literature was left nearby as well as a note saying "Business before pleasure. Hobhouse being responsible will pay. Release Mary Richardson."  Mary Richardson was a London suffragette who had recently been imprisoned for an arson attack on...

On this day, 22 October 1921, workers at the Castleconnell fisheries in Ireland went on strike after their boss repeatedly failed to attend arbitration meetings to address their demands. When he failed to make concessions, workers escalated their tactics by occupying fisheries and declaring a soviet (workers council). The Dáil cabinet instructed police and volunteers to evict the strikers, but the...

On this day, 21 October 1935, the St Vincent labour rebellion began on the British-occupied Caribbean island when workers protesting against high prices in the capital, Kingstown, were fired on by police. People were protesting against plans to maintain sugar tariffs which helped producers at the expense of consumers. They held an angry rally outside the courthouse, where they smashed windows and...

On this day, 20 October 1901, hundreds of workers at the sugar refinery in Rosario, Argentina, demonstrated outside their factory for a pay increase and a maximum 10-hour working day. The strike was attended by anarchist leaders such as Romulo Ovidi. After being identified by the police, the officers tried to arrest them without provocation, unleashing disorder, which they tried to suppress with s...

On this day, 19 October 1945, the UK Labour government decided to deport hundreds of Chinese seamen who were living in Liverpool, 20,000 of whom had been brought to the city to assist the war effort in World War II.  The Home Office claimed they were "an undesirable element" in the city. However, in reality the law-abiding behaviour of Chinese migrant workers had received much official praise.  Go...

On this day, 18 October 1931, German workers in Braunschweig went on strike in protest against the Nazis. In the latter half of 1931 there were 25 political strikes by 30,000 workers in protest against fascism, with many more the following year.  However, they remained mostly short stoppages in small and medium enterprises and were insufficient to damage the state and stop the rise of the Nazis. P...

On this day, 17 October 1950, miners of the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers went on strike against the Empire Zinc Company.  Their initial demands were for the end of discriminatory pay which paid white workers more than Mexican workers, and an end to segregated housing. Later, they added indoor plumbing and hot water for Mexican-American homes to their list of demands.  The...

On this day, 16 October 1951, firefighters in Britain took their first ever national industrial action with an unofficial "spit and polish" strike, in response to attacks on pay and conditions. The action consisted of responding to emergency calls and putting out fires but refusing all other routine duties like domestic chores and training. The background to the dispute was fire services reverting...

On this day, 15 October 1913, Indian workers at the Farleigh colliery near Newcastle, South Africa, went on strike in protest against a tax on former indentured servants. The move was part of an ongoing campaign against racist pass laws in the white-ruled British colony. The laws restricted the movement of Indian people, did not recognise Asian marriages or allow the immigration of spouses, and im...

On this day, 14 October 1976, over a million Canadian workers stage a one-day strike to protest wage and price controls. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had actually campaigned against wage controls during the 1974 elections but his measures were considered to be the worst attack on labour since the 1930s. In response to the walk out, wage controls were reversed eight months before they were initial...

On this day, 13 October 1948, 181 drivers at the Ruppert brewery in Manhattan went on wildcat strike in support of 21 drivers who had failed to keep up with excessively quick delivery schedules. Their union, the United Brewery Workers, had sanctioned the sackings and did not approve the walkout. Bosses claimed the following morning that everything was back to normal, but had to admit by the end of...

On this day, 12 October 1919, 150 Royal Navy sailors mutinied and broke out of their ships at Port Edgar upon hearing they were being sent to the Baltic to fight against the Russian revolution. The desertion prevented the first destroyer flotilla from departing. Most of the mutineers were arrested and 10 imprisoned: despite the government having pledged that only volunteers would be sent to fight...

On this day, 11 October 1884, one of the longest-burning fires in the world began when striking mine workers set fire to the New Straitsville mine in Ohio. Miners employed by the Columbus & Hocking Coal and Iron Company had walked out on strike in June, and mine bosses hired scab replacement workers in their place. To prevent the mines from operating, a group of unknown people set fire to mine...

On this day, 10 October 1947 a strike began by Black African railway workers in the French colonies now known as Benin and the Côte d'Ivoire. The strike spread throughout the whole of French West Africa (including what is now Senegal and Guinea as well). It lasted until March 19 the following year when workers returned to work having gain many concessions from their employer. More information, sou...

On this day, 9 October 1912, the mostly female workforce at the Phoenix Mill in Little Falls, New York, walked out on wildcat strike to force their employer to follow a new state law limiting working hours to 54 per week, down from 60. 2,000 other workers from the Phoenix and Gilberts Mills joined them on strike, and the workers joined the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World union. The I...

On this day, 8 October 1916, mostly migrant workers at Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company in New Jersey walked out on strike against low wages and dangerous conditions. City authorities collaborated with the company and sent in police to brutally repress the strike, killing four and injuring dozens and the strike collapsed after 10 days. This is a history of the dispute: https://libcom.org/history...

On this day, 7 October 1988, thousands of workers in Montenegro, then part of Yugoslavia, went on strike demanding the resignation of the Communist Party leadership, whom they blamed for 200% inflation and a 50% reduction in living standards over the past eight years. Montenegrins and Serbs also complained of persecution by ethnic Albanians in neighbouring Kosovo. While riot police attacked and te...

On this day, 6 October 1995, 32,000 machinists went on strike at Boeing, one of the world's largest aircraft manufacturers. It lasted for 69 days and ended in most of their demands being met.  More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10666/machinists-at-boeing-strike Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on  patreon . If you...

On this day, 5 October 2001, workers at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, launched a sitdown strike for better pay. In particular, the workers were complaining about wages and additional allowances, which were considerably lower for health workers than they were for workers in the justice system. The strike shut down almost all of the 1500-bed facility, with only a few beds...

On this day, 4 October 1945, US President Harry S. Truman ordered the Navy to seize half of the US's oil refining capacity in order to break a three-week strike of the nation's oil workers. More info in this excellent book: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/products/strike-jeremy-brecher Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on  patreon . If you...

On this day, 3 October 2019, a series of protests led by Indigenous peoples began in Ecuador in protest at an austerity package backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) known as Decree 883. The bill, aimed at reducing public spending, included pay cuts and increases in fuel costs of at least 30%. The movement began with a strike of transport workers on 3 October. After unions called off the...