Founding the AFL

This week's labor history: 25 unions found the American Federation of Labor; AFL-CIO President John Sweeney welcomes the collapse of World Trade Organization talks in Seattle; Birth of Newspaper Guild founder Heywood Broun. PLUS: Saul Schneiderman on miner’s ballads and George Farenthold on the founding of National Nurses United.

Joe McCartin is professor of history at Georgetown University and Executive Director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

Leon Fink, Professor Emeritus of the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, edits the journal, "Labor: Studies in Working Class History."

Chris Garlock, Union Cities Coordinator for the Metro Washington AFL-CIO, hosts Union City Radio on WPFW 89.3FM.

Questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com

Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
Labor history sources include Today in Labor History, from Union Communication Services http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history

This week's music:

Billy Bragg -There Is Power In A Union
https://youtu.be/DwbzxemJZIc

Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown
https://youtu.be/KSS3V9M7a5g

Hazel Dickens, The Mannington Mine Disaster
https://youtu.be/GldkcfdgMEM