When Workers Made Their Own Magic

On this week’s Labor History Today: As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we mark the founding of the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1974, when more than 3,000 women from 58 unions came together in Chicago to demand a stronger voice in the labor movement.
Then, from America’s Workforce Union Podcast, historian Carie Rael takes us inside the largest strike in Disneyland history, when workers across multiple unions joined forces in the Reagan era to challenge one of the most powerful corporations in the country.
From the Labor Heritage Foundation’s Labor Landmarks project, producer Anthony Dominiczak travels to Victor, Colorado, where the bullet-scarred remains of a union hall tell the story of the violent 1903–04 Colorado labor wars — and the ongoing fight to preserve this historic site.
We also remember the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, one of the deadliest workplace disasters in U.S. history, which galvanized the fight for workplace safety reforms.
And we close with music: a new song written and performed by Mike Stout, “Women of Steel,” honoring the United Steelworkers women who fought discrimination, organized for equality, and helped reshape the labor movement.

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Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

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