Labor History Today

Pins & Needles’ mass appeal

Eighty five years ago today, the pro-labor musical revue “Pins & Needles” opened on Broadway with a cast of members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. “Pins & Needles” became a big hit, with over a thousand performances. It was performed at the White House for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, and was revived on Broadway in 1978 and in London in 2010.On today’s show, Michigan State University College of Music Professor Maria Cristina Fava explains the relationship of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the Theatre Guild in the production of "Pins and Needles". Fava describes how the production evolved from a variety show with a cast of unionized garment workers in their off time to the cast giving up their jobs to become full time actors with the success of the show. She provides reviews by theater critics and describes how the cast navigated the politics of the day. Fava’s talk. originally given in October 2012, was part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series sponsored by the Michigan State University School of Human Resources and Labor Relations and the MSU Museum. The series is organized by MSU professor John Beck.On this week’s Labor History in Two:  Death Trap in Newark.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are 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.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory  

Finnish North American working class women and music in the early 20th century

Music historian Saijaleena Rantanen discusses songs by and about Finnish immigrant working-class women alongside musical samples from working-class women of Finnish background in early 20th century North America. The presentation was part of the 2022 FinnFest USA, and the FinnFest music series is co-hosted by the Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Arts in the Upper Midwest project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Thanks also to John Beck and the Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives lunchtime series at Michigan State University.On this week’s Labor History in Two: The Scab.  
Questions, comments, or suggestions are 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.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory  

For Gene Debs

November 5 was the 167th anniversary of the birth of Eugene Victor Debs - labor leader, socialist, three-time candidate for president and the first president of the American Railway Union, which staged some of the biggest strikes in American labor history. Today Bernie Sanders and the late great Anne Feeney are among those who celebrate Debs’ life and work. They come to us courtesy of a terrific show, The Radical Songbook Podcast.It’s hosted by Michael Funke, who’s got 15 years of radio experience and 35 years’ experience as an editor for alternative and union publications. Michael’s a former union steward and a former organizer for Jobs with Justice. His love of music dates back to when he heard Fats Domino on a nickel jukebox in 1955.Questions, comments, or suggestions are 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.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory  

Who belongs in the labor movement?

Resilient worker coalitions are often found at the intersection of labor and race. On today’s show, from the NC Labor History Revealed podcast, we’ll hear about how North Carolinians formed multi-racial coalitions to fight racism inside and outside the workplace, and how farmworkers leveraged such coalitions to overcome racist inadequacies in federal labor law to secure the largest union contract in North Carolina history.On this week’s Labor History in Two:  The Fight for Equality and Honest Abe’s Stand for Labor.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are 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. Music: Tobacco Blues - Bluesland with The Cold Sweat Horns

Pride on the line

Today’s show is excerpted from an online talk last month: “Pride on the Line: The UAW and Queer-Labor Solidarity after Stonewall” by Jamie McQuaid, part of the Our Daily Work Our Daily Lives Brown Bag series from Michigan State University. On this week’s Labor History in Two: Wall Street Lays an Egg.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are 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.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory  

The longest nurses’ strike

On March 8, 2021, protesting dangerous working conditions and staffing ratios, over 700 nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Massachusetts hit the picket line for what would become the longest nurses’ strike in the state’s history. This is their story.Today’s show is excerpted from an hourlong video by Gino Canella for TRNN, The Real News Network. These interviews with St. Vincent nurses comprise a ripped-from-the-headlines oral history of a ferocious labor battle that carries lessons for workers everywhere. On this week’s Labor History in Two: The cause and effect of unskilled temps.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are 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.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory @TheRealNews @MassNurses

Labor History Today: No Equal Justice

The legal and civil rights legacy of George W. Crockett Jr., from the Tales from the Reuther Library podcast. Peter Hammer describes the life and legacy of Crockett, a Black lawyer who fought racism and defended constitutional rights in landmark cases from the 1940s through the 1960s. Hammer is an A. Alfred Taubman Endowed Chair in the Wayne State University Law School and director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. Labor History Today is produced by the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Today’s show edited by Patrick Dixon and engineered by Chris Garlock.

Sharecroppers’ struggles for rights and power

Patrick Dixon talks with James Benton about the emergence of sharecropping as a compromise between former slaves – freedmen – and landowners, and sharecroppers subsequent struggles for rights and power. Benton is the Director of the Race and Economic Empowerment Project at the The Kalmanovitz Initiative at Georgetown University. For our Labor History Object of the week, Ben Blake at the Meany Labor Archives pulls out a collection of buttons from the Solidarnosc union movement in Poland.
NOTE: This podcast originally aired on October 7, 2018.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. Engineered by Chris Garlock.
Labor history sources include Today in Labor History, by David Prosten.
This week's music: Sharecropper's Blues, featuring Charlie Barnet with Kay Starr on vocals.