On this day in labor history, the year was 1932, a very unusual army marched on Washington, D.C. Pro-labor Catholic Priest, Father James Renshaw Cox led the march from Pennsylvania to the Nation’s Capital to demand a public work’s program to put people back to work.

For more information on Cox's March

http://web.stanford.edu/group/progressive/cgi-bin/?p=2153

Today in labor history, the year was 1912 this historic day marked the beginning of the “Bread and Roses Strike” of textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The strike was led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The state Of Massachusetts passed a law reducing the work week for women and children from 56 to 54 hours.

Today in labor history, January 10, 1914, two men were killed during a grocery store robbery in Utah. Their murders were blamed on Joe Hill a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, or the IWW, also known as the Wobblies.

Yet farm workers have played an important, and often overlooked role in labor history. Such was the case today in labor history, January 9, 1939. That was the day more than 1,500 Missouri farmers and their families began a “highway sit in.”

Often significant days in history pass with little attention. Today in labor history, January 8, 1811, is one such day. On that day Charles Deslonde, an enslaved sugar laborer in the New Orleans territory led what became one of the largest slave revolts in American history.

Today in labor history, January 7, 1919 began what is known as Semana Trágica, or Tragic Week in Argentina. Labor unrest had been mounting in Buenos Aries. On January 7, police killed four workers who were striking for better conditions at an ironworks plant.

Today in labor history, January 6, 1878, is the birthday of renowned Illinois poet Carl Sandburg. He was born to Swedish immigrants in Galesburg, Illinois. Later Sandburg worked as an editorial writer at the Chicago Daily News. He was part of a group of poets and novelists, known as the “Chicago Literary Renaissance.” Sandburg became most well-known for his poetry, which won two Pulitzer Prizes. He also won a third Pulitzer for his biography of his hero Abraham Lincoln. Sandburg’s poems often evoked images and explored themes of the industrialized United States. This was especially true of his 1920 volume, Smoke and Steel. In this collection Sandburg wrote about workers in Gary, Indiana and farmers around Omaha, Nebraska. He wrote about railroad workers and steel workers. His words instilled unexpected beauty in these industrial scenes. Sandburg wrote in free verse, a style that did not rhyme. He used accessible language in his poems, making them available to the “common man.” He would take short tours around the U.S. reading his poems and playing folk songs on guitar. His poems gained a wide, popular readership. The opening lines of his poem “Chicago,” so captured the workers and spirit of the city, these words remain indelibly entwined in the city’s image: “Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.”

Today in labor history, January 5, 1914 the Ford Motor Company raised its basic wage from $2.40 for a nine-hour day to $5 for an eight-hour work day. Many of Ford’s contemporary critics scorned his “Five Dollar Day.” Journalists and other auto makers predicted disaster for the industry. Henry Ford implemented the wage increase to head off labor unrest in the company and curtail his problems with worker turnover. The wage increase helped to derail efforts to start a union in his factory. The five-dollar day was not an act of altruism by the automaker. It was a calculated business decision. Most importantly for Ford, the wage increase enabled his workers to become customers and buy cars of their own. Ford declared, “One’s own employees ought to be one’s own best customers.” Despite the prognosticators of doom, Ford’s plan worked. Ford’s profits doubled in the two years after he raised the wages. In 1914 Ford sold more than 300,000 Model Ts, more than all other U.S. automakers combined. By 1920 that number had climbed to a million cars a year. Reflecting back on his decision Ford explained, “The payment of five dollars a day for an eight-hour day was one of the finest cost-cutting moves we ever made.” Perhaps those who today are lining up to predict doom and disaster if the minimum wage is raised might benefit from reading this page from labor history.