- Who We Are
- What We Do
- How We're Structured
- How To Join
Labor History
Many Americans take for granted the labor laws which protect us from many of the exploitations used by employers in the past. We should remember that many brave men, women, and children fought and even died to secure the labor rights we enjoy today. The Labor Movement has a rich history in the Commonwealth, beginning even before the American Revolution. This history is something that all citizens of the Commonwealth should take pride in. Though the struggles of Massachusetts Labor are not over, we must pay our respects to those who fought so that we might have the freedoms that they were denied.
One such hero of the Labor Movement is Edward Cohen, a former President of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Cohen spent his life fighting for the working men and women of this Commonwealth. Cohen made the ultimate sacrifice to the Labor Movement when he was assassinated in the Governor’s office. He will be honored in the form of a plaque that will be permanently hung in the State House. To learn more about the plaque and the heroic man it is dedicated to, visit our Edward Cohen Plaque page:
To learn more about the struggles and victories of the Massachusetts Labor Movement, visit any of the pages below.
|
1747 Workers riot against British Royal Navy's attempts at forced labor |
|
1825 Boston carpenters strike for 10-hour day |
|
1834 Lowell mill owners impose 15-20 percent wage cut, provoke strike |
|
1842 Bootmakers force the courts to recognize right to organize |
|
1842 Soujouner Truth in residence at Northampton Association of Education and Industry |
|
1842 Fall River mechanics petition legislature for 10-hour day |
|
1844 New England Workingmen's Association, Lowell Female Labor Reform Association founded |
|
1859 "Labor is greatly the superior of capital" - Abraham Lincoln |
|
1864 Boston Daily Evening Voice first labor paper to call for inclusion of freed slaves |
|
1870 Labor Reform Party founded |
|
1874 Law limits women and children to 10 hours |
|
1875 Governor orders militia to break weavers and spinners strike |
|
1887 Mass. State Federation of Labor founded, Labor Leader begins publication |
|
1889 State employees win 9-hour day |
|
1892 Holyoke carpenters strike, seeking $2.25 for 9-hour day |
|
1899 Boston city employees win 8-hour day 1911 Massachusetts Passes Landmark Workers' Compensation Legislation |
|
1911 Textile workers week reduced to 54 hours |
|
1913 Board of Labor and Industry, Industrial Accident Board formed and Prevailing Wage Law Passed 1913 Massachusetts Passes Legislation to Regulate the Labor of Minors |
|
1919 Telephone workers strike successfully over low pay, oppressive conditions |
|
1921 Amalgamated Clothing Workers locked out by Boston Clothing Manufacturers Association |
|
1927 Sacco and Vanzetti executed |
|
1933 5,000 leather workers win strike on North Shore 1933 Massachusetts Workers Strike for Better Conditions After Depression |
|
1933 Wareham cranberry pickers stage first agricultural strike in state's history |
|
1935 Committee on Industrial Organization (CIO) created |
|
1953 AFSCME chapter organized at Fernald State School |
|
1954 "Black and White Unite" at the Colonial Meatpackers Strike |
|
1958 The Massachusetts AFL and CIO merged in December, making it the last state federation to merge in the nation |
|
1962 Massachusetts Teachers and State Employees Win the Right to Organize |
|
1966 First Massachusetts teachers strike in Lawrence |
|
1970 SEIU 509 wins first contract for state welfare workers |
|
1974 State employees win right to organize |
|
1987 Women's Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) founded |
|
1989 Telephone workers strike successfully over low pay, oppressive conditions |
|
1992 Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) wins organizing battle |
|
1997 Teamsters win big strike at United Parcel Service |
|
2000 Telephone workers strike successfully over low pay, oppressive conditions 2005 Massachusetts Passes the First Minimum Wage Increase in Several Years |
| 2007 Majority Authorization Bill signed by Governor Patrick |
Text and illustrations reprinted by permission from Commonwealth of Toil by Tom Juravich, William F. Hartford and James R. Green. published by University of Massachusetts Press.
