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          ** UNIT PAGES **     Visit the Retiree Resource page for links to the CWA Retired Members' Council and related websites 
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To see another month, clink on the appropriate link. The external links provided in these pages are for those interested in reading more on the various people and topics. These sites are not affiliated in any way with CWA Local 4319. Pictured above are the Chicago Union Stockyards, and one of many butchers and meat packers who organized, both from the Library of Congress collections. All pictures used in the Labor Calendar, unless otherwise indicated, are courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
March 4:
Union Stockyards opened in 1865, leading to the establishment of Chicago as the world's greatest meat producing and packing center by the end of the decade. With the stockyards came thousands more workers, who organized into unions like the UFCW predecessor United Packinghouse Workers of America, to raise wages and improve conditions in the dirty, dangerous industry. Chicago later became the headquarters of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters, another predecessor of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). March 4:
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933. His support of the 1935 Wagner Act, which affirmed workers' "right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing," helped consolidate labor's gains in the 1930s. March 7:The Knights of St. Crispin, and a companion group of women workers called the Daughters of St. Crispin (the first woman's trade union in the United States, organized in 1868 to try to regulate the use of Machinery when the beginnings of mechanization in the shoe industry threatened handcrafted work. Organizing by groups like the Crispins set the state for the birth of the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, a predecessor of the UFCW. (Note: St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers, hence the name "Knights of St. Crispin.") March 17 ~ St Patrick's Day:
Many Irish, forced by religeous persecution and economic oppression in their native country, emigratd to the US in the mid 1800s. On US soil, the new immigrants encountered severe discriminitation, such as in employment notices that advertised "No Irish Need Apply". Many Irish workers turned to the labor movement for support, and union membership grew thanks to Irish leadership and determination. March 24:In 1974, the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was founded by some 3,000 women trade unionists from 58 labor organizations at a meeting in Chicago. The coalition was forged to promote equal rights and better wages and working conditions for women workers. Today there are more than 20,000 CLUW members representing more than 60 unions in 75 chapters throughout the US. March 25:
A fire broke out on the upper floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City in 1911. Within minutes, the fire killed 147 young workers, most of these Jewish and Italian immigrant women. The workers were locked in by their employer. The tragedy inspired new fire safety laws.
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