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Recently, Freedom House released The Global State of Workers’ Rights: Free Labor in a Hostile World, an assessment of trade union and worker freedoms in 165 countries.

RSVP American Labor Studies Center: americanlaborstudies@gmail.com.

(1927-1993) Yuma, Arizona

César lived amongst former migrant workers and endured the conditions and racial issues that affected them. Starting his political work with the Community Service Organization (CSO) in 1952, he founded the United Farm Worker’s (UFW) in 1962…

(Click Here) Nelson Hale Cruikshank helped create Social Security and Medicare

(1855-1926) Terre Haute, Indiana

Eugene V. Debs was born in a wooden shack in Terre Haute, Indiana on February 5, 1855. At age 16 he became a locomotive fireman, stoking fires on the early prairie railroads. His years working on the railroad affected him so deeply that when the local of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was organized in 1875 Debs played an active role…

(1928-) New York City, New York

Donahue grew up in an Irish Catholic family in The Bronx, New York, the son of Thomas R. and Mary E. Donahue. After completing his elementary and secondary schooling, he joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 17, serving as a seaman from 1945-1946…

(Click Here) Arthur Goldberg was a labor strategist for the union movement and former Secretary of Labor

(1850-1924)
London, England

Samuel Gompers emigrated in 1863 to New York, where he followed his father’s trade of cigar making and became a naturalized citizen in 1872. As a labour leader, Gompers gained a worldwide reputation for conservatism. In a period when the U.S. was bitterly hostile to labour organizations, he evolved the principles of “voluntarism,” which stressed that unions should exert coercion by economic actions, i.e., strikes and boycotts…

(Click Here) Former AFL president, moved the federation toward “social reform unionism.”

(Click Here) Songwriter, itenerant laborer, union organizer-and martyr.

(Click Here) Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America founder. Often credited with inventing trade unionism as we know it today.

The Workers’ Warrior

One of the most colorful figures in American labor history is Mary Harris Jones, “Mother Jones.” Frequently showing up at strikes and rallies, she was known as a real “hell raiser.” While she is most often recognized for her comment, “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living,” many of her speeches were profound and prophetic…

(Click Here) Former AFL-CIO president – had a profound effect on world affairs.

(Click Here) President off the United Mine Workers (UMWA) and founding president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

(Click Here) Social reformer dedicated to workers’ rights and racial justice.

(Click Here) The “father” of Labor Day and of May Day – championed the need for a national federation.

(1894-1980)
“The basic goal of labor will not change. It is — as it has always been, and I am sure always will be — to better the standards of life for all who work for wages and to seek decency and justice and dignity for all Americans.”
-George Meany…

(Click Here) CIO president who helped transform the industrial union movement into a stable powerful organization.

Click here to read about Kate Mullaney

Click here to visit Kate Mullany National Historic Site Website.

Click here to read about Albert Parsons.

(Click Here) Served Secretary of Labor and held the distinction of being the first women to serve in a presidential cabinet position.

(Click Here) Eloquent and effective advocate for the rights of workers, women and consumers.

“The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor.”

A. Philip Randolph

(Click Here) Long-time president of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) considered the model of a reform-minded, liberal trade unionist.

(Click here) Brilliant theorist, tactician and organizer and the first head of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute.

Click here to read about Albert Shanker.

Lubbock, Texas

Linda Chavez-Thompson became the highest-ranking woman in the labor movement when she was first elected to the new position of AFL-CIO executive vice president at the federation’s 1995 convention. Born in Lubbock, Texas, on Aug. 3, 1944, Chavez-Thompson was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council in 1993…

Ten Lesson Unit. Each lesson includes historical background material, teaching objectives, a lesson plan, articles or worksheets, and additional activities. West Virginia Labor History