Today in Labor History: March 18
March 18, 1970: The beginning of the Great Postal Strike in New York City. Postal workers hadn’t seen a rise since 1967. They were banned from collective bargaining and from striking. Nevertheless, in spite of the law and their own union’s attempt to quell the unrest, the postal workers voted to strike, marking the first time in the nearly 200-year history of the Postal Service that postal workers went on strike.
President Nixon tried to bust the strike, first by threatening to arrest striking workers and then by sending in federal troops to sort the mail. However, the soldiers were so incompetent at the work, that they failed to get the mail moving, compelling Congress to give them an 8% raise