Geoffrey Canada, Will You Help the Children in Philadelphia?
This note came from a reader, who may know that Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone has $200 million in the bank and two billionaires on its board. The reader wonders if Canada might help restore the library in the school where she worked in Philadelphia, which is closed due to budget cuts: “Saw a group of charming students from Canada’s program at the 50th anniversary March on Wednesday. Sta
Pete Seeger: “Which Side Are You On?”
“Which Side Are You On?” is one of the most popular union songs. According to Alan Lomax, who collected folk songs for the Archive of American Folk Songs at the Library of Congress, this song was written by Florence Reece, the 12-year-old daughter of a miner who was on strike in Harlan County, Kentucky. Lomax wrote that she sang it to him in front of the family hearth of a log cabin in 1937. This
The Shredding of Job Security and the Status of American Workers
Economist Robert Samuelson describes the relationship between labor and business as three eras. He says that over the past century, there were three broad labor regimes. “The first, in the early 1900s, featured “unfettered labor markets,” as economic historian Price Fishback of the University of Arizona puts it. Competition set wages and working conditions. There was no federal unemployment insura
David Sirota: Why We Celebrate Labor Day
David Sirota calls us away from our picnics and barbecue to remember why Labor Day was created. He reminds us that there are corporations today that fight to keep unions out, to pay their workers the bare minimum, to deny sick days, and yet pay their CEOs in the millions. He writes: “Today, from Wal-Mart to Amazon to fast food chains, the largest and most famous American brands are often the most
A Song for “Reformers”
Sheila Resseger, who taught deaf children for many years, wrote to say there will be a Labor Day rally today in Providence, Rhode Island. “In Honor of Labor Day, the Coalition to Defend Public Education (Providence), and the RI Badass Teachers are holding a rally in downtown Providence–Labor Day Rally for Justice in Public Education. We will have speakers from the community–teachers, retired teach
Joe Hill: The Preacher and the Slave
Joe Hill was known not only as a labor organizer but as a songwriter. This was his best known song, “The Preacher and the Slave.” There are different versions, but the music is set to “Sweet Bye and Bye.” The words are more or less like this (not exactly the same as what you heard if you clicked the YouTube link): Long-haired preachers come out every night, Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s
Pete Seeger: I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night
Joseph Hillstrom (1879-1915) came to the United States from Sweden in 1902, drifted for a time, then joined the radical Industrial Workers of the World in 1910. The IWW was known as the “Wobblies.” They opposed the AFL, which refused to organize unskilled labor. Joe Hill was an organizer for the IWW. He was arrested in 1914 on murder charges and convicted on the basis of circumstantial evidence. A
Beth from Indiana: What Labor Day Means to Me
A reader posted this comment about Labor Day: “Because my father, a lineman at the local electric company, was able to collectively bargain a contract, my sister, brother & I were able to live a middle class existence. My dad was able to send three kids to public universities in Indiana without acquiring debt. Did we all work to make it happen? Absolutely! The State of Indiana also helped by s
Samuel Gompers: What Does the Working Man Want?
Samuel Gompers delivered this speech in 1890. Gompers was a cigar maker by trade; he became the head of the cigar makers’ union. He was leader of the American Federation of Labor from 1886 to 1924. It was an era of hostility to labor unions when employers sought court injunctions to break strikes and boycotts. Gompers sought to prove that trade unionists were not dangerous radicals; that they soug
Ralph Nader: Labor Day Is a Time to Organize
A good article by Ralph Nader today describing what has happened to working people in recent years. He writes: “Labor Day is the ideal time to highlight the hard-fought, historic victories already enjoyed by American workers, and push for long-overdue health and safety measures and increased economic benefits for those left behind by casino capitalism. After all, it was the labor movement in the e
Labor Day 2013
Today is Labor Day. Many states bar collective bargaining. Many have passed laws intended to extinguish or cripple labor unions. Today, union membership in the United States has fallen to the lowest point in 97 years, according to the New York Times. “The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the total number of union members fell by 400,000 last year, to 14.3 million, even though the nation’s overall e
Diane in the Evening 8-9-1-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Replies to Randall HendeeIn an earlier post, retired high school English teacher Randall Hendee expressed his opposition to the Core Knowledge curriculum, which contains specific knowledge that students are expected to learn. Here, E.D. Hirsch, Jr., the founder of the Core Knowledge curriculum, responds to Hendee.
