Greater New Haven Labor History Association Labor History News

Save the date: GNHLHA Annual Meeting June 3 1:30-4:30 pm

Posted by GNHLHA — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:52:36 GMT

Dear Friends of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association,

PLEASE SAVE THE NEW DATE--SUNDAY JUNE 3 2012--1:30-5p.m. for the
GREATER NEW HAVEN LABOR HISTORY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING, 267
Chapel Street, New Haven ( NOTE: This date has been changed from the
original.)

SPECIAL GUEST: John Wilhelm, President of UNITE HERE

This year's two Augusta Lewis Troup Preservation Award winners are
the late Vincent Sirabella, long time leader of the Hotel and
Restaurant Employees union and the struggle to unionize workers at
Yale University in the 1970s; and Anthony Riccio, author of "The
Italian American Experience in New Haven" and "Cooking with Chef
Silvio." John Wilhelm, president of UNITE HERE, will give the
posthumous award to Mr. Sirabella, along with a presentation about
his role in labor history. Steve Kass, member of the GNHLHA Executive
Board, will present the award to Mr. Riccio.
The event is free to all GNHLHA members; suggested donation $10 for
all others attending.

More details will follow.

For more information, contact joan@laborhistory.org or visit us at
www.laborhistory.org for additional information as it becomes available.

Sincerely,
Joan Cavanagh
GNHLHA Archivist/Director

Legislative Effort has a Good Run -- Update on Labor History in the Schools initiative by Steve Kass

Posted by GNHLHA — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:07:54 GMT

Legislative effort has a good run

By Steve Kass

Teaching Labor History in the Connecticut public schools legislation received a public hearing in the education committee of the Connecticut state legislature on March 5, 2012. This legislative effort initiated by the Greater New Haven Labor History Association had strong support from the Connecticut AFL-CIO and many statewide unions.

More than 10 people testified in favor of Senate Bill 304 sponsored by Senate Majority leader Martin Looney (11^th District) and State Representative Roland Lemar (96^th District). Specifically, the bill calls for the teaching of “labor history and law, including the history of organized labor, the collective bargaining process and existing legal protections in the workplace.” In fact, Martin Looney felt so strongly about the bill, he took the unusual step of testifying himself and citing personal family union history.

Considering the bill was introduced in a short session during a pressing debate on the most significant educational reform bills in 30 years, it did quite well for a first attempt. Usually, the first time a bill is introduced, the main task is lining up support and generating publicity about the legislation. By any measure, this first organizing effort was a success.

Planning will continue with the Teaching Labor History Task Force for a second attempt in next year’s longer legislative session. All are welcome to join in the planning process. To take part, please visit our Labor History in the Schools web page where you can sign up to receive meeting announcements and updates.

Today Marks 101st Anniversary of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire -- blog article link

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:42:02 GMT

The article below is sourced from the online blog Lawyers Guns and Money at http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2012/03/this-day-in-labor-history-march-25-1911

This Day in Labor History: March 25, 1911

[ 13 ]March 25, 2012 | Erik Loomis

On March 25, 1911, 146 workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City died when the building in which they worked caught on fire. One of the most important events in American labor history, the Triangle Fire brought attention to the terrible sweatshop conditions of American labor, helped spawn important labor reforms, and became a touchstone for justice advocates over the next century.

The Triangle Factory, located in the Asch Building at 23-29 Washington Place in New York (today on the campus of NYU), was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, Jewish immigrants who had made their fortune as “The Shirtwaist Kings.” The shirtwaist, a necessity of women’s clothing during the late Victorian Era, was immensely profitable, but by 1911, the fashion was becoming outdated as American women moved toward modern fashion. In order to maximize profits in a trade with low start-up costs, Blanck and Harris took advantage of the enormous immigrant masses entering New York in the early twentieth century. They set up a sweatshop on 3 floors of the building and hired workers, mostly women, for very low pay. They also hired children. One corner of the factory was known as the “Kindergarten,” where young girls sat for 12 hours days snipping threads. The average working day for all workers was 12-14 hours at least 6 days a week. That included Saturday, which was important because 60% of the workers were Jewish women, as were their employers. During the peak production season, which was eight months of the year, the women were required to work all 7 days. A sign above the elevator read, “If You Don’t Come In On Sunday, Don’t Come In On Monday.”

Max Blanck and Thomas Harris

Blanck and Harris claimed they had earned their fortune by hard work and that other immigrants could do the same, although the obvious argument against that is that their primary good luck was arriving in New York earlier than most Jewish immigrants. When workers throughout the New York textile industry struck in theUprising of the 20,000 in 1909, Blanck and Harris stood their ground, criticizing smaller operations who signed contracts with the union, and asserting their right for complete control over the factory. Blanck and Harris hired prostitutes to act as strikebreakers, serving as escorts for scabs, and starting fights with the strikers. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) focused its attention on Triangle, as it was the largest company and had the most union-hating employers. The Uprising of the 20,000 was generally a successful action, but Blanck and Harris held out until the end, agreeing to raise wages and slightly shorten hours, but without any sort of union on the factory floor.

The lack of a union mattered a great deal as workers had no representatives to improve their working conditions or enforce safety rules. Wanting maximum control over its workers, Blanck and Harris ordered all doors out of the factory locked except for one. On March 25, 1911, just as the long workday was ending, a fire broke out on the 8th floor and quickly spread to the 9th and 10th floor. The factory offices were on the 10th; Blanck and Harris escaped, getting to the roof and hopping to another building. Workers on the 8th floor got out. No one told workers on the 9th floor that the building was on fire. They didn’t know until the flames were licking their shoes. There were 250 workers on the 9th floor. A few managed to escape on the elevator, some more on a fire escape, at least until it collapsed from the weight of so many people. But 146 did not escape. They rushed to the second door, but found it locked. They desperately tried to open it but they couldn’t find the key and had to give up. They burned to death or jumped from the windows as a last resort. Fire department ladders only stretched to the 6th floor. Firefighters stretched nets to catch the jumpers, but they couldn’t handle the force of bodies falling from that height.

The tragedy of the Triangle Fire finally drew public attention to the plight of the sweatshop workers. ILGWU organizers and workers had predicted tragedies in the workplace, though not of this level, but, even though the Uprising of the 20,000 had received a good bit of public attention, little had happened since the strike to improve working conditions and safety. On April 5, 350,000 New Yorkers came out to the ILGWU-organized funeral of seven unidentified workers. New Yorkers quickly remembered that Blanck and Harris had been the most anti-union owners in 1909 and the public excoriated them. As textile leader and overall amazing woman Clara Lemlich said, “If Triangle had been a union shop there there would not have been any locked doors, and the girls would have been on the street almost an hour before the fire started.” One reporter noted, “I remembered the great strike of last year, in which the girls demanded more sanitary workrooms, and more safety precautions in the shops. These dead bodies told the results.”

The public funeral of the Triangle workers.

City and state agencies responded to the public outrage by investigating the conditions of the textile industry and the state of the city’s sweatshops. They discovered that half the city’s workers labored higher than fire department ladders could reach, and most worked in factories with conditions far worse than Triangle, with iron bars blocking fire escapes, overcrowded conditions, and wooden rickety buildings. Governor John Dix created the Factory Investigating Commission, led by Alfred Smith and Robert Wagner and including Frances Perkins. ILGWU leaders like Clara Lemlich demanded the commission accompany them on unscheduled factory visits to get the real story. Said Perkins, who personally witnessed the fire, “We made sure Robert Wagner personally crawled through the tiny hole in the wall that gave exit to a steep ladder covered with ice and ending twelve feet from the ground, which was euphemistically labeled ‘Fire Escape.’” The inspections created wide-reaching laws that began the reform of labor conditions in this country, including new standards for lighting, ventilation, and sanitation; fire exit laws, limiting the hours women and children could work, and reorganizing the state’s labor department.

Blanck and Harris had insured the heck out of the building and received nearly $200,000 from 41 different insurance companies. Shortly after the fire, they tried to open a new factory. Building inspectors fined them for lining up the sewing machines so close that “the girls when seated would have no space to move about or leave their places without all getting up together.” Blanck and Harris were charged with manslaughter on April 11 for keeping the back doors locked in the factory. They paid $25,000 bail each and hired one of the nation’s top trial lawyers, Max Steuer. They managed to delay the trial until December when jury selection began. But when that happened, 300 women met them at the door. Shouted one young girl, “Here are the murderers of poor Stella. Hit them, mamma, for killing my poor sister.” The women chanted “Murderers! Murderers! Kill the murderers!” From that point on, the police controlled the crowd. After the trial, the jury took only 105 minutes to deliver its verdict of not guilty since it could not determine with certainty whether Blanck and Harris knew the door was locked. In 1913, Blanck was in fact charged with locking the door to one of his new factories and was fined the minimum of $20. The following year, the two factory owners were fined for sewing fake consumer labels into their clothing saying the factory met minimum working standards.

In 1914, Blanck and Harris settled the civil suits against them, paying $75 for each life lost. This only made people more angry because BLANCK AND HARRIS HAD PROFITED OFF THE FIRE!!! Quite literally–they had so much insurance that they cleared $65,000 in profit off their factory burning and workers dying.

There is also this fascinating document I’d like to share with you. In 1912, the National Association of Manufacturers collaborated with the Thomas Edison Company to produce “The Crime of Carelessness.” This film tried to shift blame for Triangle away from the factory owners and toward worker carelessness. This was part of the NAM strategy to keep the factories union-free and a useful film for placing today’s anti-union madness in historical context. This is a truly disgusting film, though fascinating. Worth 14 minutes of your time.

Many of the quotes for this piece came from Jo Ann Argersinger, The Triangle Fire: A Brief History with Documents, which is also a great book to teach.

This series has also covered such events as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the creation of the CIO in 1935.

Rally for Occupy New Haven Tuesday March 27 5-8pm Upper Green

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:37:32 GMT

Tell them NO EVICTION!

The Yale graduation and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas

want the Green. Why can’t the great university and the festival take pride in

one of the few remaining Occupy encampments and its message of virtue,

truth and genuine effectiveness in government, industry and society?

Why isn’t Occupy an important Idea?

Students

And the City

Rally

For Occupy

Tuesday, March 27^th

5-8pm

The upper Green

Garment Workers' Exhibit Visits State Capitol

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:04:03 GMT

“New Haven’s Garment Workers: An Elm City Story” was shown in its entirety in the concourse of the Legislative Office Building at the State Capitol in Hartford March 5-9, 2012.

This was its latest stop on its tour around the state of Connecticut and beyond, and happily coincided with the public hearing before the Education Committee of the State Legislature about the Greater New Haven Labor History Association’s raised bill to mandate the teaching of labor history, the collective bargaining process and the history of existing legal protections in the workplace as part of the Connecticut public school curriculum. Learn more about the Labor History in the Schools initiative here.

Next stop for the Garment Workers exhibit: the Southern Connecticut State University’s annual Women’s Studies Conference, April 20-21, 2012.

Aaron Goode Photograph

For further information, please visit the Garment Workers' Exhibit page or contact GNHLHA Director/Archivist Joan Cavanagh at info@laborhistory.org.

This Saturday, 3/24, 2-3pm-- A Panel Discussion on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Cate Bourke's memorial installation Crewel Linen: Unfinished Business

Posted by GNHLHA — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:02:35 GMT

Unfinished Business:

A Panel Discussion on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Cate Bourke's memorial installation Crewel Linen: Unfinished Business. What does the past still have to teach us about workplace safety, labor organizing and immigrants' rights?

Members of the panel are Jennifer Klein, Professor of History at Yale University, Carl Proper, Communications Director for New England Joint Board, Unite Here!, Megan Fountain of Unidad Latina en Accion, and Cate Bourke.

Moderated by Henry Lowendorf,

Chair, New Haven Peace Council

Saturday, March 24, 2 until 3 p.m.

People's Center,

37 Howe Street,

New Haven, CT

followed by a reception from 4 until 6 p.m. at the

West Cove Studio,

30 Elm Street,

West Haven, CT

Bourke's centennial/commemorative work in memory of the 146 individual workers who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, is made up of an eight foot length of shirtwaist cloth for every one of the victims, with a name embroidered on each panel.

The installation is now on view through March 24, 2012

http://www.westcovestudio.com/exhibitions.html

Friday and Saturday, 10 until 4

or by appointment, phone 203-500-0268 for directions

Labor History in the Schools Meeting Wed, March 21, 4pm

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:02:53 GMT

Wednesday, March 21, 2012, 4-5:30pm

Location: Council Teachers Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
Parking and entrance in back lot via Saltonstall Ave.

Open meeting for those interested in working on the legislative initiative for Labor History in the Schools.

Click here for more info.

Freedom Rider and GNHLHA Board Member Lula White featured in the New Haven Independent

Posted by GNHLHA — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:01:49 GMT

Freedom Rider Lula White

Click here to read about GNHLHA Board Member Lula White's incredible story in the New Haven Independent>>

Lula also participated in GNHLHA's Family Work History Project in the schools>>

Labor History in the Schools Meeting Wed, Feb 29, 4pm

Posted by GNHLHA — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:07:39 GMT

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 4-5:30pm

Location: Council Teachers Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
Parking and entrance in back lot via Saltonstall Ave.

Open meeting for those interested in working on the legislative initiative for Labor History in the Schools.

Click here for more info.

Labor History in the Schools Meeting Wed, Feb 15, 4pm

Posted by GNHLHA — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:24:59 GMT

Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 4-5:30pm

Location: Council Teachers Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
Parking and entrance in back lot via Saltonstall Ave.

Open meeting for those interested in working on the legislative initiative for Labor History in the Schools.

Click here for more info.

Booksigning March 3rd featuring Jeremy Brecher's new book: "Save the Humans: Common Preservation in Action"

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:49:30 GMT

NEW BOOK BY JEREMY BRECHER: SAVE THE HUMANS: COMMON PRESERVATION IN ACTION

SIGNING AND DISCUSSION MARCH 3

“In a Reed College history survey course in 1965, I heard a brief mention of some big strikes in late 19^th century America. I was intrigued and started looking in the college library for books on labor history. There was a short shelf of them, few less than twenty-five years old…

“I had of course heard about the sit-down strikes and the great industrial union organizing campaigns of the 1930s, though there was actually very little historical writing about them available in the 1960s. I had heard of the ‘Haymarket riots,’ but I didn’t know that more than half a million workers struck in 1886, many of them in a nationwide general strike for the eight-hour day. I had heard of labor leader and socialist candidate Eugene Victor Debs, but I didn’t know anything about the huge strikes in all basic industriesundefinedsteel, coal, and railroadsundefinedin the mid-1890s. Nor did I know anything about the big strike waves during and after World War I and World War II. And I couldn’t find a single book or article dealing with such periods as a general phenomenon…

“Such actions called up for me a vision of how ordinary people might liberate themselves from those who oppressed them. They showed people who had been divided and apparently powerless coming together for what I would later call common preservation. It showed them confronting and sometimes defeating the greatest powers in the land. Could that story, I wondered, still be relevant?”

In his newest book, historian, activist, writer (and member for life of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association), Jeremy Brecher answers that question with a resounding “Yes!” Save the Humans is a multi-layered, nuanced tour de force through the history of 20^th and early 21^st century movements for “Common Preservation,” as well as an earnest plea that we apply the lessons learned from them to confront today’s global threats.

Join Jeremy and the Greater New Haven Labor History Association on Saturday, March 3^rd from 2-4 p.m. for a discussion and book-signing at the main branch of the New Haven Public Library, 133 Elm Street, New Haven.

Words from David Montgomery's Memorial Service on January 28th

Posted by GNHLHA — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:02:10 GMT

Statement on Behalf of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association at the Memorial Service of David Montgomery, Saturday, January 28, 2012 at Battell Chapel, New Haven, CT

Joan Cavanagh

The Board, members and staff of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association join today with all here to honor our long time member and dear friend David Montgomery, whose words example, and life have and always will continue to guide us as we move forward in our work.

David was one of the biggest supporters and most active members of the Labor History Association almost from its inception in 1988. He contributed the lead article to the Labor Almanac, a joint endeavor in 1995 between the Labor History Association and the Greater New Haven Central Labor Council. Entitled “One Hundred Sixty Years of Labor’s Struggles for a Better New Haven,” the article discussed, among other things, how the labor movement in New Haven first took root within the town’s early immigrant communities and later in its African American community.

David was one of the narrators and commentators on the Labor History Association’s award-winning Labor History Bus Tour of New Haven in 1999 and again in 2000. He was a key note speaker at the New England regional conference of labor history associations held in New Haven on October 24, 1992, sponsored by GNHLHA. He was one of the planners and leaders of the Association’s River Street Walking Tour in 2004, which he followed by a presentation and a two hour long question and answer session attended by over 75 people at Fair Haven Woodworks. A recipient of the Augusta Lewis Troup Preservation Award presented annually by the Greater New Haven labor History Association, he was, over the years, often a speaker or panelist and usually a participant in our annual meetings. At our 2008 meeting, which commemorated the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, he gave a sterling presentation and then led a spirited discussion about the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike of 1968 and its long term implications for both the civil rights and labor movements.

I wrote him an email in March of 2011 to try to entice him back from Pennsylvania to once again join our annual meeting of 2011, which was to focus on the current labor struggles and resistance in Wisconsin. I mentioned that we were going to, among other things, be discussing our Association’s planned legislative initiative to mandate the teaching of labor history in Connecticut’s public schools. I commented somewhat a-historically that such legislation had “ironically” already been adopted in the now labor-embattled state of Wisconsin. David wasn’t able to make the meeting, but he did give me a short history lesson in his reply email. As I read the email, I could almost hear the enthusiastic lilt in his voice that was always there when he warmed to his subject matter: “You [meaning the Greater New Haven Labor History Association] have been up to good work this past year, including the effort to get labor history into the curriculum of public schools,” he graciously commented. Then he continued with this gentle correction: “By the way, it is not surprising that the effort was pioneered in Wisconsin. The state has much in its political past of which it can be proud, including the School for Workers at the university in Madison, the long-lasting Socialist government in Milwaukee, the famous labor history archives at the university, and, of course, the legacy of Fighting Bob LaFollette -- from back in the days when some of the country's best politicians were Republicans (hard as it may be to believe now).”

In its spring 1980 edition, Radical History Review published an interview with David Montgomery called “Once Upon a Shop Floor”. This was years before the birth of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association, but at its conclusion, David articulated his vision of the work of “radical historians,” and it is one that is surely at the core of what our Association must continue to strive to be about: “When you come right down to it, history is the only teacher the workers have. A central task that all of us face today is going back to square one in our own revolutionary experience. Very clearly, as we survey the great struggles that need to be recounted, we must look with a cold eye at all of that experience to find out where we went wrong, where there were great lessons to be drawn from positive experience, what the propelling forces of historical change have been, and how to make the dynamics of our own movement public knowledge once again. In all my work I’ve tried to look at the long course of development, in part to avoid terms of analysis which have been reified by society, or by our movement, at particular times. But also to show how many long familiar struggles keep reappearing in different forms.”

Thank you, David, from all at the Greater New Haven Labor History Association for the gift of your words, your example, your life. You are always with us.

Exhibit Commemorating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Workers extended through March 25 in West Haven

Posted by GNHLHA — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:44:56 GMT

Crewel Linen: Unfinished Business

An Installation by Cate Bourke

Download the flyer by clicking here

A centennial/commemorative work in memory of the 146 individual workers who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City in 1911, made up of an eight foot length of shirtwaist cloth for every one of the victims, with a name embroidered on each panel.

Underwritten in part by Unite Here! International Union

Also on view by the same artist, a participatory installation entitled Study in Black and White which explores the ways in which U.S. institutions have served to construct and sustain racial disparities in this country's socioeconomic conditions.

through March 25, 2012

A-Space Gallery at West Cove Studio

33 Elm Street

West Haven, Connecticut

http://www.westcovestudio.com/exhibitions.html

Friday and Saturday, 10 until 4
or by appointment, phone 203-500-0268

Easy access from I-95, to exit 44.
Turn onto Kimberly Ave towards West Haven.
Kimberly Ave. becomes Elm St.
Turn onto Water St (first left after first stoplight),
then immediate left into parking lot.

Entrance is at rear of building, up flight of metal stairs.

Labor History in the Schools Meeting Wed, Jan 18, 4pm

Posted by GNHLHA — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:01:19 GMT

Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 4-5:30pm

Location: Council Teachers Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
Parking and entrance in back lot via Saltonstall Ave.

Open meeting for those interested in working on the legislative initiative for Labor History in the Schools.

Click here for more info.

David Montgomery Memorial Service on January 28th at 1pm, Battell Chapel, New Haven

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:37:56 GMT

DAVID MONTGOMERY December 1, 1927-December 2, 2011

It was with great shock and sadness that members of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association learned of the passing of our life member, David Montgomery, on the day after his 84^th birthday. We mourn his loss and will always cherish the memory of this exceptionally gifted and giving teacher, writer, historian, activist and friend.

David began his career as a union organizer while working as a machinist in various shops in Minnesota and New York. He was fired from a number of jobs because of his activism and turned to academia, earning his master’s and doctoral degrees in history from the University of Minnesota. His dissertation, Beyond Equality: Labor and the Radical Republicans 1862-1872, a study of the labor movement during the time of Reconstruction, was published as a book in 1967. Several other books followed, including the highly influential Workers’ Control in America: Studies in the History of Work, Technology and Labor Struggles and The Fall of the House of Labor: the Workplace, the State, and American Labor Activism, 1865-1925. In his writing and in his teaching, he not only told the story of labor struggles, but painted vivid pictures of workers’ lives on the job.

David first taught at the University of Pittsburgh and then at Yale University, where he became Farnam Professor of History. At both universities he earned teaching awards. He began at Yale in the late 1970s, and he and his wife, Martel W. Montgomery, became part of the fabric of life not only at Yale but in the broader New Haven community. Known as an intellectually rigorous proponent of the “new labor history,” along with colleagues E.P. Thompson, Herbert Gutman and David Brody, David remained an advocate for the struggles and aspirations of workers, supporting Yale’s clerical workers in their 1984 strike and the efforts of the Graduate Employee Student Organization (GESO) at Yale to achieve recognition as a union for graduate student workers.

David was a life member of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association and he participated in many GNHLHA events.

In 2005, after his retirement from Yale and shortly before he and his wife moved to Kennett Square, PA., he helped lead GNHLHA’s River Street Walking Tour, and held a remarkable roundtable discussion afterward at Fair Haven Woodworks, attended by about 75 people.

The Board and Staff of GNHLHA extend deepest sympathies to his widow, Martel Montgomery, their sons and their families. David Montgomery will be missed sorely and long remembered.

There will be a public memorial service for David Montgomery on Saturday, January 28th, 2012, at Battell Chapel in New Haven from 1 to 2:30 p.m. with the Rev. Frederick J. Streets officiating.

The Family Work History Project Bridges Generational Divide: Articles by Paula Panzarella, Lula White and Dorothy Johnson

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:52:32 GMT

THE FAMILY WORK HISTORY PROJECT, PART TWO: FALL 2011

This fall, Paula Panzarella reprised and expanded the Family Work History Project in the New Haven Public Schools initiated by Outreach Coordinator Christine Saari last spring. She offered an introductory session to 12 classes and presented each teacher with a full set of curriculum materials for their own future use in the classroom.

The introductory sessions offered students an opportunity to practice interviewing subjects about their lives at work. Participating were Lula White, Dorothy Johnson and Lt. Gary Tinney of the New Haven Fire Department.

Paula, Lula and Dorothy share their reflections about the process:Top of Form

PAULA PANZARELLA: THE FAMILY WORK HISTORY PROJECT FALL 2011: AN OVERVIEW

Introductory classes were given at Worthington Hooker, Nathan Hale, Clinton Avenue, Katherine Brennan Schools and the Columbus Family Academy. All the teachers to whom I presented the curriculum were enthusiastic about the introductory class with interviewees. Teachers are looking for ways to inspire their students to want to learn. They were happy that the introductory class involved interviewees so the students could practice that skill.

I began the introductory class with a few words about labor history and the value of work through all societies, in all countries. I showed a few photos of child laborers from 100 years ago (textile millworkers, miners, farmworkers) and talked about how people demanded labor laws, the end of childhood labor, safe working conditions, benefits, etc. I played two segments from Mabel Batts’ oral history interview about her experience as a garment worker.

Having two interviewees per class provided an opportunity to involve all the students who wanted to ask questions. Most classrooms had between 24 and 27 students. Some teachers said their quietest students or more difficult students participated by asking questions. Many students took copious notes and may be writing essays based on the practice interviews.

Questions from students varied. Some groups focused on the personal (How many brothers and sisters do you have? What did you like to do when you were a kid?); some groups focused on work (What was your first job like? Was it scary being on strike? What was school like when you taught?); and some wanted details about going to jail (because of the Freedom Rides and the teachers’ strike). The questions asked of Lt. Tinney included “What was the scariest thing that happened to you?” and “Why do you want to have such a dangerous job?”

Being scared on the picket line, being scared about saving someone in a fire, being scared of getting beat up in Mississippi: all three interviewees were asked about their fears. It was a very valuable experience for students to realize that fear is not something only children feel, but that adults are in situations where they have to deal with their emotions. For students who may have felt a generational divide from adults, I think through the GNHLHA project they learned more about the common humanity we share.

LULA WHITE: “THE RIGHT THING TO DO”

In the future, students will hopefully be able to interview their parents, grandparents, and other relatives and neighbors about their work history. For practice, they had a chance to interview Dorothy Johnson (former Circuit Wise employee and president of her United Electrical Workers Local 299 chapter), Lt. Gary Tinney of the New Haven Fire Department , and I.I am a laundry worker, hospital worker and public school teacher.

Paula Panzarella accompanied the interviewees. We spoke about working conditions for children one hundred years ago; played a tape of a woman about her work in the garment industry in the 1920sundefined1940s and showed slides of child laborers from the early 20^th century. Panzarella emphasized the laws that outlawed child labor.

Lt. Tinney talked about fire department hiring qualifications and overcoming fear of heights. He also explained that most of the department’s work dealt with medical calls and community services.

I spoke about my first job at age sixteen as a summer employee at Majestic Laundry, where labor laws protected me from hazardous work like working in the boiler room or pressing hot laundry items.

I was also asked about my experiences as a Freedom Rider: “When you got to Mississippi and saw how scary it was, did you think you made a mistake and want to go back home?” I answered ,“When you decide that you have to do something, even if you’re scared, you go ahead and do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

DOROTHY JOHNSON: “JOIN A UNION FIRST”

I will admit I was a little nervous when we had our first appointment at Worthington Hooker School on Whitney Ave. I am usually the one during the interviewing, but this time it would be different.

But the children greeted us with warmth and excitement. Paula Panzarella began with an introduction of my past work experience at Circuitwise Electronic Facility previously located in North Haven and my organizing the union and the strike that took place there.

The class was divided up into two groups. There was no need to worry about shyness. Hands went up quickly and the interviews were in full swing.

I must share some of the questions that were asked. Where was I born? Birmingham Alabama. How long did I live there? Only about one and a half years, then my family moved to CT for better opportunities.

What type of fun did I have growing up? They enjoyed these answers. Bowling, roller skating, heading to downtown New Haven to the local movie theatres, bicycle riding --and I was queen of double dutch jump rope in my neighborhood. The children could really relate to these activities.

Questions started moving toward my organizing a union at Circuitwise. I remember one student asking me if I was afraid during this process. “Yes,” I responded. I thought I would get into serious trouble. They couldn’t fully understand why we went out on strike if it wasn’t about the money. Explaining took a little time.

Workers voted for the union and won but still the company felt that they could get rid of the union. Of course workers want better benefits and better working conditions, but we were seeking justice and dignity for everyone. I had to be truthful to the children about the strike. The union did a lot of preparation before the strike started, set up strike kitchens, gas vouchers, and energy funds to pay our bills.

The next questions were: How did we stay on strike for 17 months? Didn’t you ever think about giving up?

I answered that it was very hard to be out for that long but if you believe in something which is right you fight to the finish. We also had a good core group of strikers who came everyday to the picket line.

When the interviews were winding down, they wanted to know what it was like to be President of my local union. I said that I found it to be a very valuable experience of helping others to gain the knowledge of educating or organizing and mobilizing others to speak up and stand up for what is right for workers.

Before ending the interviews one young fellow who was excited about the strike asked, “Can I go out on strike?” I responded swiftly, “You must join a union first.”

Occupy New Haven by John Magnesi

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:41:01 GMT

OCCUPY NEW HAVEN

By John Magnesi

GNHLHA Member

“Top 1 % - Y U N O Pay Taxes ? !”; “I’ll Believe Corporations Are People When Texas Executes One”; “Lost My Job, Found an Occupation.”

Those are just a few of the types of sentiments reflected on signs that have been seen in the “Occupy Movement” that has swept this country and that has seeped into New Haven’s own “Occupy” encampment. This breakthrough uprising has changed the political dialogue in the country and has given new hope to progressives who envision a better future and who recognize the need to challenge unresponsive entrenched elites in a time of great economic turmoil.

The Occupy Movement seemed to start almost spontaneously in a gathering on Liberty Square in Manhattan on September 17, 2011. An encampment of the dispossessed arose at Zuccotti Park right there in the heart of American corporate capitalism, New York City’s financial district. One big difference between this sudden and unexpected uprising and the protests of the past, is that many of the assembled activists chose not to leave the park where they had staged their protest but instead they brought their tents and sleeping bags and attempted a permanent takeover of a tiny piece of ground in a city and by extension in a nation where the social, economic, and political hierarchy had abandoned them. They used their First Amendment rights to assemble and to voice their concerns in a non-violent manner about the betrayal of the American people by those at the top of the economic pyramid.

About one month after the initial Wall Street protests in New York City, our own New Haven activists launched a march on the Green in New Haven on October 16, 2011. Estimates by some suggested that at least 1000 people came out to protest the current financial and political crisis. They too echoed the sentiments of those encamped in New York City and in other cities around the country about the economic polarization afflicting this country. They too were fed up with the corporately dominated social and political system and by the obscene concentration of wealth in this country. The income and assets of those at the top of the income stream among the top 1% has so distorted our politics and our economy that the vast majority of Americans-- the so-called 99%-- have been forgotten and left behind with no life raft at all.

So what do the New Haven activists encamped on the Green want? According to information displayed on their website, they seek rights for the vast majority of the American people, the so-called 99%, to convene, to speak freely, and to demand social and economic justice from a system that is unresponsive. On any given day they have posted signs, conducted marches, engaged in street demonstrations and other protests dealing with a wide range of social, political, and economic concerns. They have expressed their anger at everything from outrageous multi-million dollar corporate bonuses paid to executives (while their workers struggle to pay for health insurance), to police misconduct associated with the arrest of Occupy protesters in other cities where activists have been unjustifiably pepper sprayed, subjected to excessive police force and even shot during efforts to destroy Occupier's encampments.

The Occupy New Haven group has expressed solidarity with the Occupy Hartford protesters whose encampment was torn down by the Hartford Police Department at the behest of the Police Chief and the political leadership in that city. The New Haven group has also declared its opposition to the upcoming Defense Authorization Act. (It is alleged that the legislation may allow for the imprisonment of United States citizens without charge or trial in still one more example of misguided legislation and twisted values associated with President Obama’s continuing War on Terrorism.)

Recently, the New Haven Occupy group joined in yet another march and demonstration. In conjunction with the New Haven Central Labor Council, Unite-Here, and other community groups, the Occupiers and others held a rally at City Hall followed by a march to key locations on New Haven’s own Wall Street, calling for more jobs for local residents in a city where the jobless rate is stratospheric.

The Occupy New Haven movement operates in a manner similar to other Occupy groups around the country. There are no official leaders or official spokespeople. Instead, movement members decide on their course of action in community gatherings called a "General Assembly." Everyone has a right to be heard following a procedure agreed to by the group. Decisions are made in a democratic manner. Assembly events are open to all and meetings are held regularly -- usually on Wednesday evenings and on Sunday afternoons and there may also be other days when General Assembly gatherings occur.

The process and conduct of Occupy New Haven is transparent and relies on direct democracy. Their actions are non-violent but intended to change and disrupt a system that no longer responds to the needs of the people. The group is supported by donations from numerous sources including individuals, the community, student groups, social justice organizations, and by trade unions.

Occupy New Haven shows that history is once again being made on the Green in New Haven. To learn more, go to the group’s web site, www.OccupyNewHaven.org.

School Labor History Legislation Gains Momentum by Steve Kass

Posted by GNHLHA — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:39:17 GMT

SCHOOL LABOR HISTORY LEGISLATION GAINS MOMENTUM

By Steve Kass

GNHLHA Executive Board Member and Coordinator, Labor History in the Schools Legislative Initiative

With a special task force set up by the GNLHA meeting biweekly this fall, momentum has picked up for holding a public hearing on this legislation during the “short session” of next year’s legislative assembly. Endorsements by the AFL-CIO, AFT, CEA, UAW, AFSCME, CSEA, the Connecticut Working Families party, and others are getting the attention of statewide legislators to make this bill a top priority.

The bill calls for “including the history of organized labor, the collective bargaining process and existing legal protections in the workplace” in the Connecticut public school curriculum. Many labor and educational groups are excited and enthusiastic about finally having labor’s untold story told.

This bill comes at time when the Shankar Institute recently released their report (September, 2011) called “How Labor’s story is distorted in high school history textbooks.” The investigation highlights the “spotty, inadequate, and slanted” coverage of the labor movement in the four major textbooks that account for most of the market in U.S. history textbooks in this country. The textbooks “present labor history in a biased, negative way; for example focusing on strikes and strike violence while neglecting labor’s role in bringing generations of Americans into the middle class.” The textbooks at other times simply ignore many of labor’s contributions in helping to create some of the following social reforms: the eight-hour work day, the forty hour work week, minimum wages, health care benefits, social security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.

Unfortunately, most people don’t know or remember how crucial labor was in pushing Depression-era politicians to codify the basic features of American work that are now taken for granted.

With the inspiring Occupy movement sweeping the nation, there has never been a more important time to learn (or relearn) working/middle class and labor history: the history of the 99%.

Labor History in the Schools Meeting Wed, Dec 14, 4-6:15 pm

Posted by GNHLHA — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:00:13 GMT

Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 4-6:15 pm

Location: Council Teachers Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
Parking and entrance in back lot via Saltonstall Ave.

Schedule of events:
4-5 pm Task Force Meeting
5 pm Pizza
5:15-6:15 pm Meeting with Greater New Haven legislators

Open meeting for those interested in working on the legislative initiative for Labor History in the Schools.

Click here for more info.

Occupy New Haven March Tomorrow Dec 6th 5pm

Posted by GNHLHA — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:51:32 GMT

Click here to view the original