Today in Labor History Sept 16 Fruit and Vegetable Workers’ Union blocked downtown Salinas streets

[Omaha Steve]

September 16

September 16, 1810 - The Mexican War of Independence began after Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest, issued a revolutionary tract calling for the end of 300 years of Spanish rule of Mexico, redistribution of land and racial equality.

September 16, 1838 - James J. Hill, “the Empire Builder,” was born. In St. Paul, Minnesota, he founded the Great Northern Railroad and eventually became one of the country’s wealthiest and most powerful men.

September 16, 1936 - At the height of the Salinas Valley, California, lettuce strike, members of the Fruit and Vegetable Workers’ Union blocked downtown Salinas streets to stop a convoy of trucks carrying produce harvested by strikebreakers. In the 1930s, agricultural workers as well as industrial workers organized unions and struggled to improve their wages and benefits.

More than 43,000 oil workers strike in 20 states, part of the post-war strike wave - 1945


September 16, 1989 - Several thousand people gathered at the state Capitol in St. Paul to protest the presence of the anti-union contractor, BE&K in Minnesota to build a paper plant. The rally was one of the largest demonstrations ever held in the state.

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_09_...