SOLIDARITY FOREVER! GRAPHICS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR MOVEMENT
Solidarity Forever! Graphics from the International Labor Movement Funded in part by
Proletarier Aller Länder Vereinigt Euch! [Workers of the World Unite!] Walter Crane Offset, n.d. Germany 11696 Contemporary reproduction of an 1895 German cover for "Mein Vaterland Ist International" Workers of the World Unite. Banners, translated, read: freedom, equality, brotherhood, Africa, Asia, America, Australia, Europe, Workers of All Countries, Unite!
The Wobblies Artist unknown Offset, 1984 reprint of early 20th century original Columbia, South Carolina 12476 The Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW, was formed in Chicago in 1905 by radical unionists, including “Mother” Mary Jones, Lucy Parsons, “Big Bill” Haywood of the Western Federation of Miners, Bill Trautman of the Brewery Workers, and Socialist Party leader Eugene Debs. This union, whose members became known as the Wobblies, aimed to organize all workers in any industry, undivided by race, gender, or skills. Because the Wobblies were so effective, many cities passed laws to outlaw their organizing. They led thousands in strikes and broke the anti-speech laws, town by town. Today, the “One Big
Chicago Women's Labor History Red Pepper Posters Silkscreen, 1976 San Francisco, California 2276
Give 'em Both Barrels Jean Carlu Offset, 1941 Washington, D.C 10138 An example of the many posters produced during WWII to illustrate the importance of civilian industry to the war effort. Though federal laws and union pledges suppressed labor activity during the war, by 1946 a wave of postwar organizing ushered in a new era of strikes—and gains—by labor.
For All These Rights We've Just Begun to Fight Ben Shahn Lithograph, ca 1940's New York, New York
March for Peace April 24 National Peace Action Coalition Offset, 1971 San Francisco, California During the Viet Nam War, struggles between “hawks” and “doves” extended to U.S. Labor. This poster attempts to convince workers to join the growing antiwar movement.
They Plan for Profits International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America Silkscreen, n.d. United States
If I Were A Worker AFL-CIO; Santa Cruz County Central Labor Council; Community Printers Offset, 1982 Santa Cruz, California 4507
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Class Consciousness Press Gang Publishers Offset, ca. 1978 Vancouver, British Columbia 11275
Health and Safety Artist unknown Offset, n.d. United States 11699
Utnyttja Dina Rättigheter Till En Bra Arbetsmiljö [Use Your Rights to a Good Working Environment] Birgit Ståhl-Nyberg Offset, 1976 Sweden 11663
Travail Precaire [Dangerous Work Modern Slavery] FĂŠdĂŠration Anarchiste Offset, 1990-2000 Paris, France 12406
Adding Injury to Insult Northland Poster Collective Offset, 1988 Minneapolis, Minnesota 11703
More Than A Paycheck Doug Minkler Silkscreen, 1987 Berkeley, California 10012
La Fatigue Tue! [Fatigue Kills! Cut working hours] International Transport Workers' Federation Offset, ca. 1998 England
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La Fatigue Tue! [Fatigue Kills! Cut working hours] International Transport Workers' Federation Offset, ca. 1998 England 11613
America's Workers Are Dying to Build Your Car Lenora Davis Offset, ca. 1980s-90s Chicago, Illinois 9437
Cotton Dust Kills Photo by Earl Dotter Offset, ca. 1980 United States 5149 “She worked herself into an early grave.” More than a saying, this fate is increasingly understood as a series of diseases and chronic ailments aggravated by hours of strained postures or exposure to chemicals required by work. The understanding that many of these health problems are avoidable gave rise to the workplace health and safety movement, now written into federal and state laws. This poster highlights one of a series of work-related respiratory diseases. Coal miners were known to suffer from “black lung disease” caused by inhaling coal dust, and “white lung disease” was suffered by those working with silica dust.
Pictured above is Louis Harrell, a J.P. Stevens Mill worker who died of "brown lung" disease in 1978, after years of inhaling dust generated in the manufacture of textiles. This photograph appeared on the cover of an OSHA manual, but was never distributed due to intense pressure from the textile industry. Â The chemical exposures inherent in manufacturing are as varied as the components of the product. Automobile manufacture poses dozens of dangers. Toxic exposures are most often linked with cancer, but increasingly, damage to the neurological, immune, and reproductive systems may be unforeseen consequences to inhaling vapors or industrial chemicals, or absorbing them through the skin.
In Memoriam American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Offset, 1993 Washington, D.C. 7303
Stop Child Labor El Taller Grafico, United Farm Workers Union Offset, 1976 Keene, California 1973 After the appearance of this poster, the grower whose field is photographed sued the United Farm Workers, claiming that this was not their field. The United Farm Workers won the suit.
Child Labor Eliminating child labor is a recent concept. Child labor campaigns during the 19th and early 20th centuries involved reform, such as the Pennsylvania Child Labor Law of 1848, which set twelve as the minimum age for child workers. Boys and girls were commonly diverted from school and made to work in mining, agriculture, laundries, and in factories, often working with dangerous machinery and always for the least pay. Children are especially vulnerable to workplace exposure of chemicals that can impair their developing bodies and brains. Â Effectively denied legal standing, they were difficult to organize. But not impossible. In 1899, the New York City newsboys went on strike. Young laborers found surrogate families in unions, bringing further attention to child labor. By 1916, Congress passed the Federal Child Labor Law, which was later declared unconstitutional. Child workers waited another 22 years until the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set a minimum age of fourteen for work, barred children from 17 hazardous occupations, and mandated protection for education. Â Despite legal protections, child labor remains an ongoing problem, and is a focus of growing concern and organizing in Asia, the Caribbean, and the Americas.
Who Made Your Shoes? Alejandro Lopez; Chantรก Hardy; Tyi Green Offset, 1999 New York, New York 10676
Zoned for Slavery National Labor Committee Offset, 1995 New York, New York 5007
End Child Labor and Sweat Shop Abuses National Labor Committee Offset, ca. 1990s New York, New York 11337
Stop Child Labour International Labour Organizatio Offset, late 1990s Geneva, Switzerland 10238
Nobody Should Be a Slave to Fashion Common Threads Artist Group Offset, 1996 Los Angeles, California 9419
SWEATSHOPS Though any squalid and slavish working environment qualifies as a “sweatshops,” the term is most commonly linked with the mass production of garments by women. As early as 1825, the United Tailoresses of New York formed, and nine years later, the Mill Women’s Strike rocked Lowell, Massachusetts. But lasting reform was not triggered until 1911, when a fire killed 146 workers locked into the upper-story sewing room of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. After a period of exporting sweatshop work, such working conditions are resurging throughout the U.S. including in Los Angeles. The most notorious example involved 75 Thai women held behind a razor wire-gated sweatshop in El Monte, California in 1995. The “sweatshop slavery” case became the subject of a federal prosecution as well as an exhibit by the Smithsonian Institute. While sweatshop conditions are worst overseas, they persist in the United States. The State Department recently estimated that 50,000 women and children are annually brought into the U.S. to work in bonded sweatshops, domestic servitude, and prostitution.
Disney's 101 Sweatshops National Labor Committee; Mike Konopacki Offset, ca. 1996 New York, New York 11718
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Our Times Simon Ng Offset, ca. 1985 Toronto, Canada 11783
Guess Who Pockets the Difference Common Threads Artist Group Offset, 1995 Los Angeles, California 5662
[Workers in garment sweat shop] Artist unknown Offset, n.d. South Korea 421
Solidaridad con las Costureras de Guatemala [Solidarity with the Seamstresses of Guatemala] Marilyn Anderson Offset, ca. 1992 Rochester, New York 6637
Stop Gap Sweatshops Global Exchange Offset, 2000 Berkeley, California 11420
N.A.F.T.A. Louis Rothschild Silkscreen, 1993 Los Angeles, California 9524
Emerging Issues “As technology makes things easier, the bosses find ways to make things harder!” That anonymous labor axiom is gaining ground in the evolving workplace with its mutating laws of time and space. Leading the way in new labor issues are the myriad results of globalization—the process of multi-national firms exploiting cheap transportation costs and shopping for the cheapest possible labor. This practice often destroys industries around which entire cities have grown. In establishing factory jobs in rural Third World localities, balanced economic infrastructures are also often destroyed. Both of these scenarios have been a constant complaint about the North American Free Trade Agreement—NAFTA. A subsequent flashpoint for labor organizing has been the World Trade Organization (WTO), which critics say transfers policy control from local communities to business interests in such areas as genetic engineering, allowable levels of pesticides and other toxins, and labor conditions.
After 30 Years of Teaching Is This Her Reward? Jos Sances; Deble Offset, 1990 Berkeley, California 4911
Don't Buy My Harvest Cheap Methodist World Development Action Campaign Offset, n.d. Wimbledon, England 11677
Plant Closures Doug Minkler Silkscreen, 1987 California, Oakland 12416 [or 7765]
35 Stunden Sind Genug! [35 hours is enough! Alternative List for democracy, environmental protection and a shortened work week.] Germany Alternative Liste Offset, n.d. 11688
Oh, So That Explains the Difference in Our Salaries! Northern Sun Merchandising Offset, 1988 Minneapolis, Minnesota 11375
STRIKES AND BOYCOTTS “The workers of the world... have nothing to do but fold their arms and the world will stop. The workers are more powerful with their hands in their pockets than all the property of the capitalists.” This 1905 statement by IWW organizer Joseph Ettor expressed the power of an organized work stoppage, or strike. This power had already been honed in the prior century through strikes by shoemakers, bookbinders, mill workers, coal miners, ship carpenters cowboys and cigar makers. Strikes cost business owners money; they responded with lockouts, refusal to hire unionists, attempts to outlaw both strikes and unions, and, all too frequently, with violence. The first nationwide strike, held in 1877 by railroad workers, was crushed by federal and state troops. Private guards, also brought into to quell strikes, commonly beat picketers and strikers. Far worse, outright massacres of labor activists became a grisly U.S. tradition. Union organizers or strikers were murdered across the nation, including in Ludlow, Colorado; Matewan, West Virginia; Lattimer, Pennsylvania; and Everett, Washington. Still, strikes continued to secure steady gains for workers. Another effective tool became the boycott. This action targets the profits of a company considered unfair by alerting the public to stop purchasing its products as an act of solidarity. In recent years, notable boycotts include the United Farm Workers’ boycott of California table grapes and lettuce, and the boycotts of Nestle’s, Coors beer, Nike and Guess.
And the Workers, They Claim, Are Content San Francisco Poster Brigade Offset, 1981 San Francisco, California 11911
Agitate Educate Organize Artist unknown Laser copy, 1998 Not only does this graphic inject a Venice, playful note of romance into labor, California it borrows from the high-art world of artist Roy Lichtenstein,12378 who in turn borrowed from comics to redirect message and commentary at the height of the Pop Art era.
But I Will California State Employees' Association; Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 Offset, n.d. California 11397
Are You for Real? Laborers' International Union of North America Offset, n.d. California 5696
Proud Of Our Past Carlos Cortez Offset, 1998 Chicago, Illinois 20126
Celebrate International Women’s Day Artist unknown Silkscreen, ca. 1970s Massachusetts 3717
Lawrence 1912: The Bread and Roses Strike Ralph Fasanella Offset, 1980 New York 11487 On January 12, 1912, ten thousand woolen textile workers from almost forty different nationalities went on strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The strike started when the Massachusetts state legislature reduced the maximum factory working hours of women and children from fifty-six to fifty-four hours per week. The American Woolen Company reduced the workers’ pay without any notification. When paychecks were received at the end of the week, the workers began a spontaneous strike. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) represented the skilled workers of Lawrence, but wanted nothing to do with women workers. The International Workers of the World (IWW), however, quickly sent two organizers to Lawrence, Joseph J. Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti. Although the workers were primarily immigrants, divided by language and culture, they came together during the strike.  In an attempt by the Lawrence police to break the strike, Ettor and Giovannitti were arrested and charged with the murder of a young girl during a demonstration, although they were not even present at the time and the bullet was proven to be that of a policemen’s gun. With the strike leaders in jail, the IWW sent William D. Haywood to Lawrence to take their place. To ease the burden of strike relief and publicize the strike, Haywood and the other IWW leaders sent some children of strikers to live with workingclass supporters in to New York City, Jersey City, and Philadelphia. Fearing the negative publicity, Lawrence police and militia assembled at the train station and forcibly prevented parents from sending their children away. Newspaper stories and photos of the police beating women and children with clubs helped to turn the tide of public opinion toward the strikers. By April, the mill owners agreed to all the major demands of the
On Strike - Mississippi Freedom Labor Union Artist unknown Lithograph, ca. 1965 Mississippi 138 Â The Mississippi Freedom Labor Union attempted to organize African American sharecroppers in Mississippi. The MFLU was organized by the Delta Ministry of the National Council of Churches, the Freedom Democratic Party, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and many others from the civil rights movement. During 19651966, sharecroppers organized a strike on some plantations. As a result of the strike they were evicted, losing both their homes and their jobs, and were forced to set up a tent city. It was a valiant effort to organize sharecroppers, but the union did not survive the evictions and a growing trend towards mechanization in agriculture. This
Farmworkers Strike to Save Their Union Andrew (Andy) ZermeĂąo Offset, 1971 San Francisco, California 12383
No Scab Airline! S. Joseph Offset, 1989 New York, New York 6017
One Union, One Industry, One Contract Service Employees International Union Local 399 Offset, 1995 Los Angeles, California 2937
L.A. Should Work for Everyone SylvaĂn; Justice for Janitors Offset, 1989 Los Angeles, California 12440
Justice For Janitors Service Employees International Union, Local 1877 Offset, 2000 Los Angeles, California 12428 Janitors began fighting against subpoverty wages, exploitation in their workplace and in their communities when the Justice for Janitors campaign, housed in SEIU local 399, was launched in 1987 in Los Angeles. Through aggressive organizing with colorful in-the-street demonstrations using familiar slogans from the United Farm Workers, such as “Si Se Puede� (we can do it!), the campaign organized thousands of janitors in Southern California. These janitors are currently in a fight for their lives as they struggle to equalize the wages and benefits for janitors throughout the county to bring Los Angeles under one union, one contract, and one industry.
In 1990, the Los Angeles Police Department went on the attack against a group of janitors and community supporters who were engaged in a peaceful demonstration for fair wages for the janitors who cleaned the luxurious high rises in Century City. Sixty-five people were hospitalized as a result of police brutality, and it became clear that the people with power in Los Angeles would go to any extreme to hold down the struggle of working people for fair wages, dignity and respect. Nationwide union membership has dropped from its 1945 high of 35.5% of the labor force to 13.5% in 2000, but the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) janitorial membership has soared since the union launched its nationwide Justice for Janitors campaign. Now, about one in five of the nation’s 1 million janitors are SEIU union members. Los Angeles is SEIU’s biggest success story, where janitorial union ranks swell from 30% to 90% of those who clean the high-rises from Downtown to Century City. As of 2001, over 200,000 members belong to the union nationwide, including window washers, security officers, locksmiths and other maintenance service workers.
Standing Strong in Detroit Susan Kramer Offset, 1996 Detroit, Michigan 12379
Support the Copper Strikers Peter Garcia Silkscreen, 1980s United States 492
Support the Striking Miners in Stearns, Kentucky San Francisco Poster Brigade Offset, ca. 1978 San Francisco, California 12335
Support Economic Sanctions against South Africa International Confederation of Free Trade Unions Offset, ca. 1980s London, England 11621
Stop Union Busting NASSCO Workers Defense Committee Silkscreen, 1980 San Diego, California 4508
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Metro Bus: No Somos Sardinas Robbie Conal Offset, 1997 Los Angeles, California 10426 Â Overcrowding, insufficient pick-ups and a deteriorating fleet have long been complaints of LA's vast bus-dependent population. When they began to organize and fight back as the Bus Riders Union, the Metropolitan Transit Authority began to take notice. MTA workers also rebelled in the ongoing strike of Fall, 2000. Â
End Mickeymouse Bargaining Michael Gurka; Andrea Long Offset, 1980 Los Angeles, California 10576 On August 21, 1980, 5,000 people picketed Disney Studios, many carrying this sign and singing an anti-Disney song based on the Mickey Mouse Club anthem. As the entertainment industry consolidates, so do its fortunes— though usually not into the pockets of rank-and-file actors. This fact has encouraged a series of strikes by the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Theater and Radio Artists. Before their unions were formed, actors often suffered miserable working conditions that clashed with their outwardly glamorous profession.
Semana de Protesta [Week of Protest] Artist unknown Offset, ca. 1990 California 10751
Remember! Artist unknown Photocopy, ca. 1919 United States 12475
The Five Chicago Anarchists J. J. Kanberg Offset, 1968 Chicago, Illinois 12474 Haymarket Martyrs: The story of the Haymarket Martyrs begins at a convention of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1884. The Federation (the predecessor to the American Federation of Labor) called for a great movement to win the 8-hour workday, which would climax on May 1, 1886. The plan was to spend two years urging all American employers to adopt a standard 8-hour day. After May 1 of 1886, all workers not yet on an 8-hour schedule, were to cease work in a nation-wide strike until their employer would meet the demand. Great demonstrations took place on May 1 all across the country. Chicago's was the biggest with an estimated 80,000 marching on Michigan Avenue, much to the alarm of Chicago's business leaders and newspapers who saw it as
A mass meeting was called for the night of May 4, 1886 in the city haymarket at Randolph St. and DesPlaines Ave. Its purpose was to protest a police action from the previous day in which strikers and their supporters had been killed and injured by police. As the last speaker was concluding, a large force of 200 police arrived with a demand that the meeting disperse. Someone, unknown to this day, then threw a bomb at the massed police. The police began firing their weapons in the dark, killing at least four in the crowd and wounding many more. Several police were killed (only one by the bomb), the rest probably by police fire. Â In the aftermath of the event, unions were raided all across the country. Albert Parsons (husband of Lucy Parsons) and seven others associated with radical organizations were prosecuted in a show trial. None were linked to the unknown bomb thrower, and some were not even present at the time. They were held to be responsible for the bomb thrower's act, because their public criticism of corporate America, the political structure, and the use of police power against the working people, was alleged to have inspired the bomber. They were found guilty in a trial, which Governor John Peter Altgeld subsequently held to be grossly unfair. On June 26, 1894, Altgeld pardoned Oscar Neebe, Samuel Fieldon, and Michael Schwab, who were still alive and in prison; but Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, and George Engel had been hanged, and Louis Lingg was an apparent suicide.
Lucía González de Parsons Carlos Cortez Linocut, 1986 Chicago, Illinois 11729 Lucy Parsons (1853‑1942) was a black working class woman who was a recognized leader of the predominantly white male labor movement in Chicago. She spent her life struggling for the rights of the poor, unemployed, homeless, women, children, and minority groups. Interested in the emancipation of workers from wage slavery, Parsons joined the anarchistic International Working People’s Association in 1883. This was the time when the U.S. government was working to eliminate the growing labor movement.
On May 1, 1886, Lucy Parsons and her husband Albert led 80,000 workers and their supporters on a march to mobilize for a general strike for the eight-hour day. When a fatal bombing occurred three days later at a labor rally at the Haymarket, police blamed radical activists. When eight defendants including Albert were found guilty, Lucy began organizing the Haymarket Defense. After Albert’s execution in 1887, she was active in the radical labor movement for another 55 years. She published newspapers, pamphlets and books, and led many demonstrations. She was a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World. Her struggle with the Chicago police for free speech lasted for decades. Police frequently broke up meetings simply because the speaker was Lucy Parsons.
Joe Hill Carlos Cortez Silkscreen, 1979 Chicago, Illinois 4531 Â
Joe Hill was a Swedish seaman who arrived in the U.S.A. about 1901, and joined the Industrial Workers of the World ("Wobblies") in 1910. He organized in California and Mexico, becoming best known for his protest songs, especially "The Preacher and the Slave," which introduced the phrase "pie in the sky"; these were collected in The Little Red Song Book. Arrested for double murder in Salt Lake City he was convicted on dubious evidence. He was executed by a firing squad on November 19, 1915, despite a protest campaign which enlisted the support of the American Federation of Labor, the Swedish government, and President Woodrow Wilson. His last words to a fellow Laborite were, "Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize.�
Leonora O'Reilly Maria Hollenbach Offset, 1986 Brooklyn, New York 1344 Â In filthy, dangerous sweatshops and factories a century ago, women toiled 60 to 70 hours per week for a few dollars, often only one-third the pay men received for similar work. The National Women's Trade Union League organized women for a better deal. One of its leaders, Leonora O'Reilly, seated at right, organized the historic shirtwaist workers' strike, January 1910.
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones Rupert García Offset, 1989 Berkeley, California 11665 In 1902, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones appeared in the federal court at Parkersburg, West Virginia, charged with ignoring an injunction banning meetings by striking miners. District Attorney Reese Blizzard pointed to her and announced, "There sits the most dangerous woman in America. She comes into a state where peace and prosperity reign. She crooks her finger—twenty thousand contented men lay down their tools and walk out." Mother Jones died on November 30, 1930, having devoted the last half of her long and eventful life to struggles for justice. An advocate for miners and against child labor, she was famous for saying, “I’m
Save This Right Hand Rockwell Kent Offset, 1949 San Francisco, California 4931 As labor fought to repair the ravages of the Great Depression, its most effective leaders were considered radicals. Foremost among them was Australian émigré Harry Bridges, president of the San Francisco-based International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) from 1937 to 1977. Repeatedly, the federal government fought to deport Bridges. Political campaigns were also waged against Bob Robertson, who led ILWU organizing drives throughout the country, and Henry Schmidt, also active in the San Francisco ILWU and a member of the Albion Hall group of longshoremen and active Communist Party members.
Keep Bessie in Harlan Miners Art Group Offset, ca. 1973 Belle, West Virginia 12380  The Brookside Strike began in July, 1973. Miners at the Eastover Mining Company in Brookside, Kentucky, went out on strike when the company, a subsidiary of Duke Power, refused to negotiate with the United Mine Workers. After 13 months, and a court decision in favor of the workers, the company agreed to the strikers’ demands. The strike was documented by filmmaker Barbara Kopple in the documentary film, "Harlan County USA."
Worker Power (Moses Mayekiso) Shelley Sacks Offset, 1988 South Africa 11666 Â Moses Mayekiso was generalsecretary of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa and leader of the Civic Association of Transvaal. With his calls for the nationalization of key industries, he was regarded as the enemy of big business. In South Africa, his name was as synonymous with the politics of the 1980s as Mandela's was with the politics of the 1960s. Although released from prison in 1989, the focus of this poster, he was later arrested on charges of kidnapping a security policeman and illegal weapon possession. Despite his earlier revolutionary zeal for nationalization, Mayekiso is now CEO of Sanco Investment Holdings, an investment company which aims to
Free Nigeria's Union Leaders United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America; American Center for International Labor Solidarity Offset, ca. 1998 Nigeria 12418 Frank Kokori, General Secretary of the Nigerian oil and gas workers' union NUPENG, had been detained without trial by the regime of General Sani Abacha since 1994. In that year, a strike by Nigerian oil workers and others was put down by the military regime and a wave of repression against the oil unions and their leaders was unleashed. Upon his release in June 1998, he immediately called for an overhaul of Nigerian politics - and of the Nigerian unions. Milton Dabibi, General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN had been held without trial since January 1996. Dabibi’s conditions of detention were particularly harsh, and he needed medical care upon his release in June 1998.
Both unions are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, which led a sustained worldwide campaign for Dabibi's and Kokori's release. When Abacha died in June 1998, and his regime fell, the ICEM, its affiliates and other union internationals immediately asked his successor as Head of State, Major-General Abdulsalam Abubakar, to order Dabibi's and Kokori's release. They were among the first detainees to be freed of about a hundred political prisoners held in Nigerian jails under Abacha.
¡Viva La Causa! El Taller Grafico, United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO Photo: Cathy Murphy Offset, ca. 1976 Keene, California 12515 When the National Farm Workers Association was founded by César Chávez and others, they accomplished what was thought to be impossible, the organizing of poor and uneducated farm laborers. Born on March 31, 1927, near Yuma, Arizona, Chávez was no stranger to the struggle of farm labor. His family lost their small farm during the depression and moved to San Jose, California, where they worked as migrant laborers. In 1952, Chávez became an organizer for the barriobased Community Service Organization (CSO), and learned grass roots strategies. Though he eventually rose to national director of the CSO, his proposal to organize a labor union for farm workers was rejected by the CSO; Chávez resigned from the organization in 1962. He moved to Delano, where he and other activists including Dolores
In 1965, the NFWA joined with striking Filipino agricultural workers and the years-long strike-boycott against California growers of wine and table grapes was launched. By 1975, an estimated 17 million Americans honored the grape boycott. Chávez’s adherence to Ghandian principles included long fasts, and the insistence on a pledge of non-violence by all UFW members. By the early 1980's farm workers numbered in the tens of thousands were working under UFW contracts enjoyed higher pay, family health coverage, pension benefits and other contract protections. Chávez remained the head of the UFW until his death in 1993. 40,000 attended his funeral in Delano. He was awarded the Aguila Azteca (Aztec Eagle), Mexico’s highest award to people of Mexican ancestry, and was the second Mexican-American to earn the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A charismatic and controversial leader, critics felt that his anti-communism and inability to delegate authority weakened the union, though all acknowledged that his dedication and vision strengthened it. Chávez gave people La Causa (The Cause) to fight for the rights and dignity of all people.
Ben Fletcher Carlos Cortez Linocut, 1987 Chicago, Illinois 4486 Â In the early part of this century Ben Fletcher, an African-American union organizer, was one of the most effective spokesmen for the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World). Fletcher organized thousands of longshoremen of all races, though mostly Black, into the I.W.W. Although Fletcher was the major leader in Philadelphia, he was considered a national IWW leader as well. He died on July 10, 1949.
PART V. INTERNATIONAL MAY DAY  The celebration of May Day as a labor holiday marked by parades and red flags began on May 1, 1886. Behind the campaign was the universal adoption of the 8-hour working day, an improvement on the recent fight for a ten-hour day. In Chicago, the center of the movement, workers had been agitating for an 8-hour day for months, and on the eve of May 1, 50,000 were already on strike. 30,000 more swelled their ranks the next day, bringing most of Chicago manufacturing to a standstill. In a notorious riot that followed (the Haymarket massacre) the 8-hour movement failed, but the Chicago events figured prominently in the founding congress of the Second International (Paris, 1889) to make May 1, 1890 a demonstration of the solidarity and power of the international working class movement. Ever since, May Day has been celebrated globally as the international workers’ holiday.
Primero de Mayo de 1947 [May Day 1947 Only a conscious, united, and honest labor movement can successfully defend the interests of the workers, and help Mexico prosper.] Pablo O'Higgins; Alberto Beltrรกn; Taller de Grรกfica Popular Linocut, 1947 Mexico City, Mexico 12477
May 1st Artist unknown Offset, ca. 1980s United States 11686
1 Maio [The 1st of May has always been and will continue to be a manifestation of the struggle of the working classes and of their international character.] Mozambique Ministério da Informação Offset, ca. 1980-81 Mozambique 11689
International Workers Day San Francisco Poster Brigade Offset, ca. 1980s San Francisco, California 11897
Sรณlo los Obreros y Campesinos [Only the workers and peasants will go the distance] Coordinadora Sindical de Nicaragua Offset, ca. 1981 Nicaragua 12415
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