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EDITOR’S NOTE: Since there’s been a bunch of labor arts news since we took our summer break, this issue is devoted to catching up on what’s been happening, plus if you’re in the DC area be sure to get down to the National Gallery this weekend to catch the “Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction” exhibition which has a terrific Labor section. Readers in driving distance of the Twin Cities can check out the 1934 & Now, Connections of the Minneapolis Truckers’ Strike of 1934 90th Anniversary Picnic tomorrow, and those of you in the San Francisco area have a full schedule of labor arts and history events at the annual SF LaborFest’s final weekend.
Chris Garlock
photo: Still from Senga Nengudi’s The Threader, 2007, digital video, color, sound, 5:23 minutes
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LABOR ARTS NEWS
Teamsters, striking Minneapolis park workers mark 90th anniversary of strike that led to the creation of the NLRA (7/26) Union activists will gather Saturday to commemorate the 1934 Minneapolis truckers strike, a bloody, six-month clash between the Teamsters union and trucking employers that led to the creation of the National Labor Relations Act and established Minneapolis as a city with a strong union presence. Click here to read more in the Star Tribune and here for details on Saturday’s event.
Video Game Workers Represented by SAG-AFTRA Go on Strike (7/25) “Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable A.I. protections, but rather flagrant exploitation,” said Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh. “We refuse this paradigm – we will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait for sufficient protection any longer.” Read more here.
Tentative Agreement Reached on Disney Contracts (7/24) “We have fought hard for the past four months and this tentative agreement would not have been possible without the strength we showed this past week with our rally and Unfair Labor Practice vote,” reported Disney Workers Rising.
AGMA Members Fight Back Against Cuts to San Francisco Symphony Chorus (7/18) In an open letter, members of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are sounding the alarm about proposals from management to slash their budget by 80%, a move that would devastate the livelihoods of American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) members in the chorus and undermine the union’s collective bargaining power. Take action here.
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Joe visits Red Square
On a recent drive to Portland, Maine, musician, organizer and LHF co-founder Joe Uehlein stopped at Red Square in New London, CT to visit with internationally acclaimed muralist Mike Alewitz. Here’s his report.
We toured the Red Square labor art museum with amazing commentary by Mike Alewitz, with whom I have conspired on numerous projects over the years. Like when I helped him with a Kent State massacre commemoration, I believe it was the tenth anniversary. He was setting up a mural exhibit on the Mall; I played music at the exhibit and I also hand-leafleted the AFL-CIO building about the exhibit. On another occasion Mike's P9 mural/banner was hanging at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies and UFCW demanded it be taken down. Mike asked me to mediate. I brought in Monsignor George Higgins, Labor's Priest, and together we arranged for the mural to remain. On another occasion the AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union Department was having a National Conference on Organizing and Coalition Building (Nov. 30, 1994) and we asked Mike to come, set up his art workshop in the back of the hall and create a mural/banner based on what he was hearing during the proceedings. Si Kahn sang, as did Laurel Blaydes and me. Mike’s amazing piece of art immediately left the hall at the end of the conference and we all marched with Jobs With Justice to Union Station where workers were organizing. The mural then found its’ way to countless picket lines around the world.
photo (l-r): Joe Uehlein, Anna Grace Uehlein, Mike Alewitz, Lane Windham.
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Replica of a Chip, Marilou Schultz (Navajo/Diné)
On view through this Sunday, July 28 at the “Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction” exhibition at the National Gallery of Art (East Building).
In 1994 Intel commissioned Schultz, a Native American weaver, to make a blanket featuring their Pentium microprocessor. Intel aligned the expertise of skilled textile workers with the dexterity of the Indigenous female workforce hired to assemble circuit boards in a factory newly constructed on Navajo/Diné land. The exhibition includes a section on Labor, and several worker-focused short films.
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CLICK HERE for our complete labor arts calendar; look for our Labor Arts Calendar edition on Monday
1934 & Now, Connections of the Minneapolis Truckers’ Strike of 1934 (Film Screening and Reading): Friday, July 26, 6:30 PM, East Side Freedom Library, Minneapolis/St Paul
Injured Workers, Workers Comp, OSHA, Healthcare & Workers Rights: Saturday, July 27, 10 AM, ILWU Local 6 Hall, 99 Hegenberger Rd, Oakland, CA
Oakland General Strike Walk: Saturday, July 27, 12:00 PM, Latham Square, Broadway & Telegraph, Oakland, CA
1934 & Now, Connections of the Minneapolis Truckers’ Strike of 1934 (90th Anniversary Picnic): Saturday, July 27, 1:00 PM, Wabun Picnic Area, Minnehaha Regional Park, 4655 46th Ave So, Minneapolis, MN
Logistics AI, Robo Taxi World, Land Lines & Check Outs: Saturday, July 27, 1:00 PM, ILWU Local 6 Hall, 99 Hegenberger Rd, Oakland, CA 94621
Labor & The International Struggle For Palestine: Saturday, July 27, 6:30 PM, ILWU Local 6 Hall, 99 Hegenberger Rd, Oakland, CA 94621
Walk-Labor Politics and Architecture of San Francisco: Sunday, July 28, 8:00 AM, ILWU Sculpture at Mission & Steuart, San Francisco, CA
1934 Minneapolis Truckers’ Strike Bike Tour: Sunday, July 28, 4:00 PM, 1900 Chicago Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404-1903
Labor Maritime History Boat Tour: Sunday, July 28, 5:30 PM, Blue & Gold Fleet at Pier 41 (scheduled at gate 1-in case of change, we will let you know); To make your reservation: By E-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net or call: (415) 642-8066
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Battle of Mucklow, W.Va. in coal strike. An estimated 100,000 shots were fired; 12 miners and four guards were killed – 1912
In Chicago, 30 workers are killed by federal troops, more than 100 wounded at the "Battle of the Viaduct" during the Great Railroad Strike – 1877
On this week’s Labor History Today podcast: Tragedy and Resistance at Port Chicago Naval Magazine (Encore): On July 17, 1944, a group of sailors and civilians were loading ships with ammunition and bombs at Port Chicago, a naval magazine and barracks in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tragically, the ships blew up in a massive explosion that instantly killed 320 workers and injured hundreds more. Most of the dead were African Americans, since racial segregation consigned Black soldiers and sailors to manual labor and service, including the dangerous work of transporting munitions.
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| Who were the Daughters of St. Crispin? | | | |
LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On July 4, all of these happened: Anarchist Albert Parsons joined the Knights of Labor (1876); Five newspaper boys from the Baltimore Evening Sun died in a steamer fire (1924); The AFL dedicated its new Washington, D.C. headquarters building (1916) | |
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"The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too."
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