Labor Arts News & Updates

Just a quick note of heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s pitched in this week for the Straus Challenge. We’re now just $300 away from unlocking $10,000 in matching funds from LHF supporter Phil Straus!

This support is critical for exciting projects like our new Labor Landmarks Map.

Click here to help put us over the top; Thank you!

Chris & Elise

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR

SAT: IWD Sing-a-long with Tuesday Choir (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)

SAT: Walking in the Footsteps Of the Ford Hunger Marchers (MI)

SAT/SUN: A Brick and a Bible (MO)

SUN: Charter Day Celebration (PA)

SUN: Solidarity Notes Choir Celebrates International Women’s Day

SUN: CLUW Celebrates International Women's Day (Radio)

Ongoing:

Work in Progress (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)

I Don’t Want Your Millions (Billions), Mister (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)

Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne (New York City, NY)  

Ting Tong Chang The Hidden Shift (Pittsburgh, PA) 

Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County (Bloomington, IL) 

THIS WEEK'S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR RADIO SHOW


Can the Victims of Slavery Save Democracy?

This week on The Labor Heritage Power Hour: SEIU President April Verrett on worker power and democracy, The Pitt star Noah Wyle on unions, Kathy Newman on Pittsburgh labor history, Sean Duffy’s favorite labor song, Labor History in 2:00 on Frances Perkins, plus the latest labor arts news and events. 

LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS

Politics and Prose Workers Ratify New Contract: United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 members who work at Politics and Prose bookstores in Washington, D.C., voted to ratify a new union contract last week. Read more.

Anchorage Daily News staff becomes the first newsroom in Alaska to unionize and win a union contract: Unionized Journalists at the Anchorage Daily News have ratified a 2 year first contract with the paper’s owner Ryan Binkly. This marks the first union contract at an Alaska news publication. Read more.

Flint Symphony Orchestra Musicians Ratify New Contract: Members of American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 542 who perform in the Flint Symphony Orchestra (FSO) have settled a new collective bargaining agreement with the Flint Institute of Music. Read more.

American Library Association Staff Announce Organizing Effort: On Monday, American Library Association (ALA) workers announced their intent to form a union with AFSCME Council 31. Read more.

NALHC Issues Call For Papers On Workers, Unions, and the Role of Government: The North American Labor History Conference, held annually since 1979 and now biennial, is holding its forty-second meeting, October 15-17, 2026, on the theme of Workers, Unions, and the Role of Government. Read more.

PA Labor History Society Conference Set for April 24–25: The Pennsylvania Labor History Society will hold its annual conference in Philadelphia on April 24–25, 2026, exploring the role of workers and early unions during the era of the American Revolution. Read more.

LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK: Courage in the Hollers: Battle of Blair Mountain, Marmet

Part of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum's growing Courage in the Hollers labor history trail, which memorializes the march of unionist coal miners that eventually led to the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain. Details on LHF’s new Labor Landmarks Map.

LABOR VIDEO (& QUOTE) OF THE WEEK: Noah Wyle

“I don’t forget the hard-won fights and battles by giants who fought before us, on whose shoulders I and we all stand.” 

The Pitt star Noah Wyle accepting the 2026 Actor Award, presented by SAG-AFTRA, for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.
Got labor video? email us at info@laborheritage.org

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PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK
At Thursday’s Washington-Baltimore News Guild demo outside Washingtonian magazine offices on K Street.
Got picket sign? email us at info@laborheritage.org

LABOR SONG Of The Week: Should I Ever be a Soldier 
1913 labor protest song by activist Joe Hill (published in the IWW's Little Red Songbook) critiquing the military-industrial complex, questioning why money is spent on war while workers suffer. 

“Manhood Rights”: The Brotherhood at 100

On this week’s Labor History Today, historian Eric Arnesen marks the centennial of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, describing how A. Philip Randolph and Black railway workers built the first major Black-led union in 1925 and helped lay the groundwork for the 1941 and 1963 Marches on Washington. The talk was part of a Black History Month/Labor Spring event at Georgetown featuring SEIU President April Verrett. Highlights from Verrett’s talk air on this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour.

Plus: explore LHF’s new Labor Landmarks Map and suggest a site near you!

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CLICK HERE for our complete labor arts calendar; look for our Labor Arts Calendar edition on Monday

TODAY’S LABOR HISTORY

1913: Joe Hill’s song “There Is Power In A Union” appears in “Little Red Song Book,” published by the Wobblies.

1930: With the Great Depression underway, hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers demonstrated in some 30 cities and towns; close to 100,000 filled Union Square in New York City and were attacked by mounted police.

1972: Predominantly young workers at a Lordstown, Ohio GM assembly plant stage a wildcat strike, largely in objection to the grueling workpace: at 101.6 cars per hour, their assembly line was believed to be the fastest in the world.

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: Representatives of the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers met in St. Louis on February 22, 1892 with 20 other organizations to plan the founding convention of the People’s Party. Objectives: end political corruption, spread the wealth, and combat the oppression of the rights of workers and farmers.

RECENT NEWSLETTERS

Solidarity Rising: Strikes, Murals, and World Heritage (2/27)
Songs of Revolution and Protest (2/20) 
Striking At Kings (2/13)

Songs for Minneapolis (2/6)

A Brick and a Bible (1/30)

Minneapolis Solidarity Edition! Bruce, Billy & Friends sing out (1/28)