Labor Arts News & Updates

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR


Sat: Bread & Roses Missouri Presents the Workers' Opera 2026 (MO)

Sun: 127th Anniversary of the Union Miners Cemetery (IL)

Sun: Bread & Roses Missouri Presents the Workers' Opera 2026 (MO)

Got a labor arts or history event? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

THIS WEEK’S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR 


More Than a Cog on the Assembly Line 

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour Union Hall Arts gives workers time to create, while historian Tina Wei explores workplace fatigue and the human labor behind AI. Plus, Joe Hill’s enduring songs, Detroit’s “gentle anarchist” Joseph Labadie and the latest labor arts news.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS

Whitney Workers Draw the Line—and Win a Contract: The Whitney union was among four New York City museum labor units under UAW Local 2110 that voted to strike amid prolonged contract negotiations this year. Read more.

Post-Gazette Owners Hit Dead End at Supreme Court: The NewsGuild-CWA says millions of dollars are owed to current and former Post Gazette employees, and there are no further venues for appeal. Read more.

Obama Foundation and Presidential Center Employees Organizing With AFSCME

Employees are now signing union authorization cards for the purpose of seeking voluntary recognition from foundation management.  Read more.

Wizards Cast a Spell for Worker Power: Workers on the Dungeons & Dragons and D&D Beyond teams and at Studio X are asking Hasbro to voluntarily recognize their union. Read more.

Detroit History Workers Make History With Union Win: The workers at the Detroit Historical Society join other Detroit cultural workers fighting to create better institutions for both employees and the community. Read more.

Minnesota Opera Orchestra Musicians Vote To Authorize Strike: If the Minnesota Opera’s current contract proposal is adopted, AFM members would go eight years without a cost-of-living increase. Read more.

Hollywood Unions Warn U.S. Film & TV Production Is On The Brink: Another alarm bell went off on the state of U.S.-based film and television production with the release of an extensive report. Read more.

WHAT WE’RE READING: Palestinian Arts Workers Call for Solidarity

LABOR VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

(Above) “Any Union People In The House?” International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (or IUPAT) President Jimmy Williams joins the Dropkick Murphys on stage at the Power To The People Fest to talk about the power of solidarity.

(Below; click here to watch) IUPAT and Haymarket An IUPAT member describes the events around the Haymarket Massacre and the role that painters' unions played in the aftermath.

Got labor video? email us at info@laborheritage.org

PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK

Minneapolis College of Art and Design students support the school’s faculty union as they rally for a “Human Centered Arts Education.” (Photo: Isabela Escalona / Workday Magazine)


Got a creative picket sign to share? email us at info@laborheritage.org

LABOR SONG OF THE WEEK: Alexander Laidlaw's Goodly News


Song by Leith Kahl - AKA Desert Rat - about the 1916 West Coast port strike, the killing of strikers Alexander Laidlaw and James Costello, and the erection of a plaque honoring the strike on Tacoma WA’s 11th St. Bridge.

Hear Kahl discuss “The Story Behind The Song” on next week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour. Check local listings for the broadcast’s time and date in your area.


Got a Labor song? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

LABOR ART OF THE WEEK

From the International Association of Fire Fighters on Twitter / X.

LABOR QUOTE OF THE WEEK


“In the labor movement we fight fear with passion. 
We fight hate with love. 
We fight division with unity.”


International Union of Painters and Allied Trades President Jimmy Williams on October 3rd, 2026 at the Power To The People Fest in Columbia MD.


Check out LHF’s Labor Arts and Culture Database for more labor quotes like this one!

LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK 

The Mother Jones Museum

Mt. Olive, IL

The Mother Jones Museum in Mt. Olive honors the contributions of Mother Jones, the development of the Union Miners Cemetery, the United Mine Workers of America, the Progressive Miners and the Women’s Auxiliary, and the impact of coal-mining, organized labor, and conflict in the stories of the families and workers who directly experienced these, and whose descendants work to keep their stories alive and relevant to today’s world.

Details on the LHF Labor Landmarks Map.

THIS WEEK'S LABOR HISTORY TODAY

Built by Workers, Remembered by Workers

On Labor History Today: An automobile museum full of cars—but where are the workers who built them? Retired autoworker and union leader Mark Strolle helped answer that question with “Assembled in Lansing,” a new permanent exhibit at Michigan’s R.E. Olds Transportation Museum. Strolle traces Lansing’s labor history through sit-down strikes, the successful one-day Lansing Labor Holiday, and the union contracts that helped generations of workers buy homes, send their children to college and retire with dignity.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY


1888: United Hebrew Trades is organized in New York by shirtmaker Morris Hillquit and others.

1997: Retail stock brokerage Smith Barney reaches a tentative sexual harassment settlement with a group of female employees. The settlement was never finalized: a U.S. District Court Judge refused to approve the deal because it failed to adequately redress the plaintiff's grievances.

2003: 3,300 sanitation workers working for private haulers in Chicago win a 9-day strike featuring a 28 percent wage increase over 5 years.

Find more labor history in the LHF Labor Arts & Culture Database.

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: Florence Reece wrote “Which Side Are You On?” during the 1931 coal miners’ struggle in Harlan County, Kentucky. Woody Guthrie wrote both “Union Maid” and “1913 Massacre.” Find them all in LHF’s Labor Arts Database.

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