Labor Arts News & Updates

Help Staff the LHF Table at TPFF!

LHF will have a table at this year’s Takoma Park FolkFest -- Sunday, September 27 from 10am to 5pm -- and we’re looking for volunteers to help greet visitors, share information about our programs and encourage people to join our community. Even an hour or two would be a big help! Interested? Email info@laborheritage.org.

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR


Fri: Advancing Alabama Labor History Symposium (AL)

Fri: Labor Sing-Along (MD)

Fri: Rochester Labor Film Series: Everyone to Kenmure Street (NY)

Fri: Who Moves America (various locations)

Sun: Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble (TN)

Mon: Three Roads: Labor, Music, Ecology Concert & Book Signing (MA)

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

THIS WEEK’S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR

The Stories That Made Us

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour, artists and historians at the Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium explore how art and storytelling help working people recognize their power. We also visit a Labor Day tribute to “Solidarity Forever” writer Ralph Chaplin and uncover Ybor City’s radical history of cigar workers, Cuban independence, and women-led antifascist organizing. Plus, Harold Phillips has the latest Labor Arts News Briefs. 

LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS


1,900 Blizzard Workers Win Mega-Contract For All Unionized Teams: After two years of tumult Blizzard unions finally have a contract, and its terms extend to all unionized units at the company. Read more.

Oxford University Press Workers Win Historic Offshoring Case: The historic ruling includes language to limit offshoring and use of non-bargaining unit personnel. Read more.

Arizona Theatre Company Workers Ratify First Union Contract with IATSE Local 415: The contract delivers substantial gains for the bargaining unit, including wage increases, health insurance coverage during seasonal layoffs and more. Read more.

National Braille Press Workers Call for Union and Community Support: Workers are calling for a stronger voice on the job and improvements they believe will help sustain both the workforce and NBP’s mission. Read more.

Newsguild Publishes Guild Reporter Archive Online: Highlights include publishers trying to exclude journalists from the NLRA, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt joining the Guild, and Ernest Hemingway donating to the Toronto Guild’s defense fund. Read more.

“Who Moves America” Opens In New York And Begins Theater Tour: The new Teamsters doc will run through September 17th in New York City and open in multiple locations across the U.S. in coming weeks. Read more.

LABOR VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Si Kahn’s Stranger in This Land

From “MAYDAY,” the new album from George Mann and Si Kahn 

“All of my grandparents were immigrants. They came here in the early 1900s, Jewish refugees, fleeing violence against them in Europe. Simply because we are here, and because we are humans, we have an affirmative moral responsibility to stand with and support today’s immigrants who will come here seeking safety, and to help build a kinder, gentler, more just society.” Video created by Chris Chandler.
Got labor video? email us at info@laborheritage.org

PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK
Students and staff gathered at the University of Sydney in Australia last week as union members took strike action. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian Read more.
Got a creative picket sign to share? email us at info@laborheritage.org

LABOR SONGS OF THE WEEK: 
Union Man - Sara Morgan  

Just released Sep 6, 2026; sent in by Mauva Steward.  

Solidarity Forever - Jester of No Court

Featured in this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour radio show; definitely NOT a traditional version of the song…
Got a Labor song? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

LABOR CARTOON OF THE WEEK


Got a favorite labor cartoon? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

LABOR ART OF THE WEEK
This month the Justseeds Artists' Cooperative is highlighting the artworks they carry celebrating the labor movement. Check out the selection of hundreds of prints, publications and posters they have in stock, in solidarity and for worker power against the boss! 
Above: Direct Action, Josh MacPhee

LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK 
The IAFF Fallen Firefighter Memorial

Colorado Springs, CO
The IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial in Colorado Springs honors firefighters who gave their lives in the line of duty and preserves their legacy of courage and service.
Details on the LHF Labor Landmarks Map.

THIS WEEK'S LABOR HISTORY TODAY

Trouble! at Coal Creek

On this week’s Labor History Today: Activist and artist Austin Sauerbrei talks about his debut graphic novel Trouble! at Coal Creek, which brings to life the 1890s miners’ uprising in Tennessee, where striking workers and Black prisoners found common cause against exploitation. It’s a moving call for solidarity, told in powerful words and images. Austin talked with our colleague Robert Lindgren, who hosts and produces Labor Exchange, which airs weekly on KGNU Community Radio in Boulder, Colorado.

Originally released 9/7/25 

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY
1897: Some 75,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia end a ten-week strike after winning an eight hour day, semi-monthly pay, and the abolition of overpriced company-owned stores.

2001: More than 3,000 people die when suicide highjackers crash planes into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Among the dead in New York are 634 union members, the majority of them New York City firefighters and police on the scene when the towers fell. 

2009: Crystal Lee Sutton, the real-life Norma Rae of the movies, dies at age 68.

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

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: 20,000 to 30,000 marchers participated in New York's first Labor Day parade on September 5, 1882, demanding the eight-hour day.

RECENT NEWSLETTERS
Super-Sized Labor Day Weekend Edition (9/4)
Scabby, Dolly and the Art of Solidarity (8/28)
The Little Red Songbook Turns 117 (8/21)
What’s Your Favorite “Little Red Song”? (8/14)
The People's Historian: Dave Zirin on Howard Zinn (8/7)
SF LaborFest Wraps (7/31)