Labor Arts News & Updates

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR


Fri: Opening Reception: Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Visible Legacies (IL)

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

THIS WEEK'S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR RADIO SHOW
This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour, we celebrate the life and legacy of labor educator and immigrant rights champion Kent Wong. We also continue our People's 250 coverage with a story about whose histories are remembered—and whose are forgotten—as Native leaders and scholars discuss removing a harmful monument and creating a more inclusive public memory.  Then we head back to the Labor Archives of Washington, where founding archivist Conor Casey explains why preserving working people's history matters, how labor records are often at risk of being lost, and why archives remain essential to understanding the struggles that shaped our world.

LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS


Mid-Continent Public Library Workers Vote to Form Union

In an update to a story we reported on earlier, Mid-Continent Public Library workers have voted to form a union with CWA Local 6360. Read more.

SAG-AFTRA Members Approve Four-Year Deal With AI Terms and Pension Merger

Of those who cast ballots, 91.4% voted in favor of the contract and 8.6% were opposed. Turnout was 19.3% of eligible members. Read more.

WHAT WE’RE READING: Explore the lost spectacle of typesetting races. / Public Domain Review

Readers Write: Loving Lonidier

“Just a quick comment about the Lonidier interview (on the Labor Heritage Power Hour),” writes Paul Gottlieb. “I had seen some of his work a few years ago but had no idea about his history and the rationale for his work. Great interview, although too short for my liking. I'll look for more info on his work, the folks he worked with and Youngdahl as well.” More about Lonidier here.

LABOR VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Sting’s “The Last Ship”

The Last Ship – returning to New York City June 9-14 – is a stage musical with music and lyrics by Sting. Set in the shipbuilding community in Tyne and Wear, UK, The Last Ship tells the story of a young man who returns home after 17 years at sea. Tensions between past and future flare in both his family and his town. He finds that the local shipyard, around which the community has always revolved, is closing, and no one knows what will come next, only that a half-built ship towers over the terraces of working-class homes. With the engine fired and pistons in motion, picket lines are drawn as the foreman and his wife fight to hold their community together in the face of the gathering storm.  Ticket info here.
Got labor video? email us at info@laborheritage.org

LABOR SONG OF THE WEEK: Let's work together
Canned Heat

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

LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK: The Flint Sitdown Strike Historical Marker

The Michigan Labor History Society erected this marker to commemorate the General Motors sitdown strike of 1936-1937.

Details on the LHF Labor Landmarks Map.

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The stories labor history remembers—and forgets

On Labor History Today: What happens if the labor laws that have governed workplace organizing since the 1930s simply disappear? Historian Leigh Campbell-Hale joins Labor Exchange host Robert Lindgren to discuss the 1927 Columbine Mine Strike, the stories labor history remembers—and forgets—and why those narratives matter for workers today.

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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

1976: Thirty-five members of the Teamsters, concerned about the infiltration of organized crime in the union and other issues, meet in Cleveland to form Teamsters for a Democratic Union.

1998: 3,400 UAW members strike General Motors in Flint, MI.

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On May 29, 1996, the United Farm Workers of America reached agreement with Bruce Church Inc. on a contract for 450 lettuce harvesters, ending a 17-year-long boycott. The pact raised wages, provided company-paid health benefits to workers and their families, created a seniority system to deal with seasonal layoffs and recalls, and established a pesticide monitoring system.
Find more labor history in the LHF Labor Arts & Culture Database.

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