Today in labor history Dec 28 FDR orders the Army to seize the offices of Montgomery Ward & Co.

[Omaha Steve]

December 28


December 28, 1869 - The Knights of Labor was founded. The Knights broadened the labor movement beyond a few skilled trades and reached out to all working men and women. The union's goals of equal pay for equal work, abolishing child labor and the eight-hour day provided a rallying cry for all workers. Read more at www.knightsoflabor.org

December 28, 1936 - Workers sat down at the Fisher Body plant in Cleveland, triggering the great sit-down strike against General Motors in Flint, Michigan, two days later. On March 12, 1937, General Motors, then the largest corporation in the world, signed its first contract with the United Auto Workers. Read more at http://www.uaw.org/solidarity/03/0103/feature07.html

President Franklin Roosevelt orders the Army to seize the executive offices of Montgomery Ward & Co. after the corporation failed to comply with a National War Labor Board directive regarding recognition of union shops - 1944