Important working class events in American history: 2013- Current: Guardian - US Labor News 2012 December 11, 2012, Michigan- Republican-led state House of Representatives gave final approval to a pair of "right-to-work" bills covering public- and private-sector unions. Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed the bills into law, completing in a few days a campaign to make Michigan the 24th U.S. state to prohibit unions from requiring employees to join and contribute dues.December 4, 2012, ILWU office clerical workers (450 in all) ended their one-week strike after winning new protections to prevent jobs from being outsourced to Texas, Taiwan and beyond. The new contract was reached between members of ILWU Local 63’s Office Clerical Unit (OCU) and 14 employers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. November 6, 2012, Californians defeat Prop 32, called "paycheck protection" by its supporters. In reality it is a veiled attempt by Capital to squelch organized labor's ability to compete financially in political campaigns. November 6, 2012, President Barack Obama wins re-election over Mitt Romney. Obama shows strength in the industrial Midwest with strong union support gained through the auto industry bailout enacted in his first term. June 5, 2012, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker fights back a recall attempt by unions upset at his assault on Wisconsin public employee union bargaining rights. A big setback for labor. 2011 December 6, 2011, Massey Energy fined $209 Million for Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster. Despite its questionable practices, Massey Energy will not be criminally prosecuted for a mine explosion that killed 29 workers in West Virginia. And only a small portion of total settlement goes to workers' families. Nov 8, 2011, Ohioans vote to repeal Senate Bill 5 (SB 5) by a margin of 61 to 38 percent. SB 5 would have limited collective bargaining rights for more than 350,000 public workers in Ohio and increased health care and pension costs for some workers. Nov 2, 2011, Occupy Oakland leads first general strike in Oakland, Ca. since 1946. Port of Oakland shut for hours. Unions, Teachers, Nurses and thousands of Oakland workers join in walk-out. September 2011, Occupy Movement begins with Occupy Wall Street protests. Movement's slogan "we are the 99%" designed to illustrate growing disparity of wealth in troubled times. September 2011, ILWU shuts down Seattle and Tacoma ports, Union members bust up Longview Terminal June 10, 2011, Supreme Court rules in Wal-Mart's favor in the largest civil rights class action suit in United States history. May 19, 2011, independent investigation condemns Massey Energy's role in the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster. Spring 2011- Ohio and Wisconsin legislatures pass anti-collective bargaining laws. 2010 April, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signs controversial anti-immigration law (SB 1070). The law is the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in recent U.S. history. April 5, 2010, in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster an underground explosion caused the deaths of 29 miners in West Virginia. 2008 - 2010, auto industry crisis in U.S. - Bush and Obama Governments secure federal bailout funds to help struggling G.M and Chrysler. 2007 - 2009 Fall 2008, the U.S. economy collapses under the weight of a credit crisis. The Bush administration secures hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds from Congress to bailout banks and financial institutions under the TARP program. 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, fourteen weeks 2005 - 2006 January 2, 2006 - The Sago Mine Disaster in W.Va. The blast and ensuing aftermath trapped 13 miners for nearly two days with only one miner surviving. 2005 -Seven major national unions, representing six million workers, disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO and, in September, form a new coalition called "Change to Win", devoted to organizing. 2005 New York City transit workers strike 2003 - 2004 70,000 Southern California grocery workers strike Safeway to protect their health benefits and stop imposition of a two-tier wage system. The 2003 -2004 supermarket strike. 2001 March 29, the 500,000-member United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners announced that it was disaffiliating with the national AFL-CIO because of differences in the direction of the labor movement. April 5, 10,000 Public school teachers and 3000 state university faculty in Hawaii shut down all public education in the State in the nation's first state-wide education strike. Jim Walter Resources Mine Disaster in Alabama on September 23, 2001, where 13 miners perished. 1999 November 30, 1999 - Battle in Seattle - WTO protests lead to violence in the streets. 1997 In a big win for their members and all of organized labor, the Teamsters reach a new five- year agreement with United Parcel Service (UPS) on Aug. 18, ending a two-week strike over abuse of part-time workers and health care for retirees. 1995 The 123,000-member I.L.G.W.U. and the 129,000-member A.C.T.W.U. merge to form the new Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). 1994 The longest players' strike in sports history (232 days) is conducted by the Major League Players Association against National and American League owners. 1993 a five day strike of 21,000 American Airlines' flight attendants, virtually shutting the airline down is ended when Pres. Clinton persuades the owners to arbitrate the dispute. The Family and Medical leave Act is passed. 1992 The founding convention of the AFL-CIO's Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) is held from April 30 to May 2 in Washington D.C. 1991 On September 3rd the Imperial Food Products fire in Hamlet, North Carolina where, despite a federally approved state OSHA program, 25 poultry processing workers are killed, 49 injured. 1990 7500 hotel worker and members of HERE, Local 5 strike 11 major hotels from March 3 to March 24 to protect their pension benefits. June 15, LAPD officers attacked a group of 400 non-violent demonstrators in the SEIU "Justice for Janitors" campaign in the Century City strike against that high-rise commercial office area of Los Angeles. 1988 - 1989 The United Mine Workers of America wildcat strike of the Pittston Coal Group in Virginia spreads across the eastern coalfields involving up to 50,000 miners in 11 states. Using non- violence and civil disobedience, the miners win a contract after a bitter nine-month struggle. 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, over five months, 22 weeks. 1981 - 1988 1985 - 1986, Hormel Strike in Austin, Minnesota. 1981 - The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association strike. Newly elected President Ronald Reagan fired all the strikers and broke the union, sanctioning the practice of hiring "permanent replacements" for striking workers. Solidarity day labor rally draws 400,000 to the Mall in Washington D.C. 1980 NYC Transit Strike 1979 Douglas Fraser becomes first labor leader elected to board of directors of a major corporation (Chrysler). 1978 The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute [p.l. 95-454, 5 U.S.C. §7101 et seq.], also known as Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, grants by statute collective bargaining to federal workers which had been subject to executive order. 1976 January 2, Common Situs picketing bill vetoed by President Gerald Ford. Notable benchmark in Labor's decline. 1975 July 1, Cesar Chavez and sixty supporters of the UFW embarked on a thousand-mile march across California to rally the state's farm workers. July 30, former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red fox Restaurant in suburban Detroit. Although presumed dead, his remains have never been found. 1974 November 13, Karen Gay Silkwood, a lab tech at the Cimeron plutonium plant and officer of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union local in Oklahoma City dies mysteriously en route to a union meeting with a newspaper reporter. September 2, Employee Retirement Income Security Act. July 1974, Baltimore Police Strike - one of the most effective municipal labor actions of its kind since the Boston Police Strike of 1919. March 22, the founding convention of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) in Chicago elects Olga Madar its first president. 1973 In Harlan County, Kentucky Coal operators again try to break the United Mine Workers and a bloody coal-field war erupts. May 30, Crystal Lee Jordan (aka "Norma Rae") is fired for trying to organize a union at the J.P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. 1972 April 1972, first Major League Baseball strike 1971 April 28, Occupational Safety and Health Act. December 23, Jimmy Hoffa's prison sentence is commuted by President Richard Nixon on the condition he not participate in union activities for ten years. 1970 U.S. Postal Workers' strike affects mail service in major cities. First U.S. nationwide strike of public employees Under the leadership of Cesar Chavez, United Farm Workers start boycott of 25 major growers in California. 1969 Mary Moultrie organizes the successful strike of 550 black women hospital workers for union representation in Charleston, South Carolina. 1968 During an AFSCME Sanitation Workers' strike, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated at his motel in Memphis. November 20th, a gas explosion at Consolidated Coal Company's No. 9 mine at Farmington, West Virginia trap 81 men, 78 of whom are killed in the mine. Farmington Mine Disaster July 8, 1968, Chrysler Wildcat Strike. A wildcat is a strike action taken by workers without the authorization of their trade union officials. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act makes it illegal to discriminate against people 40 to 65 years old.