Dear John,
On May 1st 1886, over 200,000 workers rallied in Chicago in Haymarket Square to protest for 3 days, demanding better and safer working conditions and to mandate an 8-hour workday. On May 4th, a bomb was thrown into the crowd and killed at least 4 workers and 7 policeman.
But workers kept pushing, and in 1889 President Grover Cleveland declared Labor Day a national holiday to be held on the 1st Monday in September. Since then, the Labor Movement has continued to fight on, achieving history-making victories in the struggle for fair, safe, equal working conditions for all workers.
This May Day, the Labor Caucus celebrates the election of longtime labor supporter and union member Nathan Soltz as DPO Chair and these recent worker victories:
📣 Tentative Agreement reached at Providence after a historic strike of nearly 5,000 nurses and clinicians
📣 Successful IAM Machinists Boeing strike that settled with a new contract
📣 Tentative Agreement reached at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center
📣 Strike averted at Costco as Teamsters reached a tentative deal
📣 Successful UFCW 555 strike at Fred Meyer and QFC
📣 Election victories of pro-Labor Democratic candidates in Oregon