February 11 – White Shirt Day

 Posted on February 11, 2017

Today people are encouraged to wear a white shirt, blouse, or T-shirt in order to show their support for working-class people and their right to unionize and pull together for better pay and working conditions. (Some people have changed the name of the holiday to White T-Shirt Day.) Also, there is a long-standing tradition of lunching on bean soup and bread.

This date was chosen to commemorate the end of a strike by employees of General Motors, on this date in 1937. The Sit-Down Strike occurred in Flint, Michigan -- yes, the place that's been in the news for its tainted water. The striking workers ate a LOT of bean soup and bread, which is why those foods are part of the commemoration.

The Sit-Down Strike started when a night shift's worth of autoworkers locked themselves in and sat down, refusing to work. The GM company tried to force the workers out of the plant by turning off the heat and, later, cutting off their food supply. Finally, weeks and weeks after the strike started,  Franklin Roosevelt convinced GM to recognize the autoworkers' union, and 44 days after the strike started, an agreement was reached and signed, and the strike ended.

The striking workers were members of the United Auto Workers.

Strikes and boycotts are techniques generally used by workers and consumers to effect change and win concessions from corporations, governments, and other sources of power and wealth. These techniques are supposed to be peaceful -- although, during the Sit-Down Strike, the attempt to cut off the autoworkers' food supply did erupt into violence, and 16 workers and 11 police officers were injured.

Remembering the strength it takes to speak to power, the courage it takes to stand up for a living wage and equal rights and good working conditions, and the character it requires to solve even huge problems with negotiations and non-violence seems more important these days than ever. 

(By the way, just like owners and company executives aren't perfect, workers and union heads aren't perfect. Sometimes a union or a union leader can hurt particular workers or can stand for the wrong thing. None of us should make assumptions - we should judge problems and movements and causes by evidence, not by identity labels such as "liberal" or "conservative," "big business" or "union thugs.")

Also on this date:

National Shut-In Visitation Day 

Get Out Your Guitar Day 

Anniversary of the foundation of Vatican City

Anniversary of the birth of Sacagawea's baby boy

National Inventors' Day

National Foundation Day in Japan

Lantern Festival

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• February holidays
• February birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in February

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• March holidays
• March birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in March

September 5, 2011 - Labor Day

– U.S.

Yi-i-ikes! Did you know that Labor Day became a federal holiday just after some striking railroad workers were killed by U.S. military and U.S. Marshals? Sadly, 13 workers died, and 57 were wounded.

The military and Marshals were used to break up the strikes because some violence and destruction had broken out – such as strikers setting buildings on fire and derailing a locomotive. In all, a relatively small number of the striking workers did an estimated $340,000 worth of property damage – which would be, in today's terms, almost nine million dollars!

The first big Labor Day parade in NYC, 1882.

Labor Day was created as a holiday to honor workers. It falls on the first Monday in September. Many other nations hold labor observances in early September, and International Workers' Day is commonly held around the world on May 1. The first big Labor Day in the U.S. was in on this day in 1882, but after the 1894 Pullman Strike and its violent conclusion, Congress made Labor Day an official nationwide holiday.

To learn about labor unions – how they work, why they have been necessary, and some of the history of labor unions – try the articles on How Stuff Works.