Air traffic controllers walk the picket line at the airport during strike on August 15, 1981. Dennis Caruso/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images hide caption Show
 NationalWhy We Celebrate Labor Day And Other Facts About The Holiday You Might Not KnowThree moments in labor history, in particular, are central to U.S. history, the modern labor movement, and today's workplace, according to history and labor scholars. As workers face growing levels of wage and income inequality, as well as workplace challenges stemming from the COVID pandemic, there are lessons we can learn from the past, Harold told NPR. Enlarge this image More than 1,000 janitors with the Service Employees International Union rally and march as their contracts expire ahead of a potential strike on Sept. 1, 2021, in Los Angeles. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle captionFrederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty ImagesFire fighters try to put out the 1911 catastrophic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Building which killed 146 workers as a result of looked doors and missing fire escapes. George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption toggle captionGeorge Rinhart/Corbis via Getty ImagesYears before the fire, garment workers across the city went on strike to improve workplace conditions and wages. While many factories reached a union agreement with workers to improve conditions, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory did not. On March 25, as the workday was ending, a fire broke out on the 8th floor. With buckets of spare fabric and shirts hanging from the ceiling, the flames quickly spread to the upper floors, trapping workers desperate to get out. But doors to the stairwells were locked, a common practice at the time so bosses could prevent unauthorized breaks and alleged theft. The foreman with the keys to unlock the doors managed to escape, leaving hundreds of others behind. The workers either succumbed to the smoke and flames or leapt from the building's high windows down to the streets below. That day, 146 garment workers, 123 women and girls and 23 men died. Most of the victims were recent Italian or Jewish immigrants. Enlarge this image Family members arrive at the New York City morgue to identify the bodies of victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire that killed 146 factory workers, mainly young immigrant women. Bettmann Archive hide caption toggle captionBettmann ArchiveEnlarge this image Miners and steel workers parade through Farrell, Pa., on May 1, 1937, to celebrate the upholding of the Wagner Act which protects workers' rights to form and join unions. AP hide caption toggle captionAPPoliticsHouse Democrats Pass Bill That Would Protect Worker Organizing EffortsAbout a year after Roosevelt signed the law, working-class organization in generally took off, especially among Black, white, Native American, and female workers in the South, Harold said. By the end of World War II, more than 12 million workers Decades later, the law was amended to include more workers in professional sports and nonprofit hospitals and nursing homes. Crucially though, farmworkers and domestic workers — in jobs often done by Black and Latino workers — are still left out of the NLRA and are not allowed to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining. Today, unions are still trying to expand national labor law with the Protecting the Right to Organize Act — the labor movement's single biggest legislative priority in this Congress. Enlarge this image President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. MPI/Getty Images hide caption toggle captionMPI/Getty ImagesEnlarge this image Striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization hold a rally on Aug. 6, 1981, on Long Island, N.Y. Nearly 13,000 air-traffic controllers walked off the job and most were fired by President Ronald Reagan after refusing to return to work. Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images hide caption toggle captionYvonne Hemsey/Getty ImagesReagan carried out his threat two days later, when he fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who hadn't returned to work. He also declared a lifetime ban on rehiring the strikers by the Federal Aviation Administration. DeVault says this was one of the most devastating blows to organized labor. "Once the president of the United States made this move toward his workers, private-sector employers began following in his footsteps," she said. Workers began to fear striking or unionizing out of concern for their jobs. Decades later, 10.8% of U.S. workers belong to unions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's about half what it was in 1983, the first year for which comparable data is available. Why was this act called the Magna Carta of labor?A Samuel Gompers once referred to the Clayton Antitrust Act as "The Magna Carta of labor," because in addition to strengthening the Sherman Antitrust Act, it also exempted labor unions from antitrust prosecution and legalized strikes and picketing.
What was the purpose of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935?Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") in 1935 to protect the rights of employees, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices, which can harm the general welfare of workers, businesses and the U.S. economy.
Who did the Wagner Act help?What was the purpose of the Wagner Act? The purpose of the Wagner Act was to establish the legal right of most workers to join labour unions and to bargain collectively with their employers. It also prohibited employers from engaging in unfair labour practices.
What is pro union?Definition of 'prounion'
1. in favour of or supporting the constitutional union between two or more countries. 2. in favour of or supporting the trades union movement.
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