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Labor History
Timeline
California and the
United States
Courtesy of California Assemblywoman Sally Havice, Chair,
Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and
Social Security; reprinted by the California Federation of
Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO, to celebrate Labor Day 2000

1840 President Martin Van Buren signs an executive order 1886 California Governor Stoneman declared a legal
establishing a 10-hour workday without a decrease in holiday and led union members up Market Street in
pay. San Francisco on May 11, at least a year before Labor
Day was legalized as a holiday in New York; founding
1849 San Francisco and Sacramento Carpenters strike for convention of American Federation of Labor
$16 a day; they settle for $14.
1887 First federal labor relations law passes. It applies to
1850 San Francisco Typographical Society formed by railroads and provides for arbitration.
printers at the Alta California newspaper to oppose a
wage cut. 1890 Typographers go on strike at the Los Angeles Times;
owner Harrison Gray Otis locks them out and declares
1863 The San Francisco Trades Union, with 15 affiliated war on the Los Angeles labor movement; Los Angeles
unions, formed to support a tailors’ strike, agitate for known as ‘home of the open shop.’
the eight hour day, and produce a labor newspaper.
1894 Pullman Strike: Thousands of Oakland workers take
1877 Formation of Workingmen’s Party of California, over Southern Pacific rail yards, the western terminus
composed of white workers angry at the power of the of the transcontinental railroad.
railroad barons and worried about competition from
Chinese workers. 1901 Formation of the California State Federation of Labor/
AFL, the political arm of the statewide labor
1881 Samuel Gompers establishes the immediate movement
predecessor organization to the American Federation
of Labor, the Federation of Trades and Labor Unions 1903 First recorded California farmworker strike, in
Oxnard; Japanese and Mexican beetworkers form the
1882 Peter McGuire, founder of the Carpenters Union and JMLA, supported by Los Angeles Labor Council, but
co-founder of the AF-of-L, stood up in a meeting of request for charter rejected by Samuel Gompers and
the New York Central Labor Union on May 18, and the national AF-of-L; the Department of Commerce
made a motion that a parade be held on the first and Labor is created by Congress, and the Secretary of
Monday of September to honor labor and to “show the Labor becomes a member of the Cabinet.
strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor
organizations.”
Labor History Timeline
1905 The Supreme Court rules that a maximum-hours law 1923 Marine and Transport Workers Industrial Union
is unconstitutional. (IWW) strikes the west coast, briefly shutting down
harbors before being brutally repressed.
1907 San Francisco Streetcar Workers Union is crushed
after 25 workers are killed and hundreds wounded in 1926 Several Hollywood unions sign first Studio Basic
battles with strikebreakers; San Francisco and Los Agreement; the Railway Labor Act requires employers
Angeles women trade unionists form the Wage to bargain collectively and bars discrimination against
Earners Suffrage League. employees for joining a union. It sets provisions for
settling railway labor disputes through mediation,
1910 Los Angeles Times building bombed by Ironworkers voluntary arbitration and fact-finding boards.
national secretary-treasurer John McNamara and his
brother James; 20 workers die. 1930 U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Railway Labor Act
prohibiting employers from interfering or coercing
1911 The McNamaras, on advice of their attorney, Clarence workers choosing bargaining representatives.
Darrow, confess guilt ; confession four days before
election ruins labor/Socialist candidate Job Harriman’s 1931 The Davis-Bacon Act passes, providing for payment
bid for Los Angeles mayor; LA stays open shop town of prevailing wage rates to laborers and mechanics
for another quarter century; California Legislature employed by contractors and subcontractors on public
passes workers comp and eight hour day for women construction.
laws.
1932 The Anti-Injunction Act passes, prohibiting some
1912 Massachusetts adopts the first minimum-wage act for federal injunctions in labor disputes and outlawing
women and minors. “yellow-dog” contracts - agreements where an
employee agrees not to join a union. Wisconsin
1913 California’s Wheatland Hop Riot begins with protest adopts the nation’s first unemployment insurance act.
against horrible working conditions on Durst ranch, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president, as the
leads to statewide witch hunt against IWW members country endures its fourth year of depression.
and other labor activists; the U.S. Department of
Labor gets the power to act as mediator and to appoint 1933 International Ladies Garment Workers Union, led by
commissioners of conciliation in labor disputes. organizer Rose Pesotta, runs successful strike of
mostly Latina garment workers in Los Angeles;
1914 The Clayton Act passes, limiting injunctions in labor 20,000 cotton workers strike throughout California’s
disputes. Picketing and other union activities declared central valleys; the National Industrial Recovery Act
legal. passes, guaranteeing the right of employees of
companies with government contracts to organize and
1916 Preparedness Day Bombing: labor activist Tom bargain collectively. Later declared unconstitutional.
Mooney convicted on perjured testimony of setting off
a bomb; “Defend Tom Mooney” a labor demand until 1934 San Francisco General Strike: the key event of
Governor Culbert Olson pardons him in 1939; S.F. modern west coast industrial unionism, led by
Riggers and Stevedores dock strike fails; the Adamson longshoremen and sailors; Alameda County workers
Act establishes an eight-hour day for work on go out too, including streetcar drivers, calling for the
railroads. The law is enacted to eliminate a threatened municipalization of the privately-held streetcar
nationwide railroad strike. company; general strikes in other cities.

1919 California Legislature passes Criminal Syndicalism 1935 The National Labor Relations Act, also known as The
Act, on the books until 1968, providing sweeping anti- Wagner Act, establishes the right of workers to
union powers to law enforcement agencies; California organize and bargain collectively. The federal Social
teacher union locals form the California State Security Act passes the same year. Unemployment
Federation of Teachers. insurance program is authorized by the act.

1920 John L. Lewis is elected president of the United Mine 1936 The Anti Strikebreaker Act makes it unlawful to bring
Workers of America, at the age of 40, taking control of in strikebreakers from outside the state; the Public
the largest labor union in the nation. Contracts Act establishes a minimum wage, the eight
hours a day and a 40 hours week on government
1921 U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Clayton Act does contracts. Includes child and convict labor provisions,
not legalize boycotts and does not protect unions health and safety requirements; the Executive Council
against injunctions against them for restraint of trade. of the American Federation of Labor votes to expel all

Labor History Timeline

 labor members who claim affiliation with the successfully pit one group of unions against another;
Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, which is beginning of Red Scare in Hollywood, the state and
being led by the UMW president John L. Lewis. nation.

1937 California CIO Council formed by several unions 1946 Oakland General Strike: California voters reject
disagreeing with AF-of-L focus on craft unionism; Proposition 11, which would have created a Fair
CIO unions organize on industrial basis, and are Employment Practices Act.
committed to civil rights; 99-day maritime workers
strike in California is a sharp contrast to the violence 1947 Longest farmworker strike to that time: National Farm
of the 1934 maritime and General Strikes; U.S. Labor Union Local 218, led by Ernesto Galarza, vs.
Supreme Court rules the National Labor Relations Act DiGiorgio Fruit Corporation; doesn’t end until 1950;
constitutional. the anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act passes over President
Harry Truman’s veto. It rolls back protections
1938 Culbert Olsen becomes the first Democrat to be contained in the NLRA for worker militancy.
elected Governor in the 20th century in California,
with broad support of newly powerful unions; the Fair 1949 ILWU leaves CIO rather than be ejected for
Labor Standards Act provides for a 25¢ minimum “Communist domination.” Ten other CIO unions are
wage and time-and-a-half for hours worked in excess kicked out; the Fair Labor Standards Act is amended
of 40 hours a week; John L. Lewis, seeking to to prohibit child labor.
organize steelworkers, secures a labor contract with
the president of the world’s largest steel company, 1951 California union membership hits all-time peak as
United States Steel, but the smaller companies that percentage of the non-farm labor workforce: 40.8%
collectively were known as “Little Steel” brutally
fought steelworkers. Scores of deaths and injuries 1953 AFL and CIO unions in California join with
occurred as the United Steelworkers of America struck community groups to create a coalition for a Fair
at Little Steel plants across the industrial northeast. Employment Practices Act, chaired by Oakland labor
and civil rights leader C. L. Dellums.
1939 California Governor Culbert Olsen fulfills campaign
promise and frees Tom Mooney 1955 The American Federation of Labor merges with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations, to form the
1941 Thousands of workers at North American Aviation in AFL-CIO, the world’s largest labor federation.
southern California go on a wildcat strike, only to
have it broken up by federal troops. 1958 California AFL and CIO unions join in grassroots
effort to defeat Oakland Tribune publisher William
1941 Shipyards in Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco, Knowland in his bid for Governor, and to stop
Sausalito and Vallejo employ 240,000 union workers Knowland’s “Right to Work” Proposition 18;
around the clock during World War II; aircraft California AFL and CIO unions reunite in the
factories and shipyards in Los Angeles and San Pedro; California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.
African-American workers struggle for inclusion in
AFL Boilermakers Union. 1959 California Governor Edmund G. (“Pat”) Brown signs
the Fair Employment Practices Act; the national Labor
1943 The Committee on Fair Employment Practices is Management Reporting and Disclosure Act becomes
created by President Roosevelt. The intent is to law. Protects rights of union members by requiring
eliminate discrimination in war industries and in reporting of union business practices and safeguarding
government for reasons of race, creed, color or union election procedures.
national origin. This comes about after A. Philip
Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Cars 1960 ILWU signs Mechanization and Modernization
Porters, makes clear that he will organize a national Agreement, which pioneers the tradeoff of members’
March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom, unless the job security for the employers’ right to introduce
Administrations acts on the issue of employment labor-saving equipment.
discrimination. Exactly 20 years later, Randolph leads
the March on Washington, at which a minister by the 1962 The Manpower Development and Training Act passes,
name of Martin Luther King gives an address that requiring the federal government to deal with
captivates the nation. unemployment resulting from automation and
technological changes. Executive order grants federal
1945 Jurisdictional conflict between IATSE and other employees the right to bargain collectively.
unions lead to series of strikes by militant Conference
of Studio Unions in Hollywood; studio bosses 1963 The Equal Pay Act is signed. It prohibits different

Labor History Timeline

 wages based upon worker’s sex under the Fair Labor President Ronald Reagan warns the Professional Air
Standards Act. Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) that he
would fired every member if they struck. They did
1964 The Civil Rights Act is signed into law. Title VII bars and he did, resulting in the termination of all 10,000
discrimination; The Economic Opportunity Act federal air traffic controllers.
becomes law, providing work and education programs,
loans to low-income farmers, businesses and other 1983 The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) establishes
community anti-poverty programs. local partnership from private and public employers
who receive federal funds for job training and
1965 United Farm Workers Organizing Committee formed employment. Replaced the Comprehensive
by merger of Cesar Chavez’s National Farm Workers Employment and Training Act (CETA).
Association & the Agricultural Workers Organizing
Committee, AFL-CIO, during the Delano grape strike 1996 First AFL-CIO sponsored Union Summer, in which
in California. hundreds of young activists are trained and then
placed with union organizing drives.
1966 Amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act extend
minimum wage protection to 10 million workers 1997 California’s Industrial Welfare Commission overturns
previously excluded. state regulations for overtime pay after an eight hour
day. California workers now only receive time-and-a-
1968 California Legislature passes Meyers-Milius-Brown half after forty hours work in a week.
Act, legalizing collective bargaining for public sector
workers (except public education), in response to 1998 Voters defeat Proposition 226 in California, known to
series of actions organized by mostly social workers union members as the “Paycheck Deception Act,”
organized by SEIU; the national Age Discrimination which was designed to cripple unions’ ability to spend
Act becomes effective, making it illegal for money on politics and legislative action.
employers, union, and employment agencies to
discriminate in hiring and discharge against persons 1999 Governor Gray Davis and the state Legislature bring
40 to 65 years old. back daily overtime provisions repealed by the
Industrial Welfare Commission appointed by former
1970 Hawaii becomes the first state to allow state and local Governor Pete Wilson; southern California home care
government employees the right to strike; President workers vote to join SEIU, which negotiates a contract
Nixon signs the Occupational Safety and Health Act, covering 74,000 workers, the largest unit brought into
authorizing the Secretary of Labor to establish safety the labor movement in fifty years; the AFL-CIO votes
and health standards at work. to support amnesty and to end employer sanctions for
employing immigrants illegally in the country
1974 The Employee Retirement Income Security Act
becomes law, regulating all private pension plans and,
to a limited extent, private welfare plans.
Courtesy of
1975 Rodda Act passes in California, legalizing collective
CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLYWOMAN
bargaining for public education employees, after a
decade of strikes and organizing by teachers; the Sally Havice
Trade Act of 1974 passes. Designed to help workers CHAIR, ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC
who lose their jobs because of imports. EMPLOYEES, RETIREMENT & SOCIAL SECURITY
Representing the 56TH STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT,
1978 The Age Discrimination in Employment Act is which covers the cities of ARTESIA, BELLFLOWER,
amended, raising compulsory retirement for most CERRITOS, DOWNEY, HAWAIIAN GARDENS,
workers from 65 to 70. Eliminates age 70 mandatory LAKEWOOD & LONG BEACH
retirement wage for federal workers; President Jimmy
Carter signs the Civil Service Reform Act, providing Special thanks to Mr. Fred Glass, Communications Director
an independent appeal process, protection against of the California Federation of Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO, for
abuse in the merit system and incentive for good and assistance with the California labor history
skilled management.
California
1981 First Comparable Worth strike in United States, Federation
conducted by AFSCME Local 101 in San Jose; of Teachers
women achieve pay equity in city government jobs; American
Federation
of Teachers
AFL-CIO
Labor History Timeline