The second session for 2024 of the Harry Bridges School of Labor was on Organizing Black Workers in the Formation of Industrial Unions. We review the history of Black workers in America leading up to the organizing drives for industrial unions. The class covers two organizing drives in particular: first the longshore workers of the West Coast then as the International Longshoreman’s Association into the International Longshoreman and Warehouseman Union. The second will be the organizing of tobacco workers at RJ Reynolds in Winston-Salem, NC with the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers (FTA) Local 22.

The Harry Bridges School of Labor aims to educate the workers of America on the strength of unions and to foster a class-conscious workforce through Labor United Educational League. We aim to connect the struggles of the past with the struggles of today to empower the labor movement to transform from their present hopeless defensive fight into an aggressive attack upon Capital. We plan to empower workers with knowledge regardless of industry or type of work, bringing all workers to a class-oriented trade union movement.

To learn more, visit https://luel.us/ .

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:00 Section 1: Historical Background of Black Workers in America
14:05 Q&A 1
19:15 Section 2: Frank Jenkins and the ILWU
29:00 Q&A 2
31:35 Section 3: Organizing the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers Local 22
46:55 Q&A 3
51:35 Conclusion

The first session for 2024 of the Harry Bridges School of Labor was Part 2 of The History of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (C.I.O.): Organizing The Unorganized. We will review the aversion to Industrial Unionism withing the American Federation of Labor that ultimately lead to the formation of the C.I.O. We will also look briefly on the organizing of Industrial Unions in the late 20s and early 30s that predated the C.I.O., as well as the organizing during the period of the Committee of Industrial Organizations. Finally we will take a look at the first union to be granted a charter by the C.I.O.: The United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE).

The Harry Bridges School of Labor aims to educate the workers of America on the strength of unions and to foster a class-conscious workforce through Labor United Educational League. We aim to connect the struggles of the past with the struggles of today to empower the labor movement to transform from their present hopeless defensive fight into an aggressive attack upon Capital. We plan to empower workers with knowledge regardless of industry or type of work, bringing all workers to a class-oriented trade union movement.

To learn more, visit https://luel.us/ .

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:00: Section 1: Buildup to the Great Depression, the NIRA, and the AFL's Response to Industrial Union Organizing
13:05 Q&A 1
17:00: Section 2: Organizing After the Passage of the NIRA and Under the Committee of Industrial Unions
27:55 Video - Little Steel Strike Memorial Day Massacre
29:45 Q&A 2
33:40 Section 3: The UE, the First Union Chartered by the CIO
42:20 Q&A 3
47:40 Conclusion

The eighth and final session for 2023 of the Harry Bridges School of Labor was on The Bootleg Coal Rebellion. Join us as we learn about the story of the struggle of Anthracite Miners in rural Pennsylvania of the 1920s and their methods of fighting back against mine closures. We will have Special Guest Mitch Troutman, author of the book The Bootleg Coal Rebellion.

The Harry Bridges School of Labor aims to educate the workers of America on the strength of unions and to foster a class-conscious workforce through Labor United Educational League. We aim to connect the struggles of the past with the struggles of today to empower the labor movement to transform from their present hopeless defensive fight into an aggressive attack upon Capital. We plan to empower workers with knowledge regardless of industry or type of work, bringing all workers to a class-oriented trade union movement.

To learn more, visit https://luel.us/ .

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
3:00 Video - "The March of Time" (Re-enactment Footage of Bootleg Miners)
9:10 Q&A
55:30 Conclusion