#workers history

[nesyanast]

On November 23, 1909, more than twenty thousand Jewish Yiddish-speaking immigrants, mostly young women in their teens and early twenties, launched an eleven-week general strike in New York’s shirtwaist industry. Dubbed the Uprising of the 20,000, it was the largest strike by women to date in American history. The young strikers’ courage, tenacity, and solidarity forced the predominantly male leadership in the “needle trades” and the American Federation of Labor to revise their entrenched prejudices against organizing women. The strikers won only a portion of their demands, but the uprising sparked five years of revolt that transformed the garment industry into one of the best-organized trades in the United States.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Earlier this year in Halifax, a former sex worker won a precedent-setting case. Brogan, the plaintiff, took a client to small claims court for not paying her and she won! It’s the first time a court has ruled on the enforceability of contracts between sex workers and their clients. It affirms what we’ve been saying all along: sex work is work!

In January of last year, Bradley Samuelson contacted Brogan on LeoList, an online advertising platform for sex workers. She told him her rate of $300 per hour plus transportation, he agreed and paid for her Uber to his apartment. She spent seven hours with her client, but after much wrangling, only got paid for an hour’s worth of work.

Unpacking the win

What’s really interesting about this decision is that the adjudicator gives not one, but two reasons why Brogan won her claim – the first being that a contract was established, the second being unjust enrichment. There is also a third reason that she deserved to win, but it wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the ruling: the interconnectedness of payment and consent. I’ll be unpacking all three factors today. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[queen-mabs-revenge]

ngl i cried seeing this in person

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

This is a memorial from Roussay on Orkney to James Leonard, an early tennant organiser. He was ultimately evicted from his land by the infamous landlord Frederick William Traill-Burroughs. Following his eviction, three of his children died of diphtheria. But his work in organising the tennants and giving evidence to the Scottish government ultimately got more protections for the crofters and may have helped prevent other clearances on Orkney.

Despite this he failed to win protection in time for the crofters of Roussay, and the island's population has gone from over 1000 at the time of the clearances to less than 100 today.

James Leonard's words still ring true today: "I am prepared to speak the truth and will not be cowed by landlordism" and "We are under the despotism and terror of the landlord and we want that removed ; even though I should fail in this battle, I will fight it out."

Today, James Leonard's farm stands derelict, and the land he rented unfarmed. Meanwhile, Burrough's grand house was gutted by a fire in the 1980s and also currently stands empty.

[thoughtportal]

Folkstreams

[enbycrip]

One of Glasgow’s famous house-end murals. This one, by Artist Mark Worst, shows St Thenue, now more commonly known as St Enoch, the mother of St Mungo, Glasgow’s patron saint. The mural is just off London Road facing up Abercromby street in Bridgeton.

The mural Illustrates St Thenue being guided across the Firth of Forth by a shoal of trout. The patterned shawl she wears features 29 motifs - a tribute to the 29 East End women who died in the 1889 Templeton factory disaster in which a wall collapsed onto a weaving shed.

[nikkiunicorn900]

Will you love me to unveil my magic wand on you?

Reblog trans lovers💦🍆 if you want me to unveil it on you🔞

[rosieandthemoon]

segment of a British Labyrinth

[perrysoup]

Was the "9-5" job ever real? I'm legit asking. All my life I've know AT LEAST 8:30-5:30 with an unpaid lunch in it.

Was it ever a real thing, and if so, how did we give it up? Why did we give it up? I need to know!

[mimi-0007]

Mary Fields (c. 1832 – December 5, 1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary and Black Mary, was an American mail carrier who was the first Black woman to be employed as a star route postwoman in the United States. Fields had the star route contract for the delivery of U.S. mail from Cascade, Montana, to Saint Peter's Mission. She drove the route for two four-year contracts, from 1895 to 1899 and from 1899 to 1903. Author Miantae Metcalf McConnell provided documentation discovered during her research about Mary Fields to the United States Postal Service Archives Historian in 2006. This enabled the USPS to establish Mary Fields' contribution as the first African-American female star route mail carrier in the United States

[ourrace-sexraceandculture]

I can not find this man's name, but nevertheless, I want to celebrate him, especially after being told by people in the justice system that he could never be. Congrats to this man, and may he continue to prosper . 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽✊🏽🖤

"In 2009 I was in college for Nursing and I caught my first case while in school. The state told me due to my charges I could never work in the Medical field or any facility with patients or students. After that, as far as the streets was concerned, I was all in. I ran and ran until I had to sit down for five years and really use my brain to understand what life was about. I’m living proof of the Greatness of Allah and prayer. And living proof that you can always turn things around when you’re at your lowest point in life if you just make an effort to be better. I had to go thru some crazy things to get here, and people witnessed it. Not Bragging, just Expressing Gratitude." #AnesthesiaTechnician

[kropotkindersurprise]

May 26, 1824 - On this day in 1824, 102 women and girls organized the first factory strike in the United States at Pawtucket’s Slater Mill, a textile factory in Rhode Island. After owners slashed their pay 25% and added unpaid hours (calling their wages “extravagant”), women fought back. The strike grew into a fiery revolt. The girls and women were joined by other working-class sectors and the bosses were forced to finally negotiate. Their defiance ignited a wave of worker uprisings. [link]

[leviathangourmet]

[keiramaria-may]

Come grab me ❤️☺️

[blueiscoool]

Army Museum Worker Discovers Early Medieval Sword in Poland

The collection of the Army Museum in Białystok, Poland has been enriched after renovation with a unique relic of great historical value – an early medieval sword of the Viking type, dating from the 9th or 10th centuries. It was found by an employee of this institution while diving in the Supraśl River over two years ago.

This rare artifact, which was found by museum employee Szczepan Skibicki in 2022 while diving in the Supraśl River, is among only a handful of similar swords discovered in the country.

Skibicki stumbled upon the sword in a river bend where erosion had exposed a sand deposit. “At about 120cm [four feet] deep,” Skibicki recalled, as translated from Polish to English through Facebook, “I spotted an interesting object which turned out to be a sword! Then for the first and last time, I screamed for joy under the water!… Thanks to my education and work I knew how to secure it and which services to notify.”

He likened the discovery to winning the lottery, reflecting on the extraordinary luck involved in unearthing such a treasure.

The sword, which may have been linked by Baltic or Viking cultures, was forged in the late ninth or early tenth century, according to experts. Despite Poland’s lack of Viking activity, archeological evidence demonstrates that the Vikings were present at important administrative and commercial hubs during this time. The unique hilt of the weapon denotes its design, which is in keeping with Viking craftsmanship while also suggest potential Baltic community influences.

Dr. Ryszard Kazimierczak of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń highlighted the sword’s rarity and cultural significance: “The sword is unique due to its form, shape, and the degree of preservation of organic material visible on the hilt. This is incredibly rare for artifacts of this age.”

“We think there is a high probability that there was a fight by the river, a battle and the sword was in the water with its owner,” Kaźmierczak said, per the museum’s Facebook post.

The blade itself tells a story of conflict, bearing micro-cracks, scratches, and splinters likely resulting from combat. “The middle part shows how time and use have acted upon it,” explained Robert Sadowski, director of the Army Museum. “When these swords were used in battle, the middle part absorbed the most blows, leading to the wear and tear visible today.”

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education noted in its press release that before the sword could be transferred to the Army Museum it had to go through legal protocol overseen by the Provincial Conservator of Monument. Once it became the property of the Army Museum, the sword went into conservation involving specialists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Nicolaus Copernicus University.

By Leman Altuntaş.

[mxjackparker]

International Whores' Day (International Sex Workers' Day for the non sex workers!) is coming up on June 2nd. This year is extra special because it's the 50th Anniversary of the event that lead to this day - the 10-day occupation of St. Nizier Church by over 100 prostitutes in Lyon, France. They hung up a banner over the church stating: "Our children don't want their mothers in prison."

They decided to go on strike and occupy this church in response to murders and police crackdowns which were putting them in more danger. These women selling sex were being threatened with arrest and fined by police who weren't looking for the people killing them. Demands included an end to anti-prostitution laws.

This occupation had an effect all across France, with sex workers in Paris and elsewhere also staging their own occupations, and their actions had a global impact in catalysing a pushback from sex workers on their conditions and the police.

In 1982, the ECP (English Collective of Prostitutes) took inspiration from those in Lyon and occupied Holy Cross Church for 12 days, protesting racism and police harassment of sex workers with a particular focus on mothers who were selling sex to make ends meet.

It's been 50 years and sex workers are still fighting for the same rights and against the same police brutality and racism and stigma.

We want the full decriminalization of prostitution. We want an end to discrimination against sex workers. We want sex working parents to get support, not have our children taken away.