Today in Labor History: May 29 nation's first union medical and pension plans & more

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history

May 29

Animators working for Walt Disney begin what was to become a successful five-week strike for recognition of their union, the Screen Cartoonists' Guild. The animated feature "Dumbo" was being created at the time and, according to Wikipedia, a number of strikers are caricatured in the feature as clowns who go to "hit the big boss for a raise" - 1941


Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions tells the fascinating story of Hollywood animators, from the early days of Betty Boop and Popeye to today’s world of Pixar. Author Tom Sito describes fighting for unionism during the era of virulent anti-Communism in Hollywood, in which if an artist stood up against management he or she was labeled a Red. And he talks about the present day, in which big business is – no surprise here – sending work offshore to artists’ sweatshops. In the UCS bookstore now.

A contract between the United Mine Workers and the U.S. government establishes one of the nation's first union medical and pension plans, the multi-employer UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund - 1946

And: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_05_29_2012


May 29, 1946 - A contract between the United Mine Workers and the U.S. government established one of America’s first union medical and pension plan. The multi-employer UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund would permanently change health care delivery in the coal fields of the nation. The UMWA Fund built eight hospitals in Appalachia, established numerous clinics and recruited young doctors to practice in rural coal field areas. A 1977 Presidential Commission found that the UMWA Fund had allowed miners to succeed "in obtaining for themselves a quality of health care comparable to that of many sectors of the industrial population."

The United Farm Workers of America reaches agreement with Bruce Church Inc. on a contract for 450 lettuce harvesters, ending a 17-year-long boycott. The pact raised wages, provided company-paid health benefits to workers and their families, created a seniority system to deal with seasonal layoffs and recalls, and established a pesticide monitoring system - 1996