Michigan State Utility Workers Council

06/23/2026

06/23/2026

June 23, 1947: Congress overrode President Harry S. Truman’s veto of the Taft–Hartley Act, a major anti-union law that weakened organized labor and paved the way for “right-to-work” laws across the country. The override of this veto shows why, in each election, we must continually send pro-worker voices to Congress or risk anti-worker laws becoming entrenched in daily life.

06/23/2026

06/23/2026

On this day in labor history, the year was 1947. That was the day the despised Taft-Hartley Act became law. It was a direct retaliatory response to the 1946 post-war strike wave, where millions walked off the job after waiting years for basic demands. The labor movement mobilized against the slave l...

06/22/2026

On this day in labor history, the year was 1999. That was the day 5000 textile workers at six Fieldcrest Cannon Mills in North Carolina began voting for representation by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, better known as UNITE. The victory, later validated by the NLRB, was...

06/22/2026

On this day, 21 June 1964, three civil rights workers were murdered by police and Ku Klux Klan members in Mississippi. James Earl Chaney, a 21-year-old Black former union-plasterer and organiser with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from nearby Meridian, Mississippi, Andrew Goodman (pictured bottom, left), a 20-year-old Jewish anthropology student from New York, and Michael 'Mickey' Schwerner, a 24-year-old Jewish CORE organiser and former social worker from New York were lynched on the night of June 21–22 by members of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County's Sheriff Office and the Philadelphia Police Department located in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
The three had been working on the "Freedom Summer" campaign, attempting to register Black people to vote.
While seven of the killers ended up being jailed on federal charges of civil rights violations, the state of Mississippi didn't prosecute anyone for the murders until 2005, when they eventually charged one of the killers with manslaughter. He was then convicted and sentenced to 60 years imprisonment.
Chaney's younger brother Ben later joined the Black Panther Party and the urban guerrilla group the Black Liberation Army, for which he ended up serving 13 years in prison.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9401/mississippi-civil-rights-murders

06/21/2026

Happy Father's Day from UWUA. Today, we celebrate the fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, and father figures whose dedication, hard work, and support help strengthen our families, workplaces, and communities. Wishing all who are celebrating a wonderful day.