Iowa Labor History Timeline
1838
- Iowa Territory established
1846
- Iowa statehood
1852
- International Typographical Union founded
1854 - Iowa Typographical Union founded
1854
- First railroad in Iowa
1860
- Iowa population at 674,913
1861-1865
- CIVIL WAR, Abraham Lincoln, President
1863 - Iowa Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
established in Eldon, Iowa
1867
- Chicago & North Western railroad becomes first to cross state in
east/west direction
1869 - Knights of Labor established
1870
- Iowa population at 1,194,020
1873
- FINANCIAL PANIC in U.S.
1873 - Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
established in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1873 - Iowa law says married women have the
right to keep their own wages
1877
- Eleven men associated with the "Molly McGuires" are executed in
Pennsylvania
1877
- Great Railroad Strikes of 1877
1877 - First major strike in Iowa involves
railroad employees in Council Bluffs, Burlington, and Ottumwa
1878 - First local assembly of Knights of Labor
in Iowa
1880
- 5,235 miles of railroad track in Iowa (5th in nation)
1880 - John L. Lewis born in Lucas, Iowa
1884
- Bureau of Labor established in the U.S. Dept. of Interior
1885 - Burlington Trades and Labor Assembly
1886
- American Federation of Labor formed
1886
- Haymarket Riot, Chicago
1886
- 8-hour day movement
1886
- Knights of Labor reaches peak membership in 1886-1887
1888 - Great Burlington Railroad Strike
1888
- Union organizing:
United
Association (Plumbers & Pipefitters) International Printing Pressmen of
North America
Brotherhood
of Railroad Trainmen
International
Association of Machinists
National
Association of Letter Carriers
1890
- United Mineworkers of America founded
1891 - Iowa miners strike for 8-hour day
1892
- Homestead Strike, Pittsburgh
1893
- FINANCIAL PANIC in U.S.
1893 - American Railway Union organized first
local in U.S. at Fort Madison, Iowa
1893 - Iowan James R. Sovereign elected head of
Knights of Labor
1894
- Pullman Strike/Boycott
1894
- Kelly's Army
1898
- Miners win 8-hour day
1898
- SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
1900
- International Ladies Garment Union formed
1902 - Lost Creek coal mine disaster, Mahaska
County
1905
- Industrial Workers of the World formed
1906 - Mexican-Americans come to Fort Madison
to work on the Sante Fe Railroad
1910
- Iowa population at 2,224,771
1911 - Muscatine button workers strike
1913 - Iowa Worker's Compensation Law
1913
- U.S. Department of Labor established
1914-1918
- WORLD WAR I
U.S.
involved in war April 1917-Nov. 1918
1915
- 10,493 miles of rail in Iowa (4th in U.S.)
1919-1932
- "Open-shop Era"
1929
- Wall Street Crash in October
1929-1940
- GREAT DEPRESSION
1933
- Frances Perkins became Secretary of Labor, the first woman named to the
president's cabinet
1935
- National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) protects the right of workers to
organize and elect representatives for collective bargaining
1938 - Maytag Strike in Newton
1940-1945
- WORLD WAR II
1941
- Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
1947 - Thousands of Iowa workers demonstrate at
state capitol on April 22 to protest anti-labor legislation
1947
- Taft-Hartley Act outlaws closed shop
1949
- Television gaining popularity
1950-1955
- KOREAN WAR
1955
- Merger of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
(AFL-CIO)
1960
- Iowa population at 2,757,537
1963
- Equal Pay Act of 1963
1964
- Civil Rights Act passed
1964-1975
- VIETNAM WAR
1965
- Voting Rights Act passed
1972
- Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) and sent it to the states
for ratification
1984 - Comparable Worth
legislation passed in Iowa