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Vol. 73/No. 34      September 7, 2009

 
25, 50 and 75 years ago
 
September 7, 1984
MANILA, Philippines—Despite Pres. Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration that August 21 was to be a normal working day, Manila came to a virtual standstill as a crowd estimated from 500,000 to 2 million flocked to the Luneta Park to commemorate the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino a year ago. Most schools and many offices were closed, and anti-Marcos protesters were showered with confetti as they marched through the city streets.

Realizing it was powerless to prevent the rally, the Supreme Court granted permission for the rally to be held, but insisted that the “no permit—no rally” law would be maintained. By denying rally permits, the Marcos administration gives the police the green light to brutally attack demonstrators. An anti-Marcos rally in Manila August 12 was broken up by police with tear gas, truncheons and fire hoses.  
 
September 7, 1959
On the eve of Labor Day, Congressional conferees reached agreement on a union-crippling bill embodying virtually all the provisions of the Landrum-Griffin measure passed by the House of Representatives, August 15.

The agreement will place new shackles on labor’s right to organize and strike besides those contained in the Taft-Hartley Act. The new fetters outlaw such vital adjuncts of the unions’ economic struggle as the secondary boycott and the refusal to handle “hot cargo.” In addition, through the so-called “bill of rights” for union members, the government gains greater scope for interference in labor’s internal affairs.

Last year the Democrats won their biggest majority in Congress since 1938. It is this Congress that is set to pass the first anti-labor measure since Taft-Hartley.  
 
September 8, 1934
Thousands of armed scabs, brutal deputies, the greatest military display since the World War, the killing of ten strikers and the wounding of scores, have failed to dam the irresistible strike wave that has flooded the textile industry and stopped the looms from Maine to Mississippi.

One half million workers are out on strike, with the flying picket squads swooping down, closing mill after mill, town after town.

Pressed forward by a militant rank and file, ready to brave tear gas and bayonets, prepared to fight to the finish, even the diffident top leadership has been forced to issue bold statements.

“We shall agree to arbitration only after we have closed all mills in all divisions of the industry,” says Francis J. Gorman, heading the strike committee.

But the matter has passed out of his hands.  
 
 
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