Chicago, the City with Broad Shoulders, is rich with labor history. Some of workers’ earliest and most hard-fought struggles took place here: In the garment, railroad and meatpacking industries and, most brutally, at Haymarket Square, where four trade unionists were killed in 1886 as they protested the murder of two workers and the wounding of other trade unionists rallying the previous day in the city. The event sparked the formation of International Workers’ Day—May Day—now celebrated around the world.
In 1894, the historic Pullman Strike led by Eugene Debs was centered in Chicago, where Pullman built its rail cars. The workers lived in company housing and had suffered pay cuts and endured harsh working conditions. When the Pullman workers struck, rail workers around the country joined in solidarity and refused to handle trains with Pullman cars. While the strike eventually was broken, it became a symbol of worker solidarity.
In other key events: - The Chicago Federation of Labor was founded in November 1896.
- In 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) held their founding convention in Chicago.
- A strike of clothing workers against Hart, Shaffner and Marx in Chicago in 1910, led by Sidney Hillman, resulted in the founding of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.
- In 1915, legendary Wobblie organizer Joe Hill was framed for murder and executed in Utah. His funeral was held in Chicago and more than 30,000 people attended.
- In 1925, under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph and Milton Webster of Chicago, Pullman porters organized and formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the nation’s first African American labor union. The A. Philip Randolph Museum at 10406 S. Maryland Ave. in Chicago celebrates that history. It is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- On July 21, 1926, the first union radio station went on the air. WCFL, “Chicago’s Voice of Labor,” broadcast until 1978.
- Ten people were killed and eight wounded by police gunfire in the May 1937 “Memorial Day Massacre” between police and members of the Steelworkers Organizing Committee trying to organize the Republic Steel Co. plant in South Chicago.
- In 1972, Chicago building trades unions, contractors and the U.S. Department of Labor established the “Chicago Plan” to expand job opportunities for workers of color.
The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was founded in Chicago in 1974. | 
