1930s
- 1930 (United States)
- National Unemployed Council founded.
- 3 February 1930 (United States)
- "Chicagorillas" -- labor racketeers -- shot and killed contractor William Healy, with whom the Chicago Marble Setters Union had been having difficulties.
- 14 April 1930 (United States)
- Imperial Valley Farmworkers' Strike occurred. Over 100 farm workers were arrested for their unionizing activities in Imperial Valley, California. Eight were subsequently convicted of "criminal syndicalism."
- 1931 (United States)
- U.S. Congress passes the Davis-Bacon Act.
- 1931 (United States)
- Scottsboro Boys arrested in Alabama.
- 4 May 1931 (United States)
- Harlan County Miners' Strike began in Harlan County, Kentucky when gun-toting vigilantes attacked striking miners.
- 14 May 1931 (Sweden)
- Five persons were killed by bullets fired by Swedish military troops called in as reinforcements by the police during a protest later known as Ådalen shootings.
- 1932 (United States)
- U.S. Congress passed the Norris-LaGuardia Act outlawing yellow-dog contracts and prohibiting federal injunctions in labor disputes.
- 1932 (United States)
- World War I veterans march on Washington, D.C. in the Bonus March.
- 1932 (United States)
- American Federation of Government Employees founded.
- 1932 (United States)
- California Pea Pickers' Strike occurred.
- 1932 (United States)
- Century Airlines Pilots' Strike occurred.
- 1932 (United States)
- Davidson-Wilder, Tennessee Coal Strike occurred.
- 1932 (United States)
- Ford Hunger March occurred in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1932 (United States)
- Vacaville, California, Tree Pruners' Strike occurred.
- 7 March 1932 (United States)
- Police kill striking workers at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan plant.
- 1933 (United States)
- National Industrial Recovery Act passed by the U.S. Congress. The Act guaranteed the rights of employees to organize and enter into collective bargaining.
- 1933 (United States)
- Newspaper Guild founded.
- 1933 (United States)
- Briggs Manufacturing Strike occurred.
- 1933 (United States)
- Detroit, Michigan, Tool and Die Strike occurred.
- 1933 (United States)
- Hormel, Iowa, Meat-Packing Strike occurred.
- 1933 (United States)
- New Mexico Miners' Strike occurred.
- 10 October 1933 (United States)
- 18,000 cotton workers went on strike in Pixley, California. Four were killed before a pay-hike was finally won.
- 1934 (United States)
- Southern Tenant Farmers' Union founded.
- 1934 (United States)
- Harlem, New York, Jobs-for-Negroes Boycott occurred.
- 1934 (United States)
- Imperial Valley Farmworkers' Strike occurred.
- 1934 (United States)
- The Electric Auto-Lite Strike. In Toledo, Ohio, two strikers were killed and over two hundred wounded by National Guardsmen. Some 1,300 National Guard troops, including included eight rifle companies and three machine gun companies, were called in to disperse as many as 10,000 strikers and protestors.
- 1934 (United States)
- Newark Star-Ledger Strike occurred.
- 1934 (United States)
- Rubber Workers' Strike occurred.
- 1934 (United States)
- Textile Workers' Strike occurred.
- May 1934 (United States)
- Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 occurred. Police attacked and fired upon striking Teamster truck drivers in Minneapolis who were demanding recognition of their union, wage increases, and shorter working hours. As violence escalated, Governor Olson went so far as to declare martial law in Minneapolis, deploying 4,000 National Guardsmen. The strike ended on 21 August when company owners finally accepted union demands.
- 1–22 September 1934 (United States)
- A strike in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, part of a national movement to obtain a minimum wage for textile workers, resulted in the deaths of three workers. Over 420,000 workers ultimately went on strike.
- 1935 (United States)
- U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the National Industrial Recovery Act was unconstitutional.
- 1935 (United States)
- The National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, was passed. It clearly established the right of all workers to organize and to elect their representative for collective bargaining purposes.
- 1935 (United States)
- Negro Labor Committee founded.
- 1935 (United States)
- United Auto Workers founded.
- 1935 (United States)
- Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri Metal Workers' Strike occurred.
- 1935 (United States)
- Pacific Northwest Lumber Strike occurred.
- 1935 (United States)
- Southern Sharecroppers' and Farm Laborers' Strike occurred.
- 9 November 1935 (United States)
- The Committee for Industrial Organizations (CIO) was formed to expand industrial unionism.
- 1936 (United States)
- Steel Workers Organizing Committee, one of two labor organizations that eventually merged to form the United Steelworkers, founded.
- 1936 (United States)
- Atlanta Auto Workers' Sit-down Strike occurred.
- 1936 (United States)
- Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike occurred.
- 1936 (United States)
- General Motors Sit-down Strike occurred.
- 1936 (United States)
- RCA Strike occurred.
- 1936 (United States)
- Rubber Workers' Sit-down Strike occurred.
- 1936 (United States)
- Seamen's Strike occurred.
- 1936 (United States)
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Newspaper Strike occurred.
- 1937 (United States)
- U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the National Labor Relations Act is constitutional.
- 1937 (United States)
- American Federation of Labor ejected the unions that would later form the Comittee of Industrial Organizations.
- 1937 (United States)
- American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Union founded.
- 1937 (United States)
- Hershey, Pennsylvania, Chocolate Workers' Strike founded.
- 1937 (United States)
- Little Steel Strike occurred.
- 11 February 1937 (United States)
- General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers union following a sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, that began in December 1936.
- Two months later, company guards beat up United Auto Workers leaders at the River Rouge Plant, in River Rouge, Michigan.
- 30 May 1937 (United States)
- Police kill 10 and wounded 30 during the Memorial Day Massacre at the Republic Steel plant in Chicago.
- 1938 (United States)
- Congress of Industrial Organizations founded.
- 1938 (United States)
- Chicago Newspaper Strike occurred.
- 1938 (United States)
- Hilo, Hawaii, Massacre occurred.
- 1938 (United States)
- Maytag Strike occurred.
- 25 June 1938 (United States)
- The Wages and Hours (later Fair Labor Standards) Act is passed, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week. The Act went into effect in October 1940, and was upheld in the Supreme Court on 3 February 1941.
- 1939 (United States)
- Chrysler Auto Strike occurred.
- 1939 (United States)
- General Motors Tool and Diemakers' Strike occurred.
- 27 February 1939 (United States)
- The Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes are illegal.
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Labor Issues And Events, 1900-1999