On Labor Day, looking back at local workers' efforts for better lives

In January, 1969, members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers went on strike across the country against large oil companies. In East Boston, a Herald-Traveler photographer snapped Boston cops pushing picketers out of the way so that drivers of gasoline tanker trucks could deliver the loads they'd picked up at Mobil Oil Corp.'s East Boston terminal.

Over the years, Boston-area workers have not hesitated to go on strike to seek better wages and working conditions, sometimes at risk of violence or arrest. On this Labor Day, here's a review of some of the city's strikes, as photographed by photographers for the Boston Herald-Traveler.

In 1963, ironworkers briefly struck at the construction site of what would be Boston's first new skyscraper in decades - the Prudential building:

On Aug. 22, 1960, a wildcat strike by Local 589 of the Carmen's Union against the MTA started when drivers at the Eagle Street bus and trackless-trolley yard in East Boston walked off the job after managers suspended one driver who refused to work some overtime. The strike quickly spread to other yards near East Boston and by rush hour that night, all 4,500 Carmen's workers were off the job, stranding some 250,000 commuters:

In 1971, Communications Workers of America members walked a picket line outside the Franklin Street telephone building:

In January, 1948, truckers went on strike. As the Herald-Traveler described this photo: "Out on Mystic Avenue, Somerville, a busy station for union drivers picketing in the truck strike, the men have built this shack and installed their own heating system to protect them from the cold winds."

In March, 1963, Brewery Workers Local 8 struck in Charlestown: "Little Pickets showed up to help their father in the brewery workers union strike in Charlestown today. Their father is Lawrence O’Connor, left, of Belmont. They are Timothy O’Connor, 8, Margaret, 4, Lawrence, 3, and Penny, 2."

In December, 1966, striking workers at Raytheon gathered at Suffolk Downs to consider a new contract. IBEW President James Mulloney addressed the workers, who agreed, 2,296 - 895, to ratify a new three-year contract:

In February, 1952, unionized garbagemen serving a large part of Boston gathered at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Tremont Street, Mission Hill and voted to strike. Two days later, a consortium of garbage companies agreed to their demand for a 10-cents-an-hour raise, and the workers returned to the hall and voted to go back to work.

A year later, workers at the Red Coach Grill and Sam Adams or George Washington or somebody revolutionary, picketed outside the Stanhope Street restaurant:

In May, 1958, when Boston still had a garment district, workers went on strike and walked a picket line on Beach Street:

In January, 1971, International Longshoremen's Association Local 809, representing guards and terminal operators at Massport cargo docks, such as Commonwealth Pier, went on strike:

In 1970, relations between Boston teachers and the (then elected) School Committee plummeted. In March, teachers picketed outside School Committee headquarters, with signs meant for the eyes of Chairman Joseph Lee. In May, the teachers went on strike for 13 days, during which a judge order union President John Reilly jailed and the union fined $1,000 a day. The teachers and the city came to a deal, but after the committee voted 3-2 in favor of raises for teachers, Lee resigned in disgust - only to briefly un-resign soon after.

In August, 1952, some 500 workers at the Walter Baker Chocolate plant in Dorchester Lower Mills, members of the Food Packers Union Local 451, struck, seeking a 22-cent-an-hour raise from the plant's owner, General Foods:

In 1957, the mailers' union struck Boston's five daily newspapers - the Morning Globe, the Evening Globe, the Morning Herald, The Evening Traveler, and the Record-American - and for three weeks Bostonians had no daily printed news. The union and the papers reached a new wage deal and a pre-Internet city got back to getting ink on its hands, buying them from people like newsboy Harry Bardski:

The mailers, this time joined by the printers, struck the city's papers again, in March, 1966. The photo shows Edward T. O'Neil of Dorchester, Boston Typographical Union Local 13, and Richard Manzi of Stoneham, Boston Mailers Union Local 1.

All of the photos are from the BPL's Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue, a collection of photos from that paper. All posted under this Creative Commons license.