The Federal minimum wage rises to $2.00 per hour - 1974

United Mine Workers President W. A. "Tony" Boyle is found guilty of first-degree murder, for ordering the 1969 assassination of union reformer Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski. Yablonski, his wife and daughter were murdered on December 30, 1969. Boyle had defeated Yablonski in the UMW election earlier in the year -- an election marred by intimidation and vote fraud. That election was set aside and a later vote was won by reformer Arnold Miller - 1974

Coalition of Labor Union Women founded in Chicago by some 3,000 delegates from 58 unions and other organizations - 1974

Work begins on the $8 billion, 800-mile-long Alaska Oil pipeline connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to the sea port at Valdez. Tens of thousands of people worked on the pipeline, enduring long hours, cold temperatures, and brutal conditions. At least 32 died on the job - 1974

Forty workers are killed on Staten Island, NY when a huge storage tank filled with liquefied gas explodes - 1974

Postal Workers begin four-day strike at the Jersey City, N.J. bulk and foreign mail center, protesting an involuntary shift change. The wildcat was led by a group of young workers who identified themselves as “The Outlaws”- 1974

International Printing Pressmen's & Assistants' Union of North America merges with International Stereotypers', Electrotypers' & Platemakers' Union to become Printing & Graphic Communications Union - 1973

Tony Boyle, former president of the United Mine Workers, is charged with murder in the 1969 deaths of former UMW rival Joseph A. Yablonski and his wife and daughter - 1973

Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathon Kwitney reports that AFL-CIO President George Meany, Sec.-Treas. Lane Kirkland and other union officials are among the 60 leading stockholders in the 15,000 acre Punta Cana, Dominican Republic resort. When the partners needed help clearing the land, the Dominican president sent troops to forcibly evict stubborn, impoverished tobacco farmers and fishermen who had lived there for generations, according to Kwitney’s expose - 1973

Yuba City, Calif. labor contractor Juan V. Corona found guilty of murdering 25 itinerant farm workers he employed during 1970 and 1971 - 1973

Striking typesetters at the Green Bay, Wisc. Press Gazette start a competing newspaper, The Green Bay Daily News. With financial support from a local businessman who hated the Press Gazette, the union ran the paper for four years before their angel died and it was sold to another publisher. The Gannett chain ultimately bought the paper, only to fold it in 2005 - 1972

United Stone & Allied Products Workers of America merge with United Steelworkers of America - 1972