Supreme Court outlaws segregation in public schools - 1954

UAW Local 833 strikes the Kohler bathroom fixtures company in Kohler, Wisc. The strike ends six years later after Kohler is found guilty of refusing to bargain, agrees to reinstate 1,400 strikers and pay them $4.5 million in back pay and pension credits - 1954

The Movie "Salt of the Earth" opens. The classic film centers on a long and difficult strike led by Mexican-American and Anglo zinc miners in New Mexico. Real miners perform in the film, in which the miners’ wives – as they did in real life – take to the picket lines after the strikers are enjoined - 1954

Former Hawaii Territorial Gov. Ingram Steinbeck opposes statehood for Hawaii, saying left wing unions have an "economic stranglehold" on the islands. Hawaii was to be granted statehood five years later - 1954

Some 400 New York City photoengravers working for the city’s newspapers, supported by 20,000 other newspaper unionists, begin what is to become an 11-day strike, shutting down the papers - 1953

The AFL expels the International Longshoremen's Association for racketeering; the union was readmitted to the then-AFL-CIO six years later - 1953

Models picketed to announce that beer was back. Twenty-five young women marched in front of the Blatz Brewing Co. on July 29, 1953, to celebrate the return of the brand of beer, then joined a street celebration at E. Highland Ave. and N. Broadway, where a band played for dancers. The events marked the end of a 76 day strike by some 7,100 Milwaukee brewery workers. The vote accepting the new contract was not unanimous and the settlement did not produce a 35 hour work week for all employes of the six breweries involved - which had been a bargaining issue. (The breweries, in addition to Blatz, were Gettleman, Independent Milwaukee, Miller, Pabst and Schlitz.) The settlement did provide for a pension plan, 20¢ an hour wage increase and health and life insurance benefits, among other gains. According to newspaper accounts, resolution of the dispute came rapidly after Blatz - in separate negotiations - made an agreement with the union a few days earlier and Blatz President Frank Verbest informed the five other breweries that if they did not accept the same settlement, Blatz would “go it alone.” https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/RememberWhe/id/231

ILWU begins a four day general strike in sugar, pineapple, and longshore to protest convictions under the anti-communist Smith Act of seven activists, "the Hawai’i Seven." The convictions were later overturned by a federal appeals court - 1953

Milwaukee brewery workers begin 10-week strike, demanding contracts comparable to East and West coast workers. The strike was won because Blatz Brewery accepts their demands, but Blatz was ousted from the Brewers Association for “unethical” business methods - 1953

President Dwight Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10450: Security Requirements for Government Employment. The order listed “sexual perversion” as a condition for firing a federal employee and for denying employment to potential applicants - 1953

Country music legend Hank Williams attends what was to be his final Musician’s union meeting, at the Elite Café in Montgomery, Ala. He died of apparent heart failure three days later, at age 29 - 1953

George Meany becomes president of the American Federation of Labor following the death four days earlier of William Green - 1952