GOP Tries To Erase History Of Working People

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Once again, Republicans are trying to erase the history of America’s working people, reports Tula Connell on the AFL-CIO Now blog. In Maine, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has ordered the removal of a 36-foot mural depicting the state’s labor history from the Department of Labor. The 11-panel piece in part depicts a 1986 paper mill strike and “Rosie the Riveter” at Bath Iron Works. LePage’s action has a local precedent: when Republicans took over the House in 1995, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich relegated to the bowels of the Capitol a depiction of the 1912 Bread and Roses strike by artist Ralph Fasanella that had graced the Capitol. Members of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department purchased it for the AFL-CIO’s headquarters building, where it's on public display. LePage has also ordered the names of conference rooms changed to make them more “business friendly.” The “Perkins Room,” for examples, honors Frances Perkins, the first female Secretary of Labor and promoter of New Deal policies that improved workers’ rights on the job. Perkins championed labor reforms after the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire that resulted in the deaths of 146 garment workers in New York City. Today is the 100th anniversary of that tragedy. Click here for Connell’s complete report.