American Federation of Labor votes to boycott all German-made products as a protest against Nazi antagonism to organized labor within Germany – 1934. More than 1,100 office workers strike Columbia University in New York City. The mostly female and minority workers win union recognition and pay increases – 1985

National Basketball Association cancels regular season games for the first time in its 51-year history, during a player lockout. Player salaries and pay caps are the primary issue. The lockout lasts 204 days – 1998

New York City cigar makers struck against pay cuts and repressive factory rules during October. The strike ended in January 1878 with the pay cuts and repressive rules intact. Samuel Gompers, the strike leader, was blacklisted and unable to find work for four months. – 1877

President Woodrow Wilson signs the Clayton Antitrust Act—often referred to as “Labor’s Magna Carta”—establishing that unions are not “conspiracies” under the law. It for the first time freed unions to strike, picket and boycott employers. In the years that followed, however, numerous state measures and negative court interpretations weakened the law – 1914

“Salt of the Earth” strike begins by the mostly Mexican-American members of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union Local 890 in Bayard, N.M. Strikers’ wives walked picket lines for seven months when their husbands were enjoined during the 14-month strike against the New Jersey Zinc Co. – 1950

Twelve New York City firefighters die fighting a blaze in midtown Manhattan. Until the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, the fire on East 22nd Street claimed more firefighters’ lives than any other disaster in the city. – 1966

New York City agrees to pay women school teachers a rate equal to that of men – 1911

The National Association of Letter Carriers achieves equalization of wages for all letter carriers, meaning city delivery carriers began receiving the same wages regardless of the size of the community in which they worked – 1949