The Memphis Fire Fighter Strike of 1978

On July 2, 1978, fire fighters in Memphis went out on strike, one of several groups of fire fighters across the country who struck that year. On today’s show – which originally aired on the IAFF Podcast, from the International Association of Fire Fighters – two Memphis fire fighters tell the story of the conditions that led up to the strike, the obstacles they faced on the job and how fire fighters in Memphis reached their boiling point and walked off the job not once but twice in the summer of 1978.

And on this week’s Labor History in 2:00…The year was 1930. That was the day some 1300 labor radicals and Communist Party supporters assembled in Chicago to establish The National Unemployed Council. 

Produced by Chris Garlock. To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com

Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.

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