The Solidarity Day marches were a pair of large political rallies in support of

organized labor A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

that took place in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

on September 19, 1981 and August 31, 1991. Approximately 250,000–500,000 people took part in each march.

Events leading up to the first march

On 3 August 1981, 12,500 air traffic controllers, members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), walked off their jobs with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

vowed to fire the controllers if they did not return to work within 48 hours. On the first day of the strike 85 percent of union controllers were out. Two days later, Reagan fired the striking controllers—12,000 air traffic controllers were fired on August 5. PATCO was demanding wage increases, safer working conditions, a 32-hour week, and an end to long shift patterns. As federal employees they were, however, barred from striking. The FAA replaced the strikers with non-union workers. According to the union, 481 near misses among airplanes in US airspace were reported in the first year of the strike, compared to 10 reported in the 10 years before the walkout. Militants were arrested, jailed and fined. Some PATCO members with federal mortgages lost their homes. The union was fined millions of dollars, and its $3.5 million strike fund was frozen. Eventually, the government succeeded in decertifying PATCO. The president of the US union federation, the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...

, denounced Reagan's attack on PATCO. A letter was also sent to AFL–CIO affiliates, discouraging them from taking any type of strike action in solidarity. Following the firing of the PATCO workers, officials from that union visited various other unions in an attempt to garner support for the strike. These efforts were not particularly well received because in the 1980 presidential election, PATCO refused to back President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

, instead endorsing Republican Party candidate

. PATCO's refusal to endorse the Democratic candidate stemmed in large part from poor labor relations with the FAA (the employer of PATCO members) under the Carter administration and Ronald Reagan's endorsement of the union and its struggle for better conditions during the 1980 election campaign.

March

The AFL–CIO's Solidarity Day march in Washington, D.C., in September 1981, came a few weeks into the PATCO strike, and drew 260,000 to half a million union people. The solidarity march was even bigger than the great 1968 march. It was the first major demonstration to have been organized for decades by the AFL–CIO. The March helped the Metrorail system set an estimated single day record of 400,000 trips, in part because the Unions paid to keep metro free all morning. The estimate was identical to the one reported, also as a single day record, for the April 29, 1980

Washington for Jesus Washington for Jesus was a series of prayer meetings held in Washington, D.C. by various representatives of the American Christian church in the United States. The first rally was held in 1980 on 29 and 30 April and centered primarily on promotin ...

march. The record would last until the day of the 1984 Fourth of July Beach Boys concert on the Mall.

1991 March

The 2nd Solidarity March came near the 10 year anniversary of the first and drew between 250,000 and 325,000 people. Union members, in the wake of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

called on the federal government to turn its attention away from foreign affairs and to focus on domestic issues like improving health care and education and supporting workers' rights. The event was organized by a coalition of more than 180 religious, environmental, civil rights and labor organizations.

Participating groups

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

* The

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

United Auto Workers The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico ...

* Aluminum Brick Glass Workers International Union

Notes and references

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External links

* ''Solidarity Day;; – documentary film by AFL–CIO about this event, at University of Maryland Labor History Archives 1981 protests 1991 protests Protests in the United States Protest marches in Washington, D.C. 1981 in Washington, D.C. 1991 in Washington, D.C. September 1991 events in the United States August 1991 events in the United States