page_title: Timeline of labour issues and events
section_title: 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of labour issues and events / 1900–99 / 1970s
caption_attribution_description: Lane Kirkland
context_page_description: Timeline of trade union history
context_section_description: 1970 (United States)
  U.S. Congress enacted Occupational Safety and Health Act.
  1970 (United States)
  General Motors Strike occurred.
  1970 (United States)
  Postal Workers Strike occurred.
  5 January 1970 (United States)
  Joseph Yablonski, unsuccessful reform candidate to unseat W. A. Boyle as President of the United Mine Workers, was murdered, along with his wife and daughter, in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home by assassins acting on Boyle's orders. Boyle was later convicted of the killing.
  West Virginia miners went on strike the following day in protest.
  18 March 1970 (United States)
  The first mass work stoppage in the 195-year history of the United States Post Office Department began with a walkout of letter carriers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, soon involving 210,000 of the nation's 750,000 postal employees. With mail service virtually paralyzed in New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia, President Nixon declared a state of national emergency and assigned military units to New York City post offices. The stand-off culminated two weeks later.
  29 July 1970 (United States)
  United Farm Workers forced California grape growers to sign an agreement after a five-year strike.
  1971 (United States)
  New York City Police Strike occurred.
  1972 (United States)
  Farah Clothing Workers' Strike and Boycott occurred.
  1972 (United States)
  Lordstown, Ohio, Auto Workers' Strike occurred.
  1972 (United States)
  Philadelphia Teachers Strike started.
  1974 (United States)
  Coalition of Labor Union Women formed.
  1974 (United States)
  Employment Retirement Income Security Act passed by U.S. Congress.
  1974 (United States)
  Baltimore Police Strike occurred.
  1975 (United States)
  U.S. Congress voted down union-sponsored bill to reform the basic United States labor laws.
  1 October 1975 (United States)
  Washington Post Pressmen's Strike occurred.
  1976 (United States)
  U.S. Congress voted down union-sponsored bill to make it easier for construction unions to organize.
  1977 (United States)
  Bituminous Coal Strike of 1977-1978 started.
  1977 (United States)
  Coors Beer Strike and Boycott started.
  1977 (United States)
  J.P. Stevens Boycott began.
  1977 (United States)
  Willmar, Minnesota, Bank Workers' Strike began.
  1978 (United States)
  Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Newspaper Strike began.
  1979 (United States)
  Lane Kirkland elected president of the AFL-CIO.
  1979 (United States)
  Independent Trucker Strike occurred.
  1979 (United States)
  The film Norma Rae, based on a real life character trying to unionize a textile mill, is released.  It wins an Academy Award for best actress.
caption: Portrait of Lane Kirkland by Richard Whitney
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