20 Powerful Photos Capturing Workers on Strike
There’s something timeless about old strike photos. Long before hashtags and online outrage gone viral, workers took to the streets with hand-painted signs, calloused hands, and an unwavering resolve in fighting for the working class. Fueled by factors like dangerous working conditions and unfair pay, the faces in these snapshots weren’t asking for sympathy or charity; they demanded to be seen and heard. From factory floors to coal mines, these vintage photos offer a glimpse of when ordinary folks risked it all to stand up to corporate greed — and, oftentimes, walked away victorious.
1. Two Young Girls on Skates Attend a Labor Strike Wearing Satchels That Read ‘Don’t Be a Scab’ in New York, Circa 1915-1920
2. A Group of Dancers on Strike in New York City, 1979
3. Women’s Strike for Equality, Demanding Equal Rights and Recognition in the Workforce in New York City, 1970
4. ‘A Meeting of Striking Workers in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, 1940s’
5. Pan-Am Flight Attendants March for Fair Pay During the Jet Age Contract Disputes in California, Circa 1954
6. ‘Women Strike for Equality in New York’s Bryant Park on August 26, 1970’
7. Actors Robert Smigel and Bob Odenkirk Join the Picket Line for the Writers Guild of America Strike in New York, 1988
8. ‘Safeway Workers on Strike, 1970s’
9. British Workers Strike Against Wage Cuts and Rising Taxes, 1926
10. A Woman Sends a Telegram to Her Fiancé During a Railroad Strike in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, 1946
11. A Young Barack ‘Barry’ Obama and Friends Protesting Against Homework, 1970s
12. A Gas Station in Philadelphia Closed Due to a Strike, 1965
13. Actor Leonard Nimoy Joins the Picket Line at the 1981 Writers Guild Awards Strike in California, 1981
14. ‘Arthur Murray Dance Studio Instructors Strike for Higher Wages, 1947’
15. Postal Workers Strike for Better Wages and Benefits, 1970
16. Colorized Image of Striking Copper Miners Picketing the Company Store in Ducktown, Tennessee, 1939
17. ‘Striking Teachers Picketing Grant High School in Van Nuys, California, 1983’
18. Employees of the Department of Water & Power (DWP) Picket the Company’s Headquarters in Los Angeles, 1974
19. ‘Child Labor Strike in Philadelphia, 1902’
20. Not Fido, Too! Police Lock Up 208 Municipal Workers Striking for Reinstatement of Their Jobs and Union Recognition on May 23, 1946
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