Minneapolis Teamsters Strike:
75th Anniversary

February 7: Tour will explore history and sites of Teamsters' 1934 Minneapolis coal yard strike

From the Minneapolis Labor Review, January 29, 2009

By Steve Share, Labor Review editor

MINNEAPOLIS — 2009 marks the 75th anniversary of the Minneapolis Teamsters strike of 1934, a struggle that broke the power of the business-backed Citizens Alliance and made Minneapolis a union town.

What we now call the Teamsters strike was actually a series of three strikes — the first beginning February 7, 1934, when 700 striking workers shut down 65 of the city’s 67 coal yards.

Join a bus tour Saturday, February 7 exploring sites significant to the coal yards strike — exactly 75 years to the day later.

Local labor historian Dave Riehle will lead the tour, which will travel in a 1954 Twin Cities Lines bus restored by the Minnesota Transportation Museum. The tour will visit sites in downtown and south Minneapolis.

Meet the tour bus at the parking lot at the United Labor Centre, 312 Central Ave., Minneapolis. The tour will run from 1:00-3:00 p.m. To reserve a spot on the bus, contact the Minneapolis Labor Review at 612-379-4725.

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