Signs of times past

Ohio Historical Marker

THE OHIO AFL-CIO

Following the national merger of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO)in 1955, more than 2,000 labor delegates representing one million union members convened at the Cleveland Public Auditorium for the founding convention of the Ohio AFL-CIO in 1958. This leading labor organization achieved significant advances in the quality of life and security for working Ohioans during the second half of the twentieth century in areas of civil rights, workers’ compensation, and unemployment insurance. Its notable legislative successes include the passage of a public employee collective bargaining bill in 1983 and a voter referendum that protected workers’ compensation in 1997.

Ohio Bicentennial Commission
Ohio AFL-CIO
The Ohio Historical Society

2003 78-18
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On the 3rd of March, the Mayor of Cleveland, Frank Jackson gave a State of the City speech at Public Hall (Cleveland Public Auditorium). The new governor, John Kasich was in attendance. Protestors against his party’s Senate Bill #5 which would kill public employee collective bargaining and further weaken unions. In front of Public Hall is this historical marker. Kasich has dedicated himself to the destruction of what the sign commemorates. It is a state marker. Get to the corner of East 6th and Lakeside Avenue before it succumbs to Kasich's reversing history, and relegating its achievements to the memory hole.