As May Day approaches I was thinking about Mother Jones, nee Mary G Harris.  An Irish immigrant, a school teacher, a seamstress, a labor organizer –  the “most dangerous woman in America” in 1902 are a few of her notable accomplishments.

Mary G Harris married George E Jones a member and organizer of the International Molders and Foundry Workers Union.  That union represented the workers who specialized in building and repairing steam engines.

In 1867 during an outbreak of yellow fever in Memphis, Mary G Harris lost her husband and four children, all under the age of five.  Mary returned to Chicago where she then lost everything, again, in the Great Fire of 1871.  She helped to rebuild the city which induced her into the labor movement.  She became known as Mother Jones to United Mine Worker Union strikers.  She believed that working men deserved a working wage.

PA Gov Tom Wolf in a recent fund raiser noted that 172 workers died on the job in PA in 2017.  He referenced Mother Jones as a notorious rabble-rousing labor organizer credited with the quote “We must pray for the dead, but fight like hell for the living.”.    Gov Wolf pledged to remember those workers lost and hold  employers who violate the law accountable.

We must also fight for the living by raising the minimum wage, supporting equal pay and health care for all,  and  making our workplaces safe.

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