Monday, June 23, 2014

Deaths: Dedicated to Preserving Labor History

LESLIE OREAR ( 1911-2014)

Union organizer championed equal rights for workers.

His involvement in the labor movement grew out of his Depression-era experiences working for Armour & Company meatpacking plant in Chicago in the early 30s when he was paid 32.5 cents an hour to tie strings on cured hams so they could be hung at butcher shops.

Mr. Orear got involved with labor history after the 1969 labor rally he and another Union official organized to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket Square tragedy when a bomb was tossed during a clash between police and workers protesting for an 8-hour workday.

He was 103 and died May 30, 2014.

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