Colorado’s Labor History

This coming Monday is Labor Day.  Because so much of Colorado’s development was tied in with mining, transportation, and other industry, and because of events like the Ludlow Massacre, the state has played a significant role in the history of the labor movement in America.  Here are some resources, both current and historical, available from our library that tell the story of labor Colorado:

Agricultural and migrant workers:

•  Agricultural Labor in Colorado, Colorado State University, 2009
• Annual Farm Labor Report, Colorado Department of Employment, 1957-1971
• Migrant Labor Problems in the 1970s, Colorado General Assembly, 1970
• Migratory Labor in Colorado, Colorado General Assembly, 1960
• Report of Governor’s Survey Committee on Migrant Labor, 1951
• Sugar Beet Labor in Northern Colorado, Colorado State University, 1958

Child labor:

• Child Labor, Colorado State University, 2002
  
• Children Working on Farms in Certain Sections of Northern Colorado, Colorado Agricultural College, 1926
• Colorado’s School Attendance and Child Labor Laws, Colorado General Assembly, 1962

Immigration policy:

• Economic Implications of Labor and Immigration Policy: The Case of Greeley’s Swift Plant, Colorado State University, 2009
• Guide to State and Federal Employment Verification Laws, Colorado Division of Labor, 2007

Labor Movement and the Progressive Era:

• The Archaeology of Class War:  The Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-1914, University Press of Colorado, 2009
• Coal People:  Life in Southern Colorado’s Company Towns, by Rick J. Clyne, Colorado Historical Society, 1999
• From Redstone to Ludlow:  John Cleveland Osgood’s Struggle Against the United Mine Workers of America, by F. Darrell Munsell, University Press of Colorado, 2009
  
• The Gospel of Progressivism:  Moral Reform and Labor War in Colorado, 1900-1930 by R. Todd Laugen, University Press of Colorado, 2010
• The Great Coalfield War, by George S. McGovern, University Press of Colorado, 1996
• Industrializing the Rockies:  Growth, Competition, and Turmoil in the Coalfields of Colorado and Wyoming, 1868-1914 by David A. Wolff, University Press of Colorado, 2003
• The Lessons of Leadville, or, Why the Western Federation of Miners Turned Left, by William Philpott, Colorado Historical Society, 1995
• Making an American Workforce:  The Rockefellers and the Legacy of Ludlow, by Fawn-Amber Montoya, University Press of Colorado, 2014 
• Persistent Progressives:  The Rocky Mountain Farmers’ Union, by John F. Freeman, University Press of Colorado, 2016 
• Radicalism in the Mountain West, 1890-1920: Socialists, Populists, Miners, and Wobblies, by David R. Berman, University Press of Colorado, 2007 
• “Remember Ludlow!” by Joanna Sampson, Colorado Historical Society, 1999
• Representation and Rebellion:  The Rockefeller Plan at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 1914-1942, by Jonathan H. Rees, University Press of Colorado, 2010 
• Western Voices: 125 Years of Colorado Writing, Colorado Historical Society, 2004
• A Wide-Awake Woman:  Josephine Roche in the Era of Reform, by Elinor McGinn, Colorado Historical Society, 2002 
• Working in Colorado:  A Brief History of the Colorado Labor Movement, University of Colorado, 1971

Legal:

• Colorado Labor and Employment Laws, Colorado Division of Labor, 2007
• Industrial Due Process and Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards, University of Colorado, 1981

Statistics and studies:

• Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Colorado, 1888-1916
• Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in Colorado, Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, 2004
• Colorado Labor Market Research, Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade, 2016
• Colorado’s Changing Workforce, Colorado Division of Local Government, 1988
• Governor’s Labor Management Conference, 1977
• The Labor Force and Employment in Colorado, 1940-1969:  An Economic Analysis of Recent Development and Potential, University of Colorado, c. 1970
• Labor Force Summary (monthly), 2003-present
• Work-Related Injuries in Colorado, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, 1995-present

Women:

• Colorado Women: A History, by Gail M. Beaton, University Press of Colorado, 2012
• Fulfilling the Promise:  Closing the Pay Gap for Women and Minorities in Colorado, Colorado Pay Equity Commission, 2008
• Labor Laws Relating to Women and Children, Colorado General Assembly, 1970
• A Statistical Portrait of Women in the Labor Force, Colorado Labor Market Information Branch, 1980
• Survival and the Law for the Colorado Woman, U.S. Department of Labor and the Colorado Commission on Women, 1979
• Women in the Work Force, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, 1971

This is just a small sampling of the many resources on this topic available from our library.  For further resources, including current labor trends, employment statistics, guidance on labor laws, state labor and employment programs, and more, search our library’s online catalog.