United States 1970

Synopsis

Unionization of the public employees of Hawaii reached its peak in the early 1970s with the passage of the state's collective bargaining law for public employees. In 1970, when the Hawaii state legislature enacted the Hawaii Public Employment Relations Act, the state of Hawaii became the first of the United States to allow its public employees the right to strike. At that time, the state and county public employees were among the lowest paid and least stable workers; their employment and wages were generally at the mercy of politics. Eventually, however, they were granted the right to bargain collectively for contracts and to file grievances as do private sector workers.

Timeline

• 1950: North Korean troops pour into South Korea, starting the Korean War.
• 1955: The Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union and its satellites in eastern Europe.
• 1959: Alaska and Hawaii...