August 21, 1933 – More than 1,000
teachers and other school employees in the city come to the offices of the
Board of Education in the Builders’ Building at LaSalle Street and Wacker Drive
in order to receive their share of $1,250,000 in 1931 tax anticipation
warrants. They exchange the scrip issued
two years earlier for the warrants that can be turned into cash. When the exchange begins in the morning, over
100 people are waiting in line. Between
January of 1931 and May of 1933 teachers were paid their monthly salaries only
three times. By 1933 Chicago school district employees were owed $22.8 million.
In place of their regular salaries the teachers received “scrip” that could
then be redeemed at businesses and banks, most of which did not honor the full
value of the paper. Earlier in 1933, on April 24, five thousand teachers moved
on five of Chicago’s largest banks, “confronting bankers, trashing offices,
smashing windows, and throwing ink on the walls.” [https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/8/2/1116048/-The-Chicago-Teacher-Revolt-of-1933]
Other demonstrations followed, prompting one teacher to observe, “Few of us are
the sweet complacent, non-thinking 100 percenters that we used to be. Our eyes
have been opened … After four years of learning that bankers are our worst
enemies, that politicians are interested in our votes and power only and use
our children merely as pawns in their selfish games, that we can depend on no
one but ourselves, we cannot be restored to our previous complacency.” It would not be until 1934 that an infusion
of federal money would allow the teachers of Chicago to receive actual
paychecks again as well as the back pay owed to them. The original Builder's Building is pictured above. It is considerably larger today as the result of a 1986 addition.
August 21, 1976 – The Chicago Tribune reports of a demonstration by nearly 100 cab drivers at the Civic Center, protesting a ruling by the city commissioner of consumer affairs, Jane Byrne, that they must wear uniforms. The ruling, due to take effect on September 7, causes anger among the cabbies who say that over the preceding year three drivers have been killed, seven shot, one had his throat cut, and another suffered amputation of a leg as a result of a robbery. Uniforms will just make them a more recognizable target when they are away from their cabs, the drivers say. One driver says that he has to drive 16 to 18 hours a day to make a living, and that there is not enough money to buy and maintain a uniform. Jane Guthrie, a driver for three years, says, “How can the city tell self-employed persons to wear uniforms . . . If your cab breaks down in a bad neighborhood it’s bad enough getting out without having to wear a uniform which advertises that you’re stranded and have money on you from driving.” [Chicago Tribune, August 21, 1976]
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