On Solidarity Day in 1981, hundreds of thousands of trade unionists, civil rights activists, and other labor allies from across the U.S. descended on Washington DC to rally against Ronald Reagan’s assault on working people and the labor movement. 

While Solidarity Day in 1981 was called by the national leadership of the AFL-CIO, its roots lay a year earlier in Buffalo, where local unionists connected with others across several states to mobilize against Reagan’s onslaught and defend working people who were facing a historic assault from big capital and its political allies.

Buffalo’s pivotal role in generating what became Solidarity Day in 1981 shows how working people in this city came together in solidarity to defend their communities and shape national events.

This program will discuss the Buffalo origins of Solidarity Day — at one of the very union halls where it all began! — and consider what this history means for us today. It will include reflections from folks in the Buffalo labor movement who participated in and even helped organize the fightback that turned into Solidarity Day in 1981.

Join us on Wednesday, September 23, at 6pm, at the United Steelworkers Local 593 union hall at 425 Military Road in Buffalo. 

This will be of special interest to union members, labor and community activists, local scholars and archivists, people interested in Buffalo history, and of course, anyone who attended Solidarity Day in 1981! 

The program is sponsored by Forging Solidarity: The Buffalo Labor History Project, a collaborative, community-based project focused on Buffalo’s labor and working peoples’ history that’s hosted by the Partnership for Public Good (PPG).

Questions? Contact forgingsolidarity@ppgbuffalo.org.