1886: Printers in Duluth organize, followed within a few months by the Cigar Makers.

1886: The Knights of Labor, the Northern Alliance, The Grange and the trades assemblies hold a joint convention in St. Paul. The convention calls for creation of a Bureau of Labor Statistics, arbitration of disputes, no child labor in factories or mines and no convict labor contracts.

1886: The Haymarket Protest in Chicago marks the beginning of the decline of the Knights of Labor. On May 1, some 80,000 workers, many of them immigrants, march in a parade to demand an eight-hour day. At a rally May 4, someone throws a bomb into the crowd, killing a number of people. Eight organizers of the Haymarket gathering are put on trial, convicted without evidence and four are executed. Although the Haymarket Massacre, as it also is called, leads to the demise of the Knights of Labor, it also sparks an international movement for worker rights. Today, May 1 (May Day) is marked as International Workers Day in many countries.

1886: The American Federation of Labor, which would become the dominant labor federation, replacing the Knights of Labor, is established in Columbus, Ohio.

1887: The opening of a Pinkerton Detective Agency in St. Paul arouses strong protests from the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly. The governor and mayors of both Twin Cities declare themselves opposed to the use of Pinkerton men, who often are used to spy on workers and break strikes.

1887: The Minnesota Legislature prohibits some convict labor, although convict labor is not completely prohibited until 1913. The Legislature also establishes a rule that railroad companies are liable for injuries to their employees, the first move toward workers’ compensation laws.

1887: Thirteen tradesmen form The Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators of America in Baltimore, MD, and within a year, the union grows to more than 7,000 members in over 100 locals.

1888: Organizer Louis Nash calls a mass meeting of retail clerks in St. Paul. Three hundred people, half of them women, turn out to protest the 16-hour day and six-day week. They donate 25 cents each toward handbills, hall rent and the cost of an application for a union charter.

1888: Some 260 female employees walk out at the clothing factory of Shotwell, Clerihew & Lothman in Minneapolis. Dubbed “the striking maidens,” they are members of the Knights of Labor. The strike fails, but the company does not win, either. A community boycott leads to its eventual closure.

1888: Labor organizer and reformer Eva McDonald Valesh (a.k.a. Eva Gay) writes a series of articles for the St. Paul Daily Globe, revealing the intolerable and unsafe conditions endured by female factory...

1884: First shipment of iron ore from the Vermilion Range to the port of Duluth. The Mesabi Range ships its first ore to the port in 1892 and the Cuyuna Range in 1911. From 1900 to 1980, the Mesabi Range contributes about 60 percent of the country’s total iron ore output. The mines are worked mostly by immigrants; the dominant nationalities are Finnish, Swedish, Slovenian and Croatian.

1884: Retail store workers in St. Paul and Duluth form “Early Closing Societies” to seek shorter hours. They join the Knights of Labor to enlist its support for a 7 p.m. closing time.

1884: A total of 73 local unions are reported to be operating in Minnesota, 27 in Saint Paul, 17 in Minneapolis and 29 in Duluth and elsewhere.

1885: The Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen establishes its first lodge in Minnesota, Great Northern Lodge 83 in St. Cloud. By 1890, the various railroad brotherhoods have 47 lodges in the state.

1885: Other new unions form, including the Teamsters Protective Association and Hack & Cab Drivers Union in Minneapolis, the United Laborers Union in Winona and the Scandinavian Laborers Association in Minneapolis.

1885: Knights of Labor Master Workman Terence Powderly speaks to about 1,000 workers at Harrison Hall in Minneapolis and an equal number at a Saint Paul rally.

1885: First observance of Labor Day in Minnesota. Twin Cities and Stillwater Knights of Labor Assemblies call for a picnic at White Bear Lake. The crowd is estimated at 3,000. Duluth holds its first Labor Day celebration in 1887.

1880s: From 1880 through the 1940s, immigrants change the face of America. Drawn by economic opportunity and fleeing war and political or religious repression in their homelands, waves of people from across the globe come to the United States. Mostly working class, they form the backbone of the U.S. economy but often face discrimination. Chinese are particularly singled out and are denied citizenship through the Chinese Exclusion Act, enacted in 1882.

1880s: Throughout the decade, many Building Trades unions are formed in Minnesota, including the Bricklayers, Plasterers, Plumbers and Carpenters.

1880s: Minnesota passes its first law limiting child labor, but comprehensive legislation fully prohibiting child labor is not adopted until 1909. According to the 1890 census report, 4,460 children between the ages of 10 and 14 were “gainfully employed” in Minnesota