Labor Day News from Mt. Olive, Illinois.

Posted on August 27, 2026 by Admin

“Mother Jones was an Irish immigrant labor activist who advocated for child laborers and mine and factory workers across America and campaigned for the eight-hour day, safer working conditions, and an end to child labor. She often visited our region to speak and support workers. She is buried in the Union Miners Cemetery, Mt Olive, Illinois, with the Mt. Olive miners who died to preserve the union at the Battle of Virden, 1898. She called those miners her ‘brave boys’.”

Gathering at the grave of Mother Jones in Mt. Olive Miners Cemetery in 2024.

Not only is she buried in the only union-owned cemetery in the USA, but she also has the honor of a festival in her name in the country of her birth, Ireland, and at her final resting place. See: https://motherjonescork.com/

The Friends of the Mother Jones Museum, located in the City Hall of Mt. Olive, IL, announced several Labor Day weekend events to honor the Irish firebrand. Events will take place in Mt. Olive, Edwardsville, and St. Louis.

Mary Harris was baptised at this Baptism Font in the North Cathedral in Cork on August 1st 1837.

On Labor Day weekend this year, members of the UMWA Local 1613, Friends of the Mother Jones Museum, the Union Miners Cemetery Association, and Mother Jones actor Loretta Williams will celebrate Labor Day in three events.

Saturday, September 5th at 5:00 pm. The Mt. Olive Homecoming Parade in downtown Mt. Olive, with miners, actor Loretta Williams, and friends of Mother Jone

Sunday, September 6th at 1:00 pm. Dedication of a historic plaque at the grave site of Ernest F. ( Fred) Long, at Woodlawn Cemetery, Edwardsville. Fred Long was a nineteen-year coal miner from Edwardsville who lived in Mt. Olive died fighting for the union in the Battle of Virden, 1898. This program is presented by the Woodlawn Cemetery Board, 400 St. Louis St., Edwardsville, 62025.

Monday, September 7th at 5:30 pm. Celebration of Mother Jones and labor’s contributions to America at the Greenfinch Theater and Dive, 2525 S. Jefferson, St. Louis, Mo. The program will include the Bread and Roses Choir, Unseen St. Louis, The May Day Orchestra, labor songs presented by Casting Runes, Mother Jones speeches with Loretta Williams, and a presentation on union banners.

For more information: greenfinchstl.com

All at the Cork Mother Jones Committee send our best wishes for a successful celebration at Mt. Olive on Labor Day weekend 2026.

Joann Condellone is a founding member of the Mother Jones Museum in Mt. Olive and of the Perpetual Care Association of the Union Miners Cemetery, also in Mt. Olive.

Joann speaking at the grave of Mother Jones.

Vita Cortex Workers Tell Their Story

Posted on July 29, 2026 by Admin

A gathering of some former Vita Cortex workers was held at the recent Spirit of Mother Jones Summer School under moderator Anne Piggott, member of the Cork Mother Jones Committee.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is vita-cortex-workers-2-1337x1024.jpg — Left to Right: Greg Marshall, Jim Power, Sean Kelleher, Denis Ryan, Tom Ronan, Darren O’Keefe (supporter), Helen Crowley. Also present were Connie Griffin and Henry O’Reilly.

The discussion which took place among the former workers was both engaging and inspiring and often very humorous as they discussed events during the 161 day sit-in at the Vita Cortex factory, which manufactured foam for the furniture industry on the Kinsale Road in Cork.

Just before Christmas 2012 on the 16th December, while planning for their Christmas Party, the workers were told the shocking news that the factory was being closed and they were being made redundant and would not receive their pay.

Instead of meekly accepting their lot, the twenty three workers began a sit-in at the factory which continued for 161 day until May 2013 when after negotiations under the Labour Relations Commission between the union and the owners they were paid their full outstanding redundancy payments by the owners of the company.

Anne Taylor, President of the Cork Council of Trade Unions speaking at the Festival. Greg Marshall looks on.

The sit-in which captured the imagination of the country and gained massive support from the local people of Ballyphehane and Cork as well as messages of support from all over Ireland and the wider world, finally ended on 24th May. They appeared on national television and spoke on all the major radio stations as well as obtaining extensive newspaper coverage. Some of their supporters were highly skilled on social media and the story of the Vita Cortex workers basically went viral.

Huge marches of support organised by the Trade Union movement were held in Cork City and attracted great support from the ordinary people of Cork. The Vita Cortex workers were invited to Aras an Uachtarain to meet President Michael D. Higgins, where they had a fantastic day out.

The workers gathered at the Summer School to tell their inspiring story of the one hundred and sixty one day sit-in at the factory during the Spirit Of Mother Jones Festival. They received a standing ovation from the large crowd present. Mother Jones would have been proud of these brave workers.

Events at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival and Summer School for Saturday 25th July 2026.

Posted on July 24, 2026 by Admin

Events at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival and Summer School for Saturday 25th July 2026. All events at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon except where stated.

9:30 a.m. Peter Foynes: A Heritage stroll. Meet at the Maldron

11:00 a.m. “Remembering the Asbestos War in County Cork 1975-1980”
Speakers: Gertie O’Driscoll, Tom MacSweeney, Derry Chambers & John Twomey.

1:15 p.m. Memories of departed friends.

2:15 p.m. Naomi Masheti. Cork Migrant Centre. “Activism through Story Telling: Raising the Voices of Migrants’

3:30 p.m. John Donoghue. “The Battle of Irish Town: Mother Jones, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Catholic Working Class Resistance 1919-1923.”

5:00 p.m. Celebrating the Vita Cortex Struggle. Speakers: Ex-Workers and Supporters tell their story

6:30 p.m. Plaque events with singer and songwriter Martin Leahy. Singers and musicians welcome. Followed by a traditional whiskey toast to Mother Jones. Plaque is located on John Redmond Street.

Events at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival and Summer School on Thursday 23rd July 2026.

Posted on July 22, 2026 by Admin

All Events at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival and Summer School on Thursday 23rd July 2026 are at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon, except where stated.

11:00 a.m. Frameworks Films Mother Jones and Her Children…. the Documentary

12:00 noon. Dr. Edward Lahiff discusses the book by Elliott Gorn, Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America.

1:15 p.m. Official opening by the Lord Mayor of Cork Performance by KALYNA Ukrainian Community Choir. Cobh Animation Group will attend.

2:30 p.m. Phil Ni Sheaghdha, President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. “Democratic Trade Unions matter because they Strengthen Democracy”
Followed by Presentation of the Spirit of Mother Jones Award 2026.

4:00 p.m. Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants CWA, AFL-CIO. ZOOM fraternal greetings to the festival from one of America’s most important Trade Union leaders.

5:00 p.m. Des Geraghty, Former President of SIPTU and MEP. Author, musician, singer and social justice campaigner. “An Injury to One is the Concern of All”

7:30 p.m. Anne Twomey. “The Remarkable Cummins Sisters from Cork at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane

9:30 p.m. Cork Singers Club.

“This Land is Our Land: Confronting Extremism and Reclaiming Democracy”

Posted on June 30, 2026 by Admin

Gema Kloppe-Santamaria is a Nicaraguan-born sociologist and historian whose work deals with questions of violence, gender, religion and the state in modern and contemporary Latin America.

She is currently a permanent Lecturer of Sociology at the University College Cork (UCC) and an Associate Research Professor of Latin American History at the George Washington University (GW).

Prior to joining UCC and George Washington University, she was an Assistant Professor at Loyola University Chicago and at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). In 2017-2018, Gema was a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Gema holds a PhD in Sociology and Historical Studies from the New School for Social Research.

Her book In the Vortex of Violence: Lynching, Extralegal Justice, and the State in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (University of California Press, 2020) examines the uncharted history of lynching during the formative decades of the post-revolutionary period (1930-1960). Based on an array of previously untapped historical sources, the book contributes to globalize the history of lynching beyond the United States, while offering key insights into the cultural, historical, and political reasons behind the continuing presence of lynching in Latin America today.

Gema was the lead editor of the books Violence and Crime in Latin America: Representations and Politics(University of Oklahoma Press, 2017) and Human Security and Chronic Violence in Mexico: New Perspectives and Proposals from Below (Editorial Porrúa, 2019).

Over the last decade, I have authored several specialized reports for the Wilson Center, the Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center, the United Nations Development Program, and the International Peace Institute. I am also a collaborator and member of Noria Research’s Mexico & Central America Program.

Gema will contribute to a panel discussion entitled

“This Land is Our Land: Confronting Extremism and Reclaiming Democracy”

on Friday evening 24th July at 7.30 at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.

The Red Flag Festival 2025.

Posted on May 13, 2025 by Admin

The Red Flag Festival takes place in County Meath from Friday 30th May to Sunday 1st June 2025. The Festival celebrates the life of Jim Connell, known as the man who wrote The Red Flag.

Jim was born in Kilskyre, County Meath in 1852. He worked as a casual docker in Dublin, however he was blacklisted due to his efforts to unionise the workers in Dublin’s docklands. Connell emigrated to London in 1875, and became a staff journalist on Keir Hardie’s newspaper, “The Labour Leader”.

Inspired by the London Dock Strike, Jim wrote the Red Flag in 1889. It quickly became an anthem of the International Labour Movement and is sung each year at the British and Irish Labour Party’s annual conferences. His life and work for trade unions and the promotion of social justice is celebrated in his home place at this festival. He is honoured at Crossakiel, Co Meath by a magnificent monument.

Jim Connell died in 1929, and he is buried in London.

A very interesting 2025 Festival programme of events takes place over the weekend and full details can be obtained at info@redflagfestival.com. All are welcome.

Fight Like Hell: The Testimony of Mother Jones

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Admin

Written and performed by Kaiulani Lee.

Irish Premiere: Dance Cork Firkin Crane, Thursday 25th July at 4pm.

“We were never supposed to know her name. She was a poor Irish immigrant who survived famine and war, fire and plague. Unable to save her husband and four very young children, she dedicated her life to saving working families everywhere. The “robber barons” called her “the most dangerous woman in America” but the workers called her Mother Jones.”

And she asked the workers to pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living. This documentary has been adapted from Obie Award-winning actress Kaiulani Lee’s one-woman play “Can’t Scare Me” Kaiulani performed at the Firkin Crane Theatre back in July 2015 and visited Cork city for the inaugural festival in August 2012. Kaiulani lives Mother Jones.

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. John Buttimer meeting with Kaiulani Lee at the Lord Mayor’s Office in 2012.

Length: 55 minutes.

The performance is drawn from the 1925 autobiography of Mother Jones as well as her letters, speeches and interviews.

Kaiulani visiting Abbeystrewry Famine Graveyard in 2015.

The 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival Update.

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Admin

Our festival will take place from Thursday 25th to Saturday 27th July, in and around the Shandon Historic Quarter. The Summer School and musical events are held in the Shandon Maldron Hotel and Dance Cork Firkin Crane on John Redmond Street.

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Kieran McCarthy opens the 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival pictured with some members of the Cork Mother Jones Committee.

The members of the Cork Mother Jones Committee are busy planning the three day programme of events for what is our thirteenth annual community festival..

The festival and summer school will again feature a wide variety of speakers, films, walks, toasts and music associated with the trade union campaigning interests of Cork born Mother Jones.

Announcements of speakers as they confirm will appear here on a regular basis. However we can confirm that historians Liz Gillis and Anne Twomey will again feature on the opening evening. The work of both over many years has questioned the disappearance of many radical women from the official narrative of Irish history.

Many of these women had been active in the Irish War Of Independence and Irish Civil War, and some highlighted the appalling social conditions endured by many people in the new State from 1922 onwards. However the new government cancelled the women in today’s terms and through legislation marginalised them for many decades in the social, economic and political life of the State.

The festival is planning to feature the latest documentary on Mother Jones “Fight Like Hell” – The Testimony of Mother Jones which was written and performed by Kaiulani Lee.

Actress Kaiulani, who has visited the festival on several occasions, has worked for several years to create this amazing documentary and we are all eagerly looking forward to seeing it for the first time in Mother Jones’ home place.

Our strong interest in the international trade union movement will see a range of Irish trade union speakers discuss the future of trade unions while we will feature a number of documentaries on the 40th anniversary of the UK Miners Strike and the actions of Scottish workers who refused to work on General Pinochet’s Air Force planes.

Trade Union leader, Mick Lynch in pensive mood at the Butter Market in Shandon.

Environmental issues and climate change will also feature and will include a showing of a documentary on local biodiversity as well as a round table discussion involving young environmental activists.

The Cork Ukrainian Choir and the Cobh Animation Group at the 2023 Festival Launch.

A highlight of the opening night will see the return of the unique and legendary Cork Singers’ Club, who have performed to packed attendances at all the festivals since 2012. Cork’s John Nyhan will arrange the musical events on Friday night and has planned a huge surprise, while singer Martin Leahy returns to sing at the traditional whiskey toast of Mother Jones on Saturday evening.

Cork Piper, Norman O’Rourke plays the traditional bagpipes for the Lord Mayor’s entry to the festival.

Remember we try to ensure that events, except fundraising remain free to all. There is no pre booking required, but please attend early as its a first come, first seated policy.

As always we expect the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival will be interesting, relevant and challenging to encourage discussion and debate.

Further details will be announced regularly on www.motherjonescork.com

Also on the Motherjones Cork Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.

The dates for the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival have been announced.

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Admin

The 13th Spirit of Mother Jones Festival will be held in and around the Shandon Historic Quarter from Thursday 25th July until Saturday 27th July 2024 inclusive. The festival will be organised by the Cork Mother Jones Committee 2024, an independent voluntary community based committee. The festival is dedicated to the memory of Mary Harris/Mother Jones and to inspirational people everywhere who fight for social justice, workers rights and human rights.

Mick Lynch, General Secretary of the RMT Union with members for the Cork Mother Jones Committee receives the 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Award. Photo: Niamh O’Flynn.

The festival and summer school will consist of talks, discussions, songs, music, films and documentaries. We hope to make them interesting, challenging and relevant. If you have a relevant topic which you wish to see included, please email motherjonescork@gmail.com as early as possible but before 29th February 2024 and we will get back to you.

According to James Nolan, spokesperson,

“The 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones festival was without doubt one of the very best we’ve had. Hundreds of people from all corners of Ireland and across the world visited Shandon and many events had a capacity audience. Trade union leader Mick Lynch was an outstanding speaker, he attracted a huge attendance to the Firkin Theatre and was delighted to be back in the city of his father and the extended Lynch family. All the speakers, musicians, singers, choirs, many participating for the first time, ensured a lively three days. Even the traditional Irish whiskey toast to Mother Jones was packed. We are already looking forward to the 2024 festival.”

All are welcome to attend the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival and Summer School, events are informal and free thanks to the support of the Irish trade union movement and the Cork City Council. Attendance at each event is on a first come, first seated basis, so no need to book. We look forward to seeing you.

Cork Chilean Community Remembers Victor Jara (1932-73).

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Admin

The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival continued in Shandon on Friday, all speakers were excellent. Again, we had some packed attendances and we had great performances from Jimmy Crowley, Eve Telford, Johnny Nyhan, William Hammond, and members of the Chilean community in Cork.