SCOUTING YESTERDAY: Nationwide strikes ground South Dakotans ahead of Labor Day holiday

This week in South Dakota history: Aug. 30-Sept. 5

Labor union power faced a nationwide test a quarter century ago that rippled in South Dakota.

Telecommunications company US West laborers were just arriving back at work after a two week strike as pilots with Northwest Airlines were forming picket lines of their own.

The Northwest Airlines pilot strike began Aug. 28, 1998, when 6,200 pilots left their jobs. Head of the Executive Council of Pilots’ union, Steve Zoller, told Minneapolis reporters, “I have instructed our strike committee to tell our pilots to withdraw all services immediately.”

Agreements had been made on most contract issues, but two points were unresolved before the strike deadline: job security and compensation, according to the Argus Leader.

The Sioux Falls Regional Airport saw the effects as Mesaba Airlines and Northwest Airlines were both grounded during the strike. Mesaba operated three daily flights to Minneapolis while Northwest offered six, accounting for about half of all Sioux Falls flights, according to the Argus Leader.

LABOR DAY: Holiday origins have roots in South Dakota