According to Today in Labor History, November 23 may or may not be the anniversary of the first recorded (on papyrus) labor strike, by Egyptians working on public works projects for King Ramses III in the Valley of the Kings:
They were protesting having gone 20 days without pay—portions of grain—and put down their tools. Exact date estimated, described as within “the sixth month of the 29th year” of Ramses’ reign—1170BC—in The Spirit of Ancient Egypt, by Ana Ruiz. Scholar John Romer adds in Ancient Lives: The Story of the Pharaoh’s Tombmakers that the strike so terrified the authorities they gave in and raised wages. Romer believes it happened a few years later, on Nov. 14, 1152 B.C.
Regardless of the precise date, I believe it is also recorded that in the following year, Egyptian employers and their apologists said that while labor unions were once a necessary protection for workers, they were now corrupt, greedy and superfluous.
