Significant dates in labour history.
- October 01 - The McNamara Brothers bombed the Los Angeles Times in 1910; Israel Kugler died
- October 02 - Peter J. Brennan died
- October 03 - J. H. Thomas was born; Clarence Gillis was born
- October 05 - The Hollywood Black Friday riot occurred during a set decorators' strike in 1945; the Winter of Discontent began in the United Kingdom in 1978; Tony Mazzocchi died
- October 06 - American Dream, a film about the 1985-86 strike at Hormel, debuted; the British Seafarers' Union was founded; the South African Democratic Teachers Union was founded
- October 07 - Joe Hill was born; the Structural Building Trades Alliance was formed; Joseph Labadie died
- October 08 - James Kirby died; Lee Batchelor died
- October 09 - The Taft–Hartley Act was invoked for the first time in U.S. history during the Steel strike of 1959; John McBride died; James J. Reynolds died
- October 10 - A series of general strikes began in 1995 in France
- October 11 - Joe Morris died; Joseph Lanza died
- October 12 - The German Confederation of Trade Unions was founded in Munich in 1949; the general strike began in the Nigerian Oil Crisis in 2004; Edward Grayndler was born
- October 13 - Sandra Feldman was born
- October 14 - Matthew Guinan was born; NASCAR union leader Curtis Turner died; Marcus Thrane was born
- October 15 - The International Seamen's Union was chartered by the AFL as the Seafarers International Union; the Confédération Française de l'Encadrement - Confédération Générale des Cadres was founded
- October 16 - I. C. Frimu was born
- October 17 - Giovanni Gronchi died
- October 18 - Pablo Iglesias was born
- October 19 - William Coaker was born; Bill Morris was born
- October 20 - George Becker was born; William Hutcheson died; Eugene V. Debs died; Weldon Mathis died
- October 21 - Gary Chaison is born
- October 22 - The Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions was founded; Jean-Pierre Timbaud died
- October 23 - The Coal strike of 1902 ended in the U.S.; James Petrillo died; Robert Courtleigh was born; Arthur Creech Jones died
- October 25 - John Sweeney was elected president of the AFL–CIO; Catherine J. Bell was born; John F. Henning was born
- October 27 - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil
- October 28 - The Supreme Court of Canada issued a ruling in Newfoundland (Treasury Board) v. N.A.P.E.; Charlie Gordon was born
- October 29 - The International Labour Organization met for the first time; the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers merged with the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association in 1957; Kevin Barron was born; James Orange was born
- October 31 - 1923 Victorian police strike began in Australia; Maine AFL–CIO was founded; William O'Brien died; Mikhail Tomsky was born; Antonio Davis was born; Cecil Roberts was born