Oh, and a couple of figures taking a break from the grind of fixing Britain's economic woes as the nation faced its most widespread strikes for generations.
It was 1979, the "winter of discontent," when widespread strikes forced a vote of no confidence in James Callaghan's Labour government.
While the austerity measures have proved incendiary for much of the public, setting off widespread strikes sometimes accompanied by episodes of street violence, being part of the euro zone generally meets with high approval.
On the eve of widespread strikes over planned changes to public sector pensions, unions accused the chancellor of aiming "another punch" at workers.
Furthermore, even the cuts of 1977 (of 4% in one year, imposed by the IMF) led to some disorder, with widespread strikes in the winter of discontent.
The government is facing the threat of renewed industrial action over its controversial pension reforms after unions representing hundreds of thousands of NHS workers, civil servants, firefighters and teachers raised the prospect of widespread strikes.
Yet nightly broadcasts of widespread strikes in Greece, and accusations by some in Athens that Germany owes Greece for inadequate reparations paid out after the Second World War, have some Germans thinking that intervention by the I.M.F. may be worth the trouble.
In the face of widespread strikes, the repressive Botha administration had unleashed its police and military with brutal force.
Truck drivers participated in widespread strikes against the rising cost of fuel, during the energy crises of 1973 and 1979.
That was precisely the point of the convention, workers and organizers said: To unite workers and capitalize on the momentum of a movement that has already staged some of the most widespread strikes in recent history, turning the "Fight for $15" chant from a utopian slogan into a reality for some.
