Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO

A millionaire, a hotel maid and an arrest after the inauguration for sex abuse

5/23/2017

More than 30 hotels in the Washington area have introduced panic buttons in the past year under an agreement with Unite Here Local 25, because of incidents like the one at the Mayflower Hotel reported in The Washington Post on Sunday. Millionaire John Joseph Boswell (left) pleaded guilty last month to misdemeanor sexual abuse in D.C. Superior Court after being arrested for assaulting a maid at the Mayflower last January. "Such incidents are all too common in an industry where about half of employees say they have been sexually assaulted or harassed by a guest, union surveys have shown," the Post reported. "Many go unreported because the housekeepers, often immigrants or women of color, fear losing their jobs." photo courtesy Special Collections Research Center

Labor unites to “Fund It, Fix It, Make It Fair”

5/23/2017

A stage full of local labor leaders and community allies on Monday stood united with ATU Local 689’s efforts to immediately save, stabilize and ultimately improve WMATA and their “Fund It, Fix It, Make It Fair” plan, saying that “This plan lifts up and helps working people who rely on public transit.” The coalition said access to public transit is a civil right and warned that Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld’s proposals to “fix” Metro “are bad for working people in the D.C. region and take the system in the wrong direction.”
photo by Carlos Jimenez

Today’s Labor Quote: George Carlin

5/23/2017

“Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.”

Today in Labor History

5/23/2017

An estimated 100,000 textile workers, including more than 10,000 children, strike in the Philadelphia area. Among the issues: 60-hour workweeks, including night hours, for the children - 1903

The Battle of Toledo begins today: a five-day running battle between roughly 6,000 strikers at the Electric Auto-Lite company of Toledo, Ohio, and 1,300 members of the Ohio National Guard. Two strikers died and more than 200 were injured. The battle began in the sixth week of what ultimately became a successful two-month fight for union recognition and higher pay. One guardsman told a Toledo Blade reporter: "Our high school graduation is... tonight and we were supposed to be getting our diplomas” – 1934

U.S. railroad strike starts, later crushed when President Truman threatens to draft strikers - 1946

The Granite Cutters Int’l Association of America merges with Tile, Marble, Terrazzo, Finishers & Shopmen, which five years later merged into the Carpenters - 1983
Compiled/edited by Union Communication Services

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