LABOR UPDATES
Burma Aid: The AFL-CIO Solidarity Center has launched an online relief fund, with contributions going to the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma so it can distribute clothing, medicine and non-perishable food for Burmese workers and their families. Click here to find out more and here to contribute. Help on Foreclosures: Many homeowners need help now to avoid foreclosures and can't wait for Congress to act . The AFL-CIO Now Weblog has collected tips from experts, including Union Privilege, on what homeowners can do to save their homes. Click here now to read more. You can also contact the Community Services Agency for assistance at 202-974-8220.

DEADLINE TODAY FOR WEBSITE TRAINING
Today is your last chance to register for Friday’s “Does Your Local Need A Website? Taking the First Steps” workshop. The workshop – sponsored by the Metro Council and the International Labor Communications Association – will assess your local’s communication needs, teach you what a website can - and can't - do, and provide info on what websites cost to design, launch and maintain. Free for locals with no website but space is limited: click here to register now!

SATURDAY FINAL
CHANCE TO JOIN
CLUW WALK TEAM
Saturday is the deadline to join the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) team for this year’s “Walk to Beat the Clock” against cervical cancer. CLUW is trying to assemble the largest team to get a shot at a $2,500 grant that they would use “for programs focusing on union members in DC.” The CLUW team is walking in honor of longtime DC labor and women’s rights activist Susan Holleran. Holleran passed away from cervical cancer last year. Members of any union, including men, can join the CLUW team. Click here to register.

RECENTLY ARCHIVED STORIES
DC COUNCIL VOTES TO LIMIT FREE SPEECH; LOCAL LETTER CARRIERS KICK-OFF ANNUAL FOOD DRIVE; LABOR UPDATES (5/7/08); TIMES REPORTER SPEAKS OUT ON PLIGHT OF WORKERS; LABOR ARTS (5/7/08); SOLIDARITY'S FUTURE DISCUSSED; DC HITS ROAD FOR JUSTICE; GREENHOUSE ON "THE BIG SQUEEZE"; HUNDREDS TURN OUT TO HONOR NOVA VOLUNTEERS; NALC GEARS UP TO "STAMP OUT HUNGER"; COUNCIL DIRECTORY UPDATED & ONLINE; LABOR CHORUS CD DRAWING WINNERS; UNION CITY VOICE: Readers Write (5/6/08); Read these and other UNION CITY! stories dating back to December 2006 in our searchable online archives.

Metro Washington (DC) Council AFL-CIO

TODAY'S LABOR CHORUS CD DRAWING WINNERS
Fredric Cooper (JUFJ), Max Toth (Working America), Theresa Gillette (AFSCME), Virginia Rodino (OPEIU Local 2) and Doug McNeil (PeterCares House) are the winners of Wednesday's random drawing for a free copy of the Labor Chorus' CD, Welcome Union Members. Click here to enter in today's drawing and you could be a winner too! The CD includes the title cut, the Chorus' signature song, as well as Siyahamba, a freedom song from the South African trade union movement. Don't miss tomorrow’s benefit concert by the Chorus!  The May 9 concert benefits the Emergence Community Arts Collective, a DC non-profit working "to foster a spirit of community" through social activities, traditional arts classes, support groups and educational seminars.

DC JOBS WITH
JUSTICE CORNER
Indian Workers to Stage Hunger Strike in DC: Hundreds of Indian workers will return to DC next week to launch an indefinite hunger strike to demand the federal government investigate the guest worker program and abuse of post-Katrina Gulf Coast workers. Next week’s launch follows a nationwide tour by the workers – sponsored by the New Orleans Worker Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ) with support from Jobs with Justice – in March and April that included stops in DC. In late 2006, the workers mortgaged their futures – and $20,000 – on false promises of fortune and green cards by recruiters from marine construction company Signal International. But when the workers arrived in the US to work on post-Katrina reconstruction, they only received guestworker visas and were forced to pay Signal $1,050 a month to live in a trailer with 23 other workers. “At a time when 30 percent of New Orleans workers were looking for work, the government suspended a law that made it illegal to hire undocumented workers,” says NOWCRJ Organizer Saket Soni. “The guestworker program is designed to control labor. It sanctions forced labor by migrants and further disenfranchises the most vulnerable American workers.” The hunger strike will specifically call on the Department of Justice to prosecute Signal International and for Congress to hold hearings on the guest worker program in the post-Katrina Gulf Coast. Workers and their supporters kick off the hunger strike Wednesday, May 14th at Lafayette Park. Watch UNION CITY! for further details. For more info, contact Ruth Castel-Branco, Rcastel@dclabor.org; 202-974-8281.
- report by Ruth Castel-Branco

TODAY’S LABOR HISTORY
The constitution of the Brotherhood of the Footboard was ratified by engineers in Detroit, MI. Later Became the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (1863); More info & ammo for unionists is available online from Union Communication Services.

2008 EVENING WITH LABOR PHOTOS