What do Virginia wireless workers, Maryland administrative assistants, Harvard grad students and JetBlue flight attendants have in common? They were all part of last week’s historic organizing surge, as more than 10,000 workers joined unions. The JetBlue flight attendants and Harvard grad students -- with about 5,000 each -- comprised the bulk of the wins, voting respectively to join the Transport Workers and UAW. Local efforts contributed as well, with six Cricket wireless workers joining CWA 2222 and over 100 administrative employees working for a Montgomery County contractor filing for an election last week with UFCW 1994 MCGEO. Other locals, including OPEIU 2, report ongoing organizing campaigns as well. These local efforts buttress a resurgent national labor movement that has captured national headlines as teachers across the country have staged massive strikes.
A shop steward for UFCW 400 got a sweet surprise earlier this month after she decided to launch a food drive at her workplace. Together, Satheria Duvernay and her coworkers at the Herndon, VA Giant collected over 1,700 pounds of food and $650 in donations for a local charity. But if helping others in need wasn’t enough for Duvernay, her daughter just gave birth to a baby boy. “Congratulations Satheria!” celebrates the union. “We are so proud to have you in our union family." Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. Hosts Joe McCartin and Chris Garlock talk with Joe Uehlein about the connections between labor and the environmental movement; Patrick Dixon’s interview with Peter Cole on the IWW’s 1923 West Coast strike, Damon Silvers on the arrest of Montgomery Ward Chairman Sewell Avery in 1944, and Saul Schniderman on Ida Mae Stull, the country’s first woman coal miner. This week's music features Joe Uehlein and the U-Liners singing “You Can't Giddy Up By Sayin' Whoa” and “Power.”
The U.S. House of Representatives passes House Joint Resolution No. 184, a constitutional amendment to prohibit the labor of persons under 18 years of age. The Senate approved the measure a few weeks later, but it was never ratified by the states and is still technically pending - 1924 On the orders of President Roosevelt, the U.S. Army seizes the Chicago headquarters of the unionized Montgomery Ward & Co. after management defies the National Labor Relations Board - 1944 (photo of Ward president Sewell Avery being carried from his office by National Guard troops) Compiled/edited by Union Communication Services |