“Very few people in prison have voices that go beyond the wall. It's my job to do the work for them because they have no one.”
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 Int’l Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union halts shipping on the West Coast in solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Philadelphia journalist who many believed was on death row because he was an outspoken African-American - 1999 An eight-story building housing garment factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapses, killing 1,129 workers and injuring 2,515. A day earlier cracks had been found in the structure, but factory officials, who had contracts with Benneton and other major U.S. labels, insisted the workers return to the job the next day - 2013 Compiled/edited by Union Communication Services Longtime Tri-County COPE chair Bill Grooms died peacefully in his home on Sunday. Calling it "a terrible loss," Metro Washington Council Political Director David Dzidzienyo said that "Bill will be greatly missed by his family and the labor movement." Stay tuned for details on the funeral and plans by TriCounty COPE to honor Grooms. photo: Grooms (right) with Metro Washington Council president Jos Williams and MWC Assistant Political Coordinator Alya Solomon at the 2012 Evening with Labor; photo by Bill Burke/Page One After 22 days on strike and nearly a year at the bargaining table, CWA members in WV and VA have voted to ratify a new union contract with Frontier Communications. “This is a major achievement, and it shows what working people can do when they join together to stand up for themselves and their communities,” reported CWA District 2-13. Just as Frontier workers are celebrating their victory, other CWA members are pledging to “turn it up” as they bargain for a new contract with AT&T Legacy. Despite an overwhelming vote (4/12 UC) authorizing a strike after their old contract expired, the bargaining team is facing management proposals they feel have “no gains” for members. “This is an insult to our Brothers and Sisters and we are committed to bargain for fair and just treatment for our members,” the bargaining committee declared. “We will be back at the table tomorrow!”
photo of SEIU and NoVA Labor members at a Frontier strike picket; courtesy NoVA Labor |