Applications for the IUOE Local 99 Apprenticeship Program will be accepted May 2—6. Applications must be completed in person by the applicant at Engineer Center, 9315 Largo Drive West, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Applicants MUST wear a mask at all times, while inside the facility. $35 application fee includes drug screen. Click here for additional information. Equal Opportunity M/F
Two women union activists in Myanmar were assaulted and arrested late last week after the taxi they were traveling in was rammed by a military vehicle in eastern Yangon. They were taken to an interrogation center. Under the junta, physical torture, including sexual assault, is widespread weapon against dissent. The activists were part of a rally to urge a return to democratic rule. Find out more at Solidarity Center. “Documentaries have to be just as entertaining as any movie. They have to make you laugh, they have to make you cry, they have to make you feel. They have to make you care about the people that they are about.” Shaffer, co-director of The Wobblies, will be on hand for a Q&A after Sunday’s 5:30 DC Labor FilmFest Opening Night screening of the film at AFI Silver. Tickets/Info here. This week’s Labor History Today podcast: The death of “Big Steve” Sutton; Last week's show: Working on Earth Day. April 29 Coxey’s Army of 500 unemployed civil war veterans reaches Washington, DC – 1894 When their demand that only union men be employed was refused, members of the Western Federation of Miners dynamited and destroyed the $250,000 mill of the Bunker Hill Company at Wardner, Idaho – 1899 April 30 An explosion at the Everettville mine in Everettville, W. Va., kills 109 miners, many of whom lie in unmarked graves to this day – 1927 Obama Administration’s National Labor Relations Board implements new rules to speed up unionization elections. New rules are largely seen as a counter to employer manipulation of the law to prevent workers from unionizing. These rules were subsequently undone under the Trump administration in December 2019. – 2012 May 1 Eight-hour day demonstration in Chicago and other cities begins tradition of May Day as international labor holiday – 1886 Mother Jones’ 100th birthday celebrated at the Burgess Farm in Adelphi, Md. She died six months later – 1930 Rallies in cities across the U.S. for what organizers call “A Day Without Immigrants.” An estimated 100,000 immigrants and sympathizers gathered in San Jose, Calif., 200,000 in New York, 400,000 each in Chicago and Los Angeles. In all, there were demonstrations in at least 50 cities - 2006 - David Prosten |