After the farmer, the miner, the shop man, the factory hand, the fireman and the teamster, Have all been remembered with bronze memorials, Shaping them on the job of getting all of us Something to eat and something to wear... Excerpted from “Ready To Kill,” Carl Sandburg’s poem about who should be memorialized in our statues; hear Elise Bryant read the whole poem here. photo: American labor unionist, civil rights activist, and socialist politician A. Philip Randolph. You can find a bust of him in Union Station next to the Starbucks. This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Why America’s most radical union shut down ports on Juneteenth. Plus, Arlo Guthrie sings “The Ballad of Harry Bridges” and Elise Bryant reads “Ready To Kill,” Carl Sandburg’s poem about who should be memorialized in our statues. Last week’s show: SCOTUS bans LGBTQ workplace discrimination; Queer history of the UAW. What is to be a 7-day streetcar strike begins in Chicago after several workers are unfairly fired. The strike was settled to the workers’ satisfaction - 1885 An Executive Order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the National Labor Relations Board. A predecessor organization, the National Labor Board, established by the Depression-era National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933, was struck down by the Supreme Court - 1934 IWW strikes Weyerhauser and other Idaho lumber camps - 1936 Jesus Pallares, founder of the 8,000-member coal miners union, Liga Obrera de Habla Esanola, is deported as an "undesirable alien." The union operated in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado - 1936 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in CWA v. Beck that, in a union security agreement, a union can collect as dues from non-members only that money necessary to perform its duties as a collective bargaining representative - 1988 - David Prosten Union City Radio: 7:15am daily WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report Coalition to Repeal Right to Work: Meet AFL-CIO Chief Economist Prof. Bill Spriggs: Fri, June 26, 7pm – 8pm Via Zoom DC Excluded Workers Rally: Mon, June 29, 9:00am – 10:30am Freedom Plaza, Washington, DC DC Labor Town Hall with Robert White Mon, June 29, 3pm – 4pm Zoom; register here Metro Washington Council and Community Services Agency staff are teleworking; reach them at the contact numbers and email addresses here. Latest DC-area labor news, delivered daily: tell a friend and help build our Union City! This week's Your Rights At Work radio show (WPFW 89.3FM): ERIN HATTON, author of Coerced: Work Under Threat of Punishment; plus MLOV’s MEGAN MACARAEG on the DC Excluded Workers Rally coming up Monday, June 29, the poem "Ready To Kill" by Carl Sandburg, performed by ELISE BRYANT, and "You About to Lose Your Job" (Original Remix). The Hogan Administration is using the cover of the COVID-19 epidemic to make drastic cuts to state government, reports AFSCME Maryland. “They are using the crisis of the pandemic to achieve their right-wing goal of destroying state services. (Gov. Hogan) cares about his rich friends, not the residents of Maryland.” However, Hogan’s plans are so drastic he needs the approval of other parts of state government, including the Board of Public Works. “We have potential allies there (and) if we fight back, we can stop him,” said AFSCME Maryland. Nearly 700 letters had been sent as of last night in the “Fund The Frontline” campaign. “Fund the Front Lines! It’s the Only Way We Beat COVID-19!” |