"Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, ...tell you...that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry."
From his "fireside chat" the night before signing the Fair Labor Standards Act (see Labor History, below). On this date in 1940, the 40-hour work week went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act, signed by President Roosevelt two years earlier. The Act also banned oppressive child labor and set the minimum hourly wage at 25 cents. Against a history of judicial opposition, the depression-born FLSA had survived more than a year of Congressional altercation. - compiled/edited by David Prosten at Union Communication Services The District of Columbia Nurses Association (DCNA) on Wednesday announced its support for legislation requiring a full-time nurse in every school. Citing recent student deaths in the Philadelphia school system, RN Robin Burns warned that “We cannot have this happen in the District” and urged those concerned to sign a petition. Current DC law only requires a school nurse in every school for 20 hours per week and DCNA is worried that funding cuts by DC government could lead to even fewer nurses. “The nurse is the first line of defense for the health of school children,” said Burns, CSS/DCNA Chairperson, noting that school nurses monitor asthma, diabetes and other chronic diseases. “It is time for the District to put the health of the children first,” said Washington Teachers Union president Elizabeth Davis. “They deserve it.” photo: DCNA member Patricia Tolson, the nurse at Van Ness Elementary School in Southeast D.C. photo by Vera Carothers/WAMU "Union City" has won top honors for the third consecutive year in the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) Labor Media Awards, taking first place in the "General Excellence - Electronic Newsletter" category for 2016. UFCW Local 400, which has also won in previous years, collected three awards in 2016, for reporting on organizing and bargaining victories, and for website design. ILCA is the professional organization of labor communicators in North America. This year’s winners, who “represent some of the best and most inspired work in labor communications,” topped a field that saw an increase of more than 50% in entries and many new participating creators and organizations. Other DC-based winners include AFGE, ALPA, APWU, ATU, IAM, IBEW, Seafarers, the Transport Workers Union, UMWA and UUP. Sender’s Communications, which produces the Metro Council’s DC Labor 411 guide, also won first place in "Electronic Media: Best Use of Social Media." The International Labor Communications Association awards will be presented at a ceremony on December 9 at the Laborers. Click here for the complete list of 2016 awardees. Union City has now won first place five times, in 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016. |