Last week, contract workers who cook and clean at the U.S. Capitol and Senate filed a new round of unfair labor practice charges against Compass Group / Restaurant Associates. Earlier this year, the contractor agreed to abide by federal labor law after the National Labor Relations Board discovered evidence that it illegally retaliated against workers who have gone on strike. Read more here in Roll Call. photo: Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rallied with workers who went on strike earlier this month. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) CWA is calling on the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to re-open its investigation into the quality of service on Verizon's copper network, the primary network serving much of the state. In a letter that included photosof deteriorating telephone equipment that pose a serious threat to service quality (left), CWA contends the new evidence shows Verizon's systemic neglect of telephone infrastructure leads to inadequate service quality and dangerous conditions. This action comes on the heels of a September request for investigation after Verizon admitted that it had only spent $200 million over the last 7 years to maintain its copper landline network in Maryland, ten other states and the District of Columbia. "Verizon makes a profit of over $1.5 billion every month," CWA District 2-13 Vice President Ed Mooney said. "And yet it refuses to expand its high-speed network to Baltimore and other communities in Maryland, while systematically letting the existing network deteriorate. Verizon needs to stop hoarding its cash and start investing in its customers and employees." “There is power in a union” and “To build your movement, be inclusive” are just two of local activist Nadine Bloch’s “5 timeless lessons from Joe Hill” post last week on the 100th anniversary of the execution of the labor icon. Jules Bernstein sent along a link to singer-songwriter Bucky Halker’s “Anywhere But Utah – The Songs of Joe Hill,” where you can listen to his versions of 21 Hill songs. And Carl Goldman sent in “Halamti Emesh Al Joe Hill”; “’Joe Hill’ in Hebrew; who would of thunk?” marvels Goldman. We’ve added it to our Joe Hill centennial collection on the DC Labor FilmFest YouTube Channel. Three Chords and the Truth: Commemorating Joe Hill The Washington Socialist <> January 2016, by Kurt Stand A Contemporary Side Bar to the Joe Hill Concert The Washington Socialist <> January 2016, by Kurt Stand The trade unions are the legitimate outgrowth of modern society and industrial conditions. … They were born of the necessity of workers to protect and defend themselves from encroachment, injustice and wrong. … To protect the workers in their inalienable rights to a higher and better life; to protect them, not only as equals before the law, but also in their health, their homes, their firesides, their liberties as men, as workers, and as citizens; to overcome and conquer prejudices and antagonism; to secure to them the fight to life; the right to be full sharers in the abundance which is the result of their brain and brawn, and the civilization of which they are the founders and the mainstay; to this the workers are entitled. … The attainment of these is the glorious mission of the trade unions.” |