 The struggle for living wages continues today with two metro-area events. In the first, airport workers will rally at National Airport at noon to announce plans to hold a strike vote over the holiday season to demand $15 an hour. Then at 6:30p, more than a dozen organizations and local officials will gather for a vigil at the Montgomery County Council Office Building to support the passage of a $15-an-hour minimum-wage bill. The rally and vigil are part of a national day of action for low-paid workers on the fourth anniversary of the first worker strike for a minimum wage above the federal minimum wage. Workers at DCA and Dulles have reported that they can’t afford rent or transportation to and from work, while others lack time to go home between shifts and other jobs. See calendar at right for details. For live coverage follow us on Twitter @dclabor
 The Shanker Institute is hosting a conference on “The Challenge of Precarious Labor” next Monday, December 5 at the Washington Court Hotel. Over the last four decades, precarious labor — unstable, contingent or part-time work that is poorly compensated and performed under difficult, exploitative conditions — has become increasingly central to the economies of the United States and other leading global powers. Entire sectors of the economy have been transformed by the growth and increasing dominance of these work arrangements. “Today, precarious labor poses an immense challenge to the economic well-being of working people across the globe,” says the Institute. Info and registration here. Co-sponsors include the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
Donald Trump can kill the American union: Harold Meyerson on why Trump’s election is "an extinction-level event for American labor."
What Unions Got Wrong About Trump: Steven Greenhouse on how union leaders were not on the same wavelength as the working-class whites who tipped the election to Trump  "No country in history has ever achieved decent working-class living standards (and the social and political stability they engender) absent a vibrant labor movement. Anyone who hopes for American greatness must also hope that labor has the strength and smarts to survive what’s coming in the Trump years."
|
