​This week’s Labor History Today podcast: UAW’s Punch Press strike daily
On today’s show, the Cool Things from the Meany Archives crew features The Punch Press, an auto worker strike publication. Also this week, Saul Schniderman remembers contributions to labor history by both Johnny Paycheck and Bruce Springsteen.
Last week's show: (1/5): A very unusual strike

January 17
Radical labor organizer and anarchist Lucy Parsons leads hunger march in Chicago; IWW songwriter Ralph Chaplin writes "Solidarity Forever" for the march - 1915

President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 10988, guaranteeing federal workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively - 1962

January 19
Twenty strikers at the American Agricultural Chemical Co. in Roosevelt, N.J. were shot, two fatally, by factory guards. They and other strikers had stopped an incoming train in search of scabs when the guards opened fire - 1915

3,000 members of the Filipino Federation of Labor strike the plantations of Oahu, Hawaii. Their ranks swell to 8,300 as they are joined by members of the Japanese Federation of Labor - 1920

Yuba City, Calif. labor contractor Juan V. Corona found guilty of murdering 25 itinerant farm workers he employed during 1970 and 1971 - 1973

Bruce Springsteen makes an unannounced appearance at a benefit for laid-off 3M workers, Asbury Park, NJ - 1986

January 20
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) founded - 1920

Hard working Mickey Mantle signs a new contract with the New York Yankees making him the highest paid player in baseball: $75,000 for the entire 1961 season - 1961

Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown," a eulogy for dying industrial cities, is the country’s most listened-to song. The lyrics, in part: "Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores / Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more / They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks / Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to your hometown / Your hometown / Your hometown / Your hometown . . ." - 1986

- David Prosten

ATU Local 689 members from the Cinder Bed Road bus garage have voted overwhelmingly to approve a collective bargaining agreement with Transdev. Over 120 workers have been on strike since October 24th -- the longest transit strike in this region's history and the first strike at a MetroBus garage in 41 years. Workers will immediately report to the garage on Friday, but will be required to attend route retraining sessions. Full bus service will likely be restored sometime early next week. "Our members are looking forward to seeing their passengers again," Local 689 said in a news release. 

The striking workers risked eviction and foreclosure, "but chose to stand together and fight to improve their working conditions," Local 689 said. "Many members had to delay essential medical care and spent what little savings they had. Some strikers borrowed money from friends and family to survive for nearly three months. The strikers stood together almost every day in the cold with only the heat from two contained fires for warmth. But despite the costs, the workers never lost hope." 

The union credited the victory to "the tireless work of transit riders, union members, activists, and elected officials across the DMV. Their support and pressure made this contract a reality. Community members donated firewood, canned food, home cooked meals, clothing, presents for the holidays, money, and their time. These workers now have a path to retirement security, regular wage increases, better healthcare, sick leave, paid time off, worker protections, and rights on the job." 

"This strike was always bigger than one garage.” said Raymond Jackson, President and Business Agent of ATU Local 689. “This was a stand for working people against mistreatment. These workers showed what you can achieve when you fight for what you deserve. This strike should be a warning to transit systems across the country. You should reconsider privatizing public transit. This is what you risk when trying to cut costs on the backs of workers and riders."

“The Cinder Bed Road workers’ ratified contract shows their strike was a victory -- a victory for living wages for transit workers, a victory for fair treatment on the job, a victory for riders and a victory over the privatization of public transportation in the DMV,” said ATU International President John Costa. “I am proud to call these workers my sisters and brothers.”

Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that Power Design, Inc., a national electrical contractor, will be required to pay $2.75 million to workers and the District as part of a settlement in a wage theft and worker misclassification case.
“This settlement should be a wake-up call to District employers: if you cheat workers out of wages and benefits they’ve earned, or commit payroll fraud to gain an unlawful edge, you will be held accountable,” said AG Racine.
“We have been concerned about Power Design’s treatment of workers for many years now,” said Elizabeth Falcon Executive Director of DC Jobs with Justice, which began sounding the alarm about Power Design’s activities in DC in 2017. “DC has some of the best laws in the country that support and protect workers, and strong enforcement action like this show that we are serious about putting our values into practice for workers.” 
The settlement resolves a 2018 lawsuit against Power Design and two subcontractors that staffed its worksites for allegedly misclassifying more than 500 electrical workers as independent contractors instead of employees to cut labor costs. OAG also alleged that Power Design cheated workers out of wages and benefits and failed to pay District unemployment insurance taxes. This settlement is OAG’s largest recovery to date in a wage enforcement action.
Read more here.