“America wasn't built by Wall Street. It was built by the middle-class and unions built the middle-class.”
 This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Singing About Food Labor; Bill Lucy on the ’68 Memphis strike. Last week’s show: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly.
Birth date in Coshocton, Ohio of William Green, a coal miner who was to succeed Samuel Gompers as president of the American Federation of Labor, serving in the role from 1924 to 1952. He held the post until his death, to be succeeded by George Meany - 1873 The local lumber workers' union in Humboldt County CA founded the Union Labor Hospital Association to establish a hospital for union workers in the county. The hospital became an important community facility that was financed and run by the local labor movement - 1906 Congress approves the Seamen’s Act, providing the merchant marine with rights similar to those gained by factory workers. Action on the law was prompted by the sinking of the Titanic three years earlier. Among other gains: working hours were limited to 56 per week; guaranteed minimum standards of cleanliness and safety were put in place - 1915 The Davis-Bacon Act took effect today. It orders contractors on federally financed or assisted construction projects to pay wage rates equal to those prevailing in local construction trades - 1931 - David Prosten click here for latest listings
Union City Radio: 7:15am daily WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report George Mason University Worker Rights Coalition: Tue, March 2, 3:30pm – 5:00pm Coalition of professors, students, campus workers, and contract workers in support of worker rights. A Conversation About Safely Reopening Schools: Tue, March 2, 4:30pm – 6:00pm Loudoun County Labor Caucus: Tue, March 2, 5pm – 6pm Meeting for union members and community allies in Loudoun County. Check out the best of labor radio podcasts on the latest Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly: RadioLabour; America’s Workforce Radio; Grit NW; SAG-AFTRA Podcast; Welcome to Uniontown; Labor Radio Express.  President Biden on Sunday released a video calling on working people across the country to exercise their right to form unions. "Unions put power in the hands of workers," Biden said. "They level the playing field. They give you a stronger voice." The Biden administration's policy, he said, is to support unions organizing and that "The choice to join a union is up to the workers-- full stop...there should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda. Every worker," he said, "should have a free and fair choice to join a union." Biden told workers that "It's your right," to decide whether to join a union, and "No employer can take that right away. So make your voice heard." Biden highlighted the Amazon workers’ campaign to form a union in Bessemer, Alabama.
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