Council Delegates Briefed on Upcoming Street Heat

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Battles as close as your local Safeway or Giant and as far away as Indiana were hot topics at last night’s Metro Council delegate meeting. UFCW Local 400 starts contract negotiations for thousands of workers at Giant and Safeway soon, Howard University Hospital RNs, social workers and respiratory techs are awaiting the start of their contract negotiations, and there are ongoing negotiations for thousands of local hotel workers, whose contract expired in September 2010. Delegates were also briefed in local plans for a major action at next month’s Conservative Political Action Conference in DC, where Wisconsin Governor Walker is a keynote speaker. Meanwhile, the labor movement across the country is rallying against Right to Work legislation being rammed through the Indiana State House by Republicans. Democrats there have been boycotting the House to deny the GOP a quorum, facing daily fines of $1,000 each. Details on how local activists can get involved in all these battles -- as well as extensive local labor involvement in area political races -- will be covered in forthcoming editions of Union City. - photo of delegate meeting by Julia Kann