News: The long-running dispute between DC fire fighters and the city over overtime hit local headlines again this week. The $47 million owed to fire fighters after a 14-year legal battle would “add to a budget gap of $83 million in the current fiscal year that Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s fledgling administration is already contending with,” reported the Washington Post on Monday. “The reality is that the city has turned a blind eye toward this problem and lost at every level,” said D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. “There are no options left. It’s time to deal with it.” Said Fire Fighters Local 36 president Ed Smith, “there needs to be more focus on fully staffing the department so there isn't such an impact to the budget going forward.”

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1882, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, New York. He was elected president of the United States four times starting in 1932. His New Deal programs helped America survive the Great Depression. FDR’s legislative achievements included the creation of the National Labor Relations Act, which allows workers to organize unions, bargain collectively, and strike.

Today’s labor quote is by Franklin Delano Roosevelt:
“No business which depends for its existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.  By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level – I mean the wages of decent living.”

News: The first Montgomery County Paid Sick Days hearing is slated for tonight. Lawmakers will hear testimony and debate the policy, and supporters are urged to attend and testify. “No one should have to choose between their health and their job,” says Jews United for Justice, a member of the Maryland Campaign for Paid Sick Days. “We can't just wait for change, or it will never happen,” JUFJ adds. “The Chamber of Commerce is organizing the opposition to come out in force, and signing people up to testify against our bill. We need a strong community voice supporting workers' dignity and well-being.” Supporters will meet up beforehand at Rockville's California Tortilla; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for details.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1834, responding to unrest among Irish laborers building the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, President Andrew Jackson ordered the first use of American troops to suppress a labor dispute.
In 1936, a sit-down strike in Akron, Ohio, helped establish the United Rubber Workers as a national union.
On this date in 1981, Dolly Parton hit number one on the record charts with "9 to 5," her anthem to the daily grind.
And in 2009. newly-elected President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, making it easier for women and minorities to win pay discrimination suits.

Today’s labor quote is by Madeleine Kunin:
“The health benefits of paid sick days policies are obvious. They prevent the spread of disease. But the impact is wider. If a working mom or dad loses a job because of sickness, the family may slip into poverty.”
Madeleine Kunin is an American diplomat and politician. She was the Governor of Vermont from 1985 until 1991 and served as United States Ambassador to Switzerland from 1996 to 1999.

News: Members of three area ATU locals -- 689, 1300 and 1764 -- joined together last Friday to stand in solidarity with the paratransit workers at First Transit/Metro Access. “First Transit has been refusing to give their workers 40 hours a week,” reports ATU 689. “They have been firing their workers over the phone to avoid confrontation with union representatives, and they have had a 100% turnover rate since this time last year.”

On today’s labor calendar, authors Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson will discuss their new book “Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All” at noon at the AFL-CIO; go to dclabor.com and click on calendar for full details.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1861, the American Miners’ Association formed.

In 1932, the first U.S. unemployment compensation law was enacted, in Wisconsin.

Today’s labor quote is by American investigative journalist and media critic George Seldes:
“The first thing a dictator does is abolish the free press.  Next he abolishes the right to labor to go on strike.  Strikes have been labor’s weapon of progress in the century of our industrial civilization.  Where the strike has been abolished … labor is reduced to a state of medieval peonage, the standard of living is lowered, the nation falls to a subsistence level.”

News: State employees say they’re “mad as hell,” about new Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s proposal to take away the pay raise that state and university employees had already gotten. AFSCME Maryland Council 3 said that when Hogan “asked for our votes he said he wanted to eliminate ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’, not take away pay from hard-working, middle class correctional officers, hospital workers and snow plow-drivers.”

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1734, New York City maids organized to improve working conditions.

In 1920, the first meeting of the International Labor Organization was held.

In 1950, a 3¢ postage stamp was issued, honoring American Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers

On this date in 1969, a group of Detroit African-American auto workers known as the Eldon Avenue Axle Plant Revolutionary Union Movement led a wildcat strike against racism and bad working conditions. They were critical of both automakers and the UAW, condemning the seniority system and grievance procedures as racist.

And in 2014, Pete Seeger died in New York at age 94. A musician and activist, he was a revered figure on the American left, persecuted during the McCarthy era for his support of progressive, labor and civil rights causes. A prolific songwriter, he is generally credited with popularizing the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.” He actively participated in demonstrations until shortly before his death.

Today’s labor quote is by Pete Seeger:
“The world would never amount to a hill of beans if people didn't use their imaginations to think of the impossible.”
Pete Seeger, who also said: “I'd really rather put songs on people's lips than in their ears.”