The Washington-Baltimore News Guild has added a 30th shop to the local’s slate of bargaining units. Employees of the Advancement Project on January 10 voted to join the Guild. The civil rights organization, which works “to develop and inspire community-based solutions” has its national headquarters in Washington and an office in Los Angeles. Guild members at the Advancement Project include attorneys, campaign and project managers, and administrative and communications staff.
On today's labor calendar, activists are planning to pack the Montgomery County Council today at 9am in support of a $15 minimum wage. You can check out previews of the 2017 DC LaborFest, tonight at 6pm at the Takoma Park Busboys and Poets, and at 7pm there's a rally to protect the Affordable Care Act in Clinton, Maryland. Also, you can add the AFL-CIO Women's March Teach-In to the growing list of events planned around the upcoming inauguration. The Teach-In is set for 2-5 pm this Saturday at the AFL-CIO after the Women’s March. Complete details on this week's very full labor calendar are at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1915, radical labor organizer and anarchist Lucy Parsons led a hunger march in Chicago; IWW songwriter Ralph Chaplin wrote "Solidarity Forever" for the march. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, guaranteeing federal workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively. Labor historian Joe McCartin notes that "At the time Kennedy acted, very few workers at any level of government had won the right to bargain collectively with their employers. Federal action, says McCartin, "helped inspire many states and localities to follow suit, allowing their own workers to organize. This triggered a huge wave of unionization in the public sector that saw firefighters, teachers, sanitation workers, social workers and many others form unions in the 1960s and '70s." Today’s labor quote is by Lucy Parsons Organizer and anarchist Lucy Parsons, who said "Never be deceived that the rich will permit you to vote away their wealth."
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Fire Fighters Local 36 says WMATA is playing a dangerous “blame game.” The union – which represents DC fire fighters -- said last week it was “disappointed” by WMATA’s “outlandish accusation that our members bear responsibility for Metro’s chronic and systemic problems in regards to rail safety.” WMATA filed a lawsuit last Monday against the District in what Local 36 called “an attempt to absolve themselves of responsibility” for the deadly January 2015 tunnel fire. The Fire Fighters said that Metro riders should be alarmed by WMATA’s denial in the lawsuit that “it owes a duty to WMATA’s passengers” to assist, rescue or evacuate passengers in the event of a fire emergency situation. The Fire Fighters concerns echo those of ATU Local 689, which says WMATA “has a long record of putting safety last.”
Today's labor calendar is chock full of events celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We have complete details, as always, on our website at dclabor.org – click on Calendar -- but here’s a quick rundown of what’s happening: The AFL-CIO is hosting its annual MLK Day of Service starting at 9am; The annual MLK "I Have a Dream" march in Leesburg, Virginia starts at 10am; The AFI Silver Theatre is hosting a free screening of KING: A FILMED RECORD...MONTGOMERY TO MEMPHIS starting at 11am (note that tickets are free but they’re only available at the AFI box office today starting at 10:30am and there’s a limit of four tickets per person; And at 4pm there’s a Party for Paid Leave and Progressive Victories in DC. Again, complete details are on our website at dclabor.org, click on Calendar Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1883, the United States Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act went into effect. The Pendleton law required certain applicants to take the civil service exam in order to be given certain jobs; it also prevented elected officials and political appointees from firing civil servants, removing civil servants from the influences of political patronage and partisan behavior. In 1920, thousands of Palmer Raids detainees won the right to have attorney representation at deportation hearings. During a typical deportation hearing at this time, the immigration inspector acted as arresting officer, prosecutor, judge, jury, and recording clerk. A defense lawyer was not permitted to attend while the immigration inspector questioned the alien, who were non-US citizens, many of whom understood little English. The interrogation focused not only on what the alien had done and said, but also on his or her beliefs and thoughts. In one well-documented case, Gaspare Cannone was arrested without charge or warrant by Department of Justice agents in New York City. Cannone, who spoke limited English, was beaten and kicked when he refused to give evidence against other people. After being held in secret for 72 hours, agents took him to Ellis Island and turned him over to Bureau of Immigration officials. Following questioning by an immigration inspector, Cannone refused to sign a statement admitting he was an anarchist. But someone forged his signature to the statement anyway. Today’s labor quote is from a report by a prominent group of lawyers and judges who documented dozens of cases of due process violations during the Palmer Raids. Their report concluded: "There is no danger of revolution so great as that created by ... deliberate violations of the simple rules of American law and American decency." Guests include Carmen Berkley on the AFL-CIO Civil Rights conference, Todd Brogan on the labor contingent at the J20 anti-Trump march and Sheva Diagne on the labor contingent at the January 21 Women's March.
Union City Radio's Chris Garlock and Jennifer Bryant co-host. Take Action Virginia, a coalition of low-wage workers and immigrants, yesterday called on Virginia legislators to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour and provide access to driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants working in the Commonwealth.
“These are common-sense issues for working families and to promote public safety,” said Gustavo Torres, president of CASA in Action. Mark Federici, president of UFCW Local 400, said that “It’s time for legislators to recognize that immigrants are a huge part of the overall economy in Virginia and we must take steps to ensure they can fully participate in our community.” On today's labor calendar, tune in to the "Arise!" show at 9 this morning here on WPFW when Jennifer Bryant and I interview Tiffany Loftin on this weekend's AFL-CIO Civil Rights conference, Todd Brogan on the labor contingent at the J20 anti-Trump march and Sheva Diagne on the labor contingent at the January 21 Women's March. The AFL-CIO's MLK Labor Economic Policy and Advocacy Summit is today from 12:30 – 4:30pm; the event is free and open to the public and there are events over the weekend as well. And there are two pickets today supporting fired worker Julia Flores, one at the I Street Whole Foods, the other at the P Street Whole Foods; both start at 3p and as always, for all the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1874, the original Tompkins Square Riot took place. As unemployed workers demonstrated in New York City's Tompkins Square Park, a detachment of mounted police charged into the crowd, beating men, women and children with billy clubs. In 1919, Latino citrus workers struck in Covina, California. And in 1924, as the nation debated a constitutional amendment to rein in the widespread practice of brutally overworking children in factories and fields, U.S. District Judge G.W. McClintic expressed concern, instead, about child idleness. Today’s labor quote is by American social worker Grace Abbott “Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.” |
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