This is Chris Garlock, with the latest labor news, updates and history from the Metro Washington Labor Council.
Are you or someone you know affected by the government shutdown? Or maybe you’re just fed up with it and want your voice to be heard. If so, join federal workers, their unions, and other supporters today at noon at the Hart Senate Office Building for our first "Occupy Hart" action. Bring your friends and family. Our goal is fill the entire building with people and demand that Senate Republicans call the vote and #StopTheShutdown. And we’ll be back every day until they do. Complete details on the exact location are on our website at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1913, some 10,000 clothing workers struck in Rochester, N.Y. – my hometown -- for the 8-hour day, a 10-percent wage increase, union recognition, and extra pay for overtime and holidays. Daily parades were held throughout the clothing district and there was at least one instance of mounted police charging the crowd of strikers and arresting 25 picketers. Six people were wounded over the course of the strike and one worker, 18-year-old Ida Breiman, was shot to death by a sweatshop contractor. The strike was called off in April after manufacturers agreed not to discriminate against workers for joining a union. Hear more about the strike on this week’s Labor History Today podcast, available on your favorite podcast platform, just search for – and subscribe to – Union City Radio! Today’s labor quote is by DC Labor Chorus Elise Bryant, from the wonderful article about the Chorus in Monday’s Washington Post. Elise Bryant, who sings: “We sing for all labor. We sing to organize. We are a mighty chorus. We’re singing for our lives.” Union City Radio is supported by Union Plus. Visit unionplus.org to learn more about scholarships for union members and their children to pursue post-secondary education. Apply by January 31.
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This is Chris Garlock, with the latest labor news, updates and history from the Metro Washington Labor Council.
Collective action by federal workers might now be the only realistic way to end the now-monthlong impasse that’s left nearly a million federal employees furloughed our working without pay. So argues Joe McCartin, labor historian and professor at Georgetown University. Federal workers have no right to strike; as Joe pointed out recently in The American Prospect, “the last significant national collective action by a group of federal workers ended disastrously when the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization defied the strike ban and walked off their jobs on August 3, 1981, only to be fired by President Ronald Reagan and permanently replaced.” But a spontaneous sickout is a different story. As Joe notes, “Sickouts have long played an important role in the history of public sector labor relations. Because most state governments, like the federal government, prohibit strikes, public workers of all sorts have repeatedly turned in the past to sickouts when no other means of protest was available.” Indeed, there’s evidence this is already happening, although not nearly on the scale necessary to end the lockout. “A wave of illness among federal workers would not be an act of selfishness,” Joe writes, “but a patriotic gesture in defense of the common good and in solidarity with less fortunate workers. By falling ill, federal employees would be standing up not only for their furloughed colleagues but for suffering contract workers, including janitors, cafeteria workers, and others with low wages, who will get no back pay when this crisis ends. On today’s labor calendar, find about the “Impact of Amazon HQ2 on Workers” at tonight’s Bread & Roses program at the Shirlington Busboys and Poets, starting at 6pm; for details, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1826, Indian field hands at the San Juan Capistrano mission refused to work, engaging in what was probably the first farm worker strike in California. Today’s labor quote is by Terence V. Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor, born on this date in 1849. Terence V. Powderly, who said: “An injury to one is the concern of all.” Union City Radio is supported by Union Plus. Visit unionplus.org to learn more about scholarships for union members and their children to pursue post-secondary education. Apply by January 31. This is Chris Garlock, with the latest labor news, updates and history from the Metro Washington Labor Council.
(audio) “Hey y’all. I just want to remind y’all ‘cause it’s been a little over three weeks, okay? It’s been a little over three weeks. Trump is now ordering, as in summonsing, federal government workers to go back to work without getting paid.” That’s Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, the American rapper better known as Cardi B, in a video that went viral last week: (audio) “This s*** is crazy. Like, our country is in a hellhole right now, all for a f****** wall. And we really need to take this serious. I feel like we need to take some action. I don’t know what kind of action, ‘cause this not what I do, but b**** I’m scared.” OK, maybe not exactly the way Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have put it, but on this day when we celebrate the life of the great civil rights leader, I think Miss B got it exactly right in carrying on King’s legacy of speaking unvarnished truth to power. To check out the original, unbleeped version, go to our website (Note, posted below) at dclabor.org or check our Facebook or Twitter feeds @dclabor For this week’s local labor events, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1946, 750,000 steel workers walked out in 30 states; it was the largest strike in U.S. history to that time. And on this date in 1974, postal workers began a four-day wildcat strike dubbed “The Battle of the Bulk” at a bulk mail facility in New Jersey, led by a group of young workers who identified themselves as “The Outlaws.” Today’s labor quote is by Dave Cline, one of the leaders of the 1974 postal strike, who was fired after the strike but won his job back and marched back into the plant in April 1978. Dave Cline, who said: “I played it to the hilt, I walked in down the main aisle, with my fists over my head-Rocky style,” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. To learn more about how Union Plus is helping federal workers impacted by the government shutdown and to apply for assistance, visit unionplus.org. Sources: Cardi B Goes Off on Trump Over the Government Shutdown (uncensored) The 1978 Postal Wildcat The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History This is Chris Garlock, with the latest labor news, updates and history from the Metro Washington Labor Council.
(audio) “Our members are afraid. They’re concerned.” That’s American Federation of Government Employees president J. David Cox, on the AFL-CIO’s “State of the Unions” podcast, talking about how the government shutdown is affecting federal workers either furloughed or working without pay for more than three weeks now… (audio) “They’re concerned about the fact that their mortgage payments, rent payments, car payments, the ability to buy food, care for their children. They’re concerned...we’ve certainly been working with United Way and many other agencies across the country. We’ve encouraged our members. There are a lot of food banks and various things that union members and other folks readily support. There is no shame in needing food and going to ask for it. All of these food banks have said that they will certainly recognize the fact that these federal employees who have been put out of work or who have been not receiving pay, they will try to take care of them. It’s sad that the folks who have committed to be civil servants in this country. And have been locked out of their job by the president of the country. This is President Trump's lockout/shutdown because he has proudly proclaimed it. Owned it. Now, why would you want 800,000 people out of jobs. It would be devastating to local communities, particularly where prisons are the major employer. They’re located in very rural communities. None of those people will receive a paycheck. Local merchants — everyone will feel the pain and suffering.” Subscribe to the "State of the Unions" podcast on your favorite podcast platform. And for the latest on the shutdown – and how you can help or get help – go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. On today’s local labor calendar, the AFL-CIO’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference starts today, calling on all working people to rise up with courage and conviction in a demand for economic and racial justice. The conference runs through Monday; full details on our website at dclabor.org, where you can find all the latest local labor events by clicking on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1909, in a case involving striking miners in Colorado, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a governor and officers of a state National Guard could imprison anyone without probable cause “in a time of insurrection” and deny the person the right of appeal. Today’s labor quote is from Johnny Paycheck’s song "Take This Job and Shove It," listed by Billboard magazine as the most popular song in the U.S. on this date in 1978: Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more My woman done left and took all the reasons I was working for You better not try to stand in my way 'Cause I'm walkin' out the door Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. To learn more about how Union Plus is helping federal workers impacted by the government shutdown and to apply for assistance, visit unionplus.org. |
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