Discussions about how labor needs to stand with immigrant workers and against the criminalization of minorities were the highlights of Tuesday night’s DC COPE meeting and this month’s edition of the DC LaborFest’s Bread and Roses series.
At the COPE meeting at IATSE Local 22’s union hall, workers and union activists agreed to stand together, to speak out, and to attend the Metro Council’s upcoming March 10 training on immigrant rights. A few miles away, more than 50 union members and community allies gathered at the Takoma Park Busboys and Poets to watch and discuss the new documentary “13th,” Ava DuVernay’s searing exploration of the "intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States." On today’s labor calendar, our guests on this week’s edition of Your Rights at work are Russell Hebron, the NIH shuttle bus driver fired for wearing a union button on the job, and David Cay Johnston, author “The Making of Donald Trump.” Plus we’ll take listener calls; the show starts at 1p here on WPFW. Here’s today's labor history, On this date in 1868, educator and civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois was born. In 1904, the San Francisco Examiner began publishing articles on the “menace” of Japanese laborers, leading to a resolution in the California legislature that action be taken against their immigration. And in 1940, Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” following a frigid trip—partially by hitchhiking, partially by rail—from California to Manhattan. The Great Depression was still raging. Guthrie had heard Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” and resolved to himself: “We can’t just bless America, we’ve got to change it.” Today’s labor quote is by W.E.B. DuBois “We must complain. Yes, plain, blunt complaint, ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dishonesty and wrong – this is the ancient, unerring way to liberty and we must follow it.” Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families; find out more at unionplus.org.
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It all started with a simple handshake. Georgetown University student Febin Bellamy was getting ready for another late night of studying. Janitor Oneil Batchelor was starting his night shift. It was the usual routine, Batchelor would come in to clean the classroom and Bellamy would study. On this particular night, however, the two young men started talking. Batchelor's dream of starting his own catering business was something that Bellamy, a business student and a former service worker himself, could relate to. Before returning to their routine, the two exchanged a handshake. Bellamy shared Batchelor’s story on his Facebook page and within weeks, students across campus raised $2,500 to help jumpstart Batchelor’s catering business. Bellamy got to know more Georgetown service workers -- many of them members of Unite Here Local 23 who work in the school's cafeterias -- and, inspired by their stories and dreams, he created Unsung Heroes, a nonprofit organization that focuses on promoting awareness and appreciation for workers on college campuses and works to “make visible the Invisibles.” Recent profiles on the Unsung Heroes Facebook page include Cheung Gunho, who works in Georgetown's Leo O'Donovan Dining Hall, Georgetown bus driver Alvaro Barberena, and Dorothy Lewis, a facilities worker at Georgetown University Medical Center. To read their stories, click on the link to the Unsung Heroes Facebook page on our website at dclabor.org
Here’s today's labor history, On this date in 1918, textile mill owners in India locked out their workers over a cost-of-living wage dispute. Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi proposed a compromise and began his first “fast unto death,” which lasted for four days until the mill owners agreed to arbitration. Today’s labor quote is by Mohandas K. Gandhi, now known as Mahatma Gandhi, who said "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families through their unique products and services. Find out more at unionplus.org. Nearly 150 food, beverage and concessions workers at National Airport won union recognition last week.
The workers at DCA’s Paradies Shops started organizing with UNITE HERE Local 23 after other workers at DCA won union recognition last Fall. The organizing effort coincided with recent mass mobilizations resisting immigration enforcement in airports. “The reason we joined together is for respect,” said Committee leader Aschalew Asabie at a February 1 rally at DCA. “I came to this country from Ethiopia," said Asabie. "A majority of the people who work in this airport are immigrants. We did not expect this when we moved to this country, but we are awake now, and we are going to demand respect every day!” On today's labor calendar: “13TH” screens free tonight at 6p at the DC LaborFest's Bread and Roses series at the Takoma Park Busboys and Poets. Filmmaker Ava DuVernay -- who directed "Selma" -- explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans. Carmen Berkley, Civil, Human and Women's Rights Director at the AFL-CIO, will introduce the film. Complete details, as always, are on our website at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history, On this date in 1892, representatives of the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers met in St. Louis with 20 other organizations to plan the founding convention of the People’s Party. Their objectives included ending political corruption, spreading the wealth, and combatting the oppression of the rights of workers and farmers. Today’s labor quote is by Sam Gompers, founder of the American Federation of Labor "Either the trade unionists are right or they are wrong. If they are wrong, every one of us who counts himself a trade unionist ought to be shunted aside and thrown overboard. If we are right, we ought to stick and fight and take whatever consequences may come, conscious in the knowledge and conviction that the right will prevail." Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families through their unique products and services. Find out more at unionplus.org. Today is President’s Day, a federal holiday and a well-deserved day off for many American workers.
Here are a couple of basic principles that should go without saying: Working people deserve to go to work every day without fear for their safety or being harassed. They deserve to go out the door and make a living without worrying about their lives being upended. Workers across the country have been making their voices heard in recent weeks. All kinds of workers: Hotel workers, farm workers, teachers, taxi drivers, airport, construction and retail workers. All kinds of places: Los Angeles; Phoenix; Austin, Texas; New York City; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and of course Washington DC. Why? We’re defending our neighbors, co-workers and friends who are being swept up in a series of immigration raids by the new Trump administration. Working people understand in our bones that when the government terrorizes people who are simply living their lives and going to work each day, we all lose. When we allow ourselves to be divided, we all lose. That’s why the American labor movement is standing up for all workers. Because when we stand together, we all win. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1834, responding to a 15 percent wage cut, women textile workers in Lowell, Massachusetts organized a “turn-out”—or strike—in protest. The action failed. Two years later they formed the Factory Girl’s Association in response to a rent hike in company boarding houses and the increase was rescinded. One worker’s diary recounts a “stirring speech” of resistance by a co-worker, 11-year-old Harriet Hanson Robinson. In 1908, a rally for the unemployed became a major confrontation in Philadelphia, and 18 were arrested for demanding jobs. In 1917, thousands of women marched to New York’s City Hall demanding relief from exorbitant wartime food prices. Inflation had wiped out any wage gains made by workers, leading to a high level of working class protest during World War I. And on this date in 1990, the United Mine Workers settled their 10-month-old Pittston strike in Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. Today’s labor quote is by Richard Trumka Time after time we're told corporations should have freedom from pesky job safety regulations, environmental protections and labor standards - giving working people the freedom to be crushed in collapsing mines, choke on filthy air and get paid too little to live on. Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, was the president of the United Mine Workers during the successful strike against Pittston. Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families through their unique products and services. Find out more at unionplus.org. |
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