Today's guests:
Rita Langley, Unite Here 23 shop steward, IL Creations cafeteria at State Dept, on Local 23's contract campaign Ms. Drake Hagner, Staff Attorney, Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, on the need to increase the unemployment insurance payments. Labor song of the week: Mean Things Happening in This Land By The Bones of Contention This Week’s Labor Quiz: In recognition of Women’s History Month, who said this? ““My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong.” Was it Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Susan B. Anthony, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones or Frances Perkins? Hint; it’s the same person who said ““I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.”
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More than two dozen DC Circulator workers rallied at the gate on 17th St. NE before their shifts on last Thursday. "They're demanding that First Transit and the District Department of Transportation provide fair wages for those who move this city," reports ATU's Todd Brogan.
On today's labor calendar, catch Union City Radio's "Your Rights At Work" Call-in Radio Show on WPFW 89.3 FM this afternoon from 1-2pm Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1890, the leadership of the American Federation of Labor selected the Carpenters union to lead the 8-hour movement. Carpenters throughout the country struck in April; by May 1, some 46,000 carpenters in 137 cities and towns had achieved shorter hours. In 1968, staffers at San Francisco progressive rock station KMPX-FM struck, citing corporate control over what music was played and harassment over hair and clothing styles, among other things. The Rolling Stones, Joan Baez, the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and other musicians requested that the station not play their music as long as the station was run by strikebreakers. And in 2000, Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace came to terms on a new contract, settling the largest white-collar walkout in U.S. history. The union represented some 22,000 workers, of whom 19,000 honored picket lines for 40 days. Today’s labor quote is by The Rolling Stones You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.” The first public action of Unite Here Local 23’s city-wide contract fight takes place today at 1p. The target is I.L. Creations, one of the main providers of food for federal employees in the DC region. Serving food in 16 federal government cafeterias, I.L. Creations serves tens of thousands of government workers every day. “Unfortunately, I.L. Creations’ business and employment practices are not what you might expect of a Federal contractor,” reports Local 23. Last November, an arbitrator ruled against I.L. Creations, and in his decision said that the company's personnel decisions at USDA "appear to favor Caucasian and Asians and disfavor Black Americans." The arbitrator said that, quote, "we are beyond the time when an employer could say with impunity, ‘if you're black stand back.’“ I.L. Creations has still failed to implement the changes ordered by the arbitrator, and Local 23 has also filed charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.
Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1960, the United Federation of Teachers was formed in New York to represent New York City public school teachers and, later, other education workers in the city. Today’s labor quote is by Abraham Lincoln, who said: "There is no America without labor, and to fleece the one is to rob the other." Retiring Metro Washington Council president Jos Williams told a capacity crowd Saturday night that he plans to continue the fight for organized labor even as he steps away from the president's gavel. Nearly a thousand labor leaders and activists, power brokers and elected officials at the annual Evening With Labor celebration roared their approval at the event, which was part reunion, part awards dinner, and, as guests mixed and mingled, part raucous caucus. Mayor Muriel Bowser led the tributes, saying, "I am so grateful to Jos for his leadership." Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said that "Jos is the kind of person who brings people together and keeps them together." Liz Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO called Williams a labor giant, saying "Every worker in this region is better off because of his service." Shuler praised his social justice advocacy and said, "He's a creative organizer and tenacious as hell."
Read our complete report -- and see photos from the evening -- at dclabor.org, where you'll also find details on all of this week's labor events. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1887, the Painters union was officially formed. In 1917, the Supreme Court approved the 8-Hour Act under threat of a national railway strike. And in 1948, bituminous coal miners began a nationwide strike, demanding adoption of a pension plan. Today’s labor quote is by George Meany "Labor never quits. We never give up the fight – no matter how tough the odds, no matter how long it takes." William George Meany was an American labor union leader for 57 years. He was the key figure in the creation of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, and served as the AFL-CIO's first president from 1955–1979. |
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