You’ve got just two more chances to see – and hear – “Love Songs from the Liberation Wars,” the original labor jazz opera by local composer Steve Jones, and directed by Elise Bryant, well-known to WPFW listeners as a host on Sophie’s Parlor.
Tomorrow night’s show is sold out, but there are still tickets available for tonight’s show and tomorrow’s matinee; for ticket info go to dclabor.org and click on calendar.  
Steve calls it an opera but “Love Songs” is also part musical, part revival meeting and all inspiring.
It’s nominally about a historic strike led by African-American women at the R J Reynolds factory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina during the 1940’s but it’s also a reminder of how far we’ve come – and just how far we haven’t – since the days of racist Jim Crow segregation.
And “Love Songs” – not surprisingly, given its title – is also a good old-fashioned love story, not just about love between characters, but about love of country, love of justice.
Jones mixes jazz, blues, gospel, pop and folk music, which is performed with unrestrained gusto by a cast that includes professional and amateur actors and the DC Labor Chorus, all under the expert direction of Elise Bryant, who also directs the Labor Heritage Foundation, the non-profit cultural arts organization that works to strengthen the labor movement through the use of music and arts, and which is sponsoring the production.
Do yourself a favor and go see “Love Songs,” it’s just the shot of inspiration you’ve been looking for.  

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1840, President Martin Van Buren issued an executive order granting the 10-hour day to all government employees engaged in manual labor.
In 1883, cowboys earning $40 per month began what was to become an unsuccessful two-and-a-half-month strike for higher wages at five ranches in the Texas Panhandle.
In 1927, Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma, Arizona.
And in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps to help alleviate suffering during the Depression. By the time the program ended after the start of World War II it had provided jobs for more than six million men and boys. The average enrollee gained 11 pounds in his first three months.

Today’s labor quote is by composer Steve Jones from “Love Songs from the Liberation Wars”
Capitalism is a giant cloud of cigarette smoke blown in the face of humanity
Working folk just cough and choke
All for the boss’s vanity
They try to deny
They take 9/10 of the pie
This land was made for you and me!
Capitalism is a Just Cigarette Smoke in the Face of Humanity

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Hosts:  Chris Garlock and Ed Smith; JOIN US AT 202-588-0893

On today’s show: Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Policy Counsel Liz Hempowicz is in-studio talking about whistleblower rights. Plus listener calls from Cheryl, David and RG...

Bonus track: Whistleblower Blues; Charles Murray/Angst a Lot

Labor Song: The Whipping Boy, Whistleblower Blues;  The Soul Foundry Project

Also, if you miss our live show – or want to hear a past show – Your Rights At Work is now available as a podcast! Just search for Union City Radio on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone!
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CREDITS: Produced by Peter Pocock and Sid Dawson, engineered by Mike Nasella; 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. And we’re supported by you, our listeners: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org.

Workers at the Center for Popular Democracy have won their first Newspaper Guild contract, a three-year agreement unanimously ratified last month. The contract at the non-profit advocacy group includes “significant advances for Guild members,” said Local Representative Rick Ehrmann. “There’s a union-shop clause,” Ehrmann said, as well as grievance and arbitration procedures, annual pay-equity evaluations, cost-of-living adjustments, and paid family leave. The agreement also features a stipulation limiting executive pay.

On today’s labor calendar,
DC Jobs With Justice is holding their first Solidarity Squad Training tonight at 6:30pm; At 7, Candace Wolf shares “Spoken Histories of Work & Resistance” at The Potters House; And tonight at 8 catch the first performance of "Love Songs From The Liberation Wars," the labor jazz opera being performed through this Saturday.
Complete details at dclabor.org, click on calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1918, Chicago stockyard workers won the 8-hour day.
In 1930, at the height of the Great Depression, 35,000 unemployed marched in New York’s Union Square. Police beat many demonstrators, injuring 100.
In 1970, the federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act was enacted.
In 1990, Harry Bridges, Australian-born dock union leader, died at age 88. He helped form and lead the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for 40 years.
And in 2012, leaders of the Screen Actors Guild announced that the membership had voted to merge with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, creating the 150,000-member SAG-AFTRA union.

Today’s labor quote is by Harry Bridges
Harry Bridges, who said that “The most important word in the language of the working class is ‘solidarity’”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

Drivers at Transdev’s Hubbard Road location last week overwhelmingly ratified a new contract. 
Paratransit drivers – members of ATU Local 1764 -- now start at $16 an hour and top out at $22 dollars, “a big improvement from before the union was organized and the starting pay was only $11 dollar per hour,’ says ATU’s Sesil Rubain. “There is power in a union!”

On this week's labor calendar, get your tickets now for “Love Songs from the Liberation Wars,” the labor jazz opera composed by Steve Jones and directed by Elise Bryant. 
There are just four performances of the show, starting Thursday night and running through Saturday; complete details on our website at dclabor.org, click on calendar. 
“Love Songs” tells the moving story of a 1943 strike led by African-American women at the R J Reynolds factory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which was an early victory against Jim Crow segregation. 
To hear some of the cast perform songs from the show on WPFW’s [email protected], go to dclabor.org and click on Union City Radio.  

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1852, Ohio made it illegal for children under 18 and women to work more than 10 hours a day. 
In 1918, Sam Walton, founder of the huge and bitterly anti-union Walmart empire, was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He once said that his priority was to “Buy American,” but Walmart is now the largest U.S. importer of foreign-made goods—often produced under sweatshop conditions. 
And on this date in 1948, the “Battle of Wall Street” took place, during which police charged members of the United Financial Employees’ Union, who were striking against the New York Stock Exchange and New York Curb Exchange, now known as the American Stock Exchange.  Forty-three workers were arrested in what was to be the first and only strike in the history of either exchange.

Today’s labor quote is by Steve Jones, from the labor jazz opera "Love Songs from the Liberation Wars"
We are the voices of rebellion
The writing on the wall
We sing the songs of freedom
The witness to the fall
We bring you the love songs
From the liberation wars
The songs that heal
And remind us
What we’re fighting for

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

"When working people are under attack, what do we do?" asked Carl Goldman. "Stand up, fight back!" thundered back the crowd of nearly a thousand Saturday night at the 40th annual Evening with Labor. 
The longtime organizer and AFSCME Council 26 Executive Director was named Trade Unionist of the Year to a standing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd clearly pumped up by the collapse of the GOP/Trump attempt to repeal Obamacare and Goldman urged them to continue the fight to defend federal workers. 
"Trump and the Congressional majority and their corporate backers are out to kill us and the rest of the labor movement," Goldman warned. 
Solidarity and resistance were the watchwords of the night, repeated by speaker after speaker, from Metro Washington Council president Jackie Jeter -- "Our fight is a bigger fight" -- to AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler -- "One word: 'unity'" -- as well as political leaders like Maryland U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. Check out photos of the event on our Facebook page at Metro Washington AFL-CIO.   

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1935, members of Gas House Workers’ Union Local 18799 began what was to become a 4-month recognition strike against the Laclede Gas Light Co. in St. Louis. The union later said the strike was the first ever against a public utility in the U.S. 
In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., led a march of striking sanitation workers, members of AFSCME Local 1733, in Memphis, Tennessee. Violence during the march persuaded him to return the following week to Memphis, where he was assassinated.

Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King Jr.
“The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old-age pensions, government relief for the destitute and, above all, new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life. The captains of industry did not lead this transformation; they resisted it until they were overcome. When in the thirties the wave of union organization crested over the nation, it carried to secure shores not only itself but the whole society."  

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

This is Chris Garlock, with the Metro Washington Labor Council’s round-up of local labor news, updates and history.

Nearly two hundred emergency medical services professionals at American Medical Response voted overwhelmingly last week to join AFSCME District Council 20.
“We want to make sure we have adequate rest between shifts so that public safety is not compromised," said EMT Daniel Hoock.
Other issues included scheduling, fatigue, training, equipment, and employee turnover; more than 70 percent voted in favor of unionizing.
“I can’t further my education because of scheduling.” said EMT Mosiah Grayton. “We never know when we’ll get off work. I can’t afford to go down to part time because I’ll lose my benefits.”
The union plans to begin bargaining for a first contract as soon as possible.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1904, Mother Jones was ordered to leave Colorado, where state authorities accused her of “stirring up” striking coal miners.
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that undocumented workers do not have the same rights as Americans when they are wrongly fired.

Today’s labor quote is by Mother Jones
“The first thing is to raise hell,” says I. “That’s always the first thing to do when you’re faced with an injustice and you feel powerless. That’s what I do in my fight for the working class.”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

If your voice held no power, they wouldn’t try to silence you. 
A critical voice like Dr. Michelle Washington’s or AFGE Local 2028 President Kathleen Dahl’s was so powerful the status quo wanted to shut it down. Without their courage, more veterans would have died from a severe shortage of mental healthcare providers and the Legionnaires outbreak that VA employees exposed. They spoke out, and their union, AFGE, stood behind them and fought for their right to do their jobs serving veterans.  
But that’s about to change if certain members of Congress get their way.
The Official Time Reform Act of 2017 would severely restrict workplace rights for federal workers, and would financially penalize union reps who volunteer to help their coworkers. This means whistleblowers and other frontline employees may not get the protection they need when they try to do their jobs, and the American people, including veterans, will suffer.
The bill is just the latest attempt by some politicians in Congress to attack federal workers and their unions. The bill passed in a House committee earlier this month, but it will have to pass both the full House and Senate to become law and you can be sure the labor movement will continue to oppose this strongly.   

Here’s today's labor history:
On March 25, 1894, populist Jacob Coxey led the first “Poor People’s March” on Washington, in which jobless workers demanded creation of a public works program.  Though they numbered no more than a thousand, the unemployed protesters became known as “Coxey’s Army.”
On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company’s Asch Building in New York City. Unable to escape because they had been locked in by their employer, 146 workers died, most of them young immigrant women. The tragedy inspired a worldwide movement for workplace safety and a crackdown on sweatshops.

Today’s labor quote is by United Press reporter William Shepherd, who happened to be in Washington Square on March 25, 1911 and phoned in his report while watching the Triangle Shirtwaist factory tragedy unfold:
“The floods of water from the firemen's hose that ran into the gutter were actually stained red with blood. I looked upon the heap of dead bodies and I remembered these girls were the shirtwaist makers. I remembered their great strike of last year in which these same girls had demanded more sanitary conditions and more safety precautions in the shops. These dead bodies were the answer.”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

Freestate Electrical is suing Donald Trump's organization for failing to pay $2 million dollars for work done on the luxury hotel in the Old Post Office Building. Freestate, an Electrical Workers signatory contractor, did award-winning work on the building when Trump was running for president. Four other contractors have sued over the project, claiming nearly $5 million in unpaid bills. “I want to make clear that this is not political,” said Tim Miller, executive vice president at Freestate’s parent company, AES Electrical. “Whether it is Trump, or somebody you never heard of, we did a good job, at an agreed upon price and we want to be paid for it. We’d rather be talking about what an excellent job our employees did on a complex project than doing this.” The hundreds of IBEW members who worked on the project have been paid for the work Freestate was contracted to do.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1932, the Norris-La Guardia Act restricts injunctions against unions and bans yellow dog contracts, which require newly-hired workers to declare they are not union members and will not join one.  
In 1970, five days into the Post Office’s first mass work stoppage in 195 years, President Nixon declared a national emergency and ordered 30,000 troops to New York City to break the strike. The troops didn’t have a clue how to sort and deliver mail and a settlement came a few days later.
In 1974, the Coalition of Labor Union Women was founded in Chicago by some 3,000 delegates from 58 unions and other organizations.

Today’s labor quote is by the editor of the United Mine Workers' Journal, who wrote:
“This agreement has been well named. It is yellow dog for sure. It reduces to the level of a yellow dog any man that signs it, for he signs away every right he possesses under the Constitution and laws of the land and makes himself the truckling, helpless slave of the employer.”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

NOTE: there were technical problems with the archive file for this show; we'll get it posted as soon as we can get a usable file.

Hosts:  Chris Garlock and Ed Smith; JOIN US AT 202-588-0893

On today’s show: David Dzidzienyo, Political & Legislative Affairs Director for the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO, on the DC budget, and a report from the WMATA board meeting today. 

Labor Song: Alicia Keys - Superwoman 

CREDITS: Produced by Peter Pocock and Sid Dawson, engineered by Mike Nasella and Robin Smith; 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. And we’re supported by you, our listeners: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org.

If you miss our live show – or want to hear a past show – Your Rights At Work is now available as a podcast! Just search for Union City Radio on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone!

photo by Sid Dawson

On a clear, sunny day last September, school bus driver Renita Smith – a member of ACE-AFSCME Local 2250 -- was driving her after-school bus route in College Park when the instrument panel suddenly started beeping.
Just as Renita was getting ready to call the problem in to her supervisor, she smelled smoke. She immediately pulled over, seeing flames in her rearview mirror. As the fire intensified, Renita led all 20 children safely off the bus.
Then, she went back onto the bus — its windows melting around her — checking every aisle for a sleeping child, making sure all of them had gotten off.
“I knew I had to go back on the bus to make sure I got all my babies,” she said.  That’s the “never quit” spirit that AFSCME members bring to their jobs every day, whether they’re bus drivers, first responders or other public service workers. And they do it without expectation of special recognition.
“Serving my community means that you’re not being selfish,” says Renita. “You’re thinking of how to do something for others and not expect anything in return.”

On today's labor calendar, transit workers and their allies will flyer against Metro rate hikes and service cutbacks, from 7-9a at the Silver Spring Metro station and then from 4:30 to 6:30 pm at the Union Station Metro station.  
For complete details and 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 1886, Mark Twain, a lifelong member of the International Typographical Union (now part of CWA), spoke in Hartford, Connecticut, extolling the Knights of Labor’s commitment to fair treatment of all workers, regardless of race or gender. 
In 1990, a 32-day lockout of major league baseball players ended with an agreement to raise the minimum league salary and to study revenue-sharing between owners and players.
And in 1998, a bitter six-and-a-half-year UAW strike at Caterpillar ended. The strike and settlement, which included a two-tier wage system and other concessions, deeply divided the union.

Today’s labor quote is by Mark Twain
“When all the bricklayers, and all the machinists, and all the miners, and blacksmiths, and printers, and hod-carriers, and stevedores, and house-painters, and brakemen, and engineers, and conductors, and factory hands, and horse-car drivers, and all the shop-girls, and all the sewing-women, and all the telegraph operators; in a word all the myriads of toilers in whom is slumbering the reality of that thing which you call Power...when these rise, call the vast spectacle by any deluding name that will please your ear, but the fact remains a Nation has risen.”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.