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.