Georgetown University and the Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees signed a landmark private agreement on Monday that will allow graduate student assistants a chance to vote on whether they want to join a union. The agreement—among the first of its kind—provides for a union election outside the scope of the National Labor Relations Board. "The lesson is once again plain and simple,” said the Alliance, “collective organizing works!"
On today’s labor calendar, Damon Silvers and I will host a special Union City Radio program on "Martin Luther King and Labor" on WPFW from 9 to 11 am, which will include live reports from Memphis, and special guests discussing King’s strong connection to the labor movement. Then at 1:30, working people in the state of Maryland carry on King’s legacy with “Marching Forward for $15: Fifty Years After MLK” on Lawyers Mall in Annapolis. For complete details, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had been supporting a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of this tragedy, riots broke out in many cities, including Washington, D.C. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King, from his April 3, 1968 “Mountaintop” speech in Memphis: “Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee -- the cry is always the same: "We want to be free."
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The AFL-CIO recently re-booted its YouTube channel with new videos that celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr.
In “The Legacy,” young activists Bree Newsome, Elle Hearns, Tef Poe and Tori Russell discuss how King’s legacy plays a role in the struggle for civil rights today. And in “33 Letters and a Tragedy of Historic Proportions,” union secretary Bonnie Blair reveals the untold story of typing up the letters that led to the historic strike by Memphis sanitation workers, which brought Martin Luther King to Memphis in 1968. You’ll find them both on the AFL-CIO’s YouTube channel, just search for AFL-CIO. For the latest local labor events, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Memphis to stand with striking sanitation workers, members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers, or AFSCME. That evening, he delivered his famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech in a church packed with union members and others. He was assassinated the following day. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King, from his “Mountaintop” speech in Memphis, which we’ll link to on our website at dclabor.org: “Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together.” Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which provides unique products and discounts for working families. Check them out at unionplus.org! On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. Firefighters arrived at the scene, but their ladders weren’t tall enough to reach the desperate workers. Trapped inside because the owners had locked the fire escape exit doors, workers jumped to their deaths. Just thirty minutes later, the fire was over, and 146 of the 500 workers—mostly young women—were dead. Hundreds of activists across the state and the nation pushed for fundamental reforms, and while there have been successes along the way, the problems that led to the Triangle fire are still present today. It was just five years ago, for instance, that the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh killed more than 1,100 garment workers. The Triangle Shirtwaist tragedy took place 107 years ago, but we have a long way to go to make sure that we prevent the next such tragedy and keep working people safe and healthy.
For the latest labor events, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1995, major league baseball players ended a 232-day strike, which began the prior August 12 and led to the cancellation of the 1994 postseason and the World Series. Today’s labor quote is by pitcher Goose Gossage, whose Hall of Fame career began with a strike as a rookie in 1972 with the Chicago White Sox and ended with the 1994 strike with the Seattle Mariners, with six work stoppages in between. Goose Gossage, who said: "The owners always tried to stick it to us, but we weren't going to let them break that union." Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which provides unique products and discounts for working families. Check them out at unionplus.org! |
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