Renita Harrison, UNITE HERE Local 23 member and a single mom with three teens, is a cook for government contractor Sodexo who’s been laid off due to the Covid-19 economic crisis.
The Community Services Agency’s Emergency Assistance Fund, Renita says, “benefited me and my family by keeping my electricity on and helping me to juggle my other bills despite my not having a job; it helped me to breathe." "Renita is one of tens of thousands of workers needing assistance,” said CSA Executive Director Sonte DuCote. “That’s why we are so grateful to our affiliates and partners for their generous contributions." Contributions to CSA’s Emergency Assistance Fund can be made online at communityservicesagency.org In today’s labor history, on this date in 1944, on the orders of President Roosevelt, the U.S. Army seized the Chicago headquarters of the unionized Montgomery Ward department store after management defied the National Labor Relations Board. Today’s labor quote is by Bonnie Castillo, Registered Nurse and Executive Director of National Nurses United. Bonnie Castillo, who said last week” “We are tired of the excuses, the waiting, and the false hope. We need PPE now: All our lives are on the line.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many families are being hit with increased financial burdens. For those struggling with their credit, the Union Plus Credit Counseling program is still operating online and over the phone. Visit unionplus.org/creditcounseling to find out more.
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Local nurses got some good news this week. On April 21, Masks for America donated N95 masks to United Medical Center and Howard University Hospital, reports DC Nurses Association Executive Director Ed Smith. “DCNA also received approximately 100 face shields for our nurses working at United Medical Center from DC Mutual Aid,” said Smith, who told me that the equipment is essential for the nurses as they work to save lives and limit the spread of the virus. Masks for America is trying to raise a quarter of a million dollars to buy two million masks and as of yesterday had passed the $150,000 dollar mark. We’ve got a link on our website at dclabor.org or just search for masks, the number 4, america.
In today’s labor history, on this date in 1886 The New York Times declared the struggle for an eight-hour workday to be “un-American” and called public demonstrations for the shorter hours “labor disturbances brought about by foreigners.” Other publications declared that an eight-hour workday day would bring about “loafing and gambling, rioting, debauchery and drunkenness.” Today’s labor quote is by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, a COVID19 survivor who said of the Masks for America effort: “They are doing what the federal government is supposed to be doing: providing the resources and the equipment to protect you. Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many families are being hit with increased financial burdens. For those struggling with their credit, the Union Plus Credit Counseling program is still operating online and over the phone. Visit unionplus.org/creditcounseling to find out more. Local food service workers have been among the hardest-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anthony Randolph is a longtime food service worker and a member of UNITE HERE Local 23 who’s been a leader in organizing his fellow workers, especially in response to the pandemic. WPFW reporter Chris Bangert-Drowns caught up with Anthony earlier this week…
(audio) During this crisis, we are actually reaching out to all the food service contractors such as Sodexo, a competence, Aramark asking them to continue paying into their medical and to the pension contribution. And at the same time, we reaching out to the client, which is at the university level, like at Howard, or at American university or at Georgetown university, asking them to support us as well, because at the end of the day, the workers didn't ask for it and at the same time, these corporations are getting all kinds of subsidies, so we're like, they're not losing, it's the hourly employees that's losing. Anthony Randolph, a longtime food service worker and a member of UNITE HERE Local 23. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1999, the Longshoremen’s Union halted shipping on the West Coast in solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Philadelphia journalist whom many believed was on death row because he was an outspoken African-American. Today’s labor quote is by Mumia Abu-Jamal, who said: “Politics is the art of making the people believe that they are in power, when in fact, they have none.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many families are being hit with increased financial burdens. For those struggling with their credit, the Union Plus Credit Counseling program is still operating online and over the phone. Visit unionplus.org/creditcounseling to find out more. DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them.
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith This week's guests: ANTHONY RANDOLPH from UNITE HERE LOCAL 23; Tens of thousands more laid off workers filed for unemployment assistance in the DMV last week, for a total of nearly half a million claims over the last five weeks. A small fraction of those workers are lucky enough to be members of a union, and at American University that membership might literally mean life or death. When Compass Group, an American University subcontractor, laid off campus food service workers, UNITE HERE Local 23 sprang into action to ensure members continued to get pension and medical benefits. Without those medical benefits, laid off workers would have little means to access care if they got sick. WPFW reporter Chris Bangert-Drowns spoke with AU employee and UNITE HERE 23 member Anthony Randolph on Monday to get the details. JOE UEHLEIN with the Labor Network for Sustainability https://www.labor4sustainability.org/ on Earth Day at 50; labor and the environmental movement. The first Earth Day in 1970 had very significant support from the United Automobile Workers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which included money, staff time, printing, and other related resources. Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day told Labor Network for Sustainability President Joe Uehlein that the first Earth Day would not have happened without labor support. Some of the larger Earth Day planning retreats/meetings were held at the UAW’s Black Lake training center in upstate Michigan. JACK KELLY: "The Edge of Anarchy: The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America” At the peak of the Gilded Age a conflict in one of America’s largest factories exploded into the most extensive and threatening labor uprising in American history. The Edge of Anarchy tells the story of this epoch-making event. The book transports the reader from the fabulous White City of the 1893 World’s Fair to the nation’s industrial heartland, where unprecedented hard times are brewing rage across the continent. In the summer of 1894, more than half a million desperate railroad workers went on strike. Riots broke out in Chicago and other major cities. The nation’s commerce ground to a halt—famine threatened isolated towns. The U.S. Attorney General declared the country to be on “the ragged edge of anarchy.” Music: You Can't Giddy Up By Sayin' Whoa: The U-Liners (with Joe Uehlein). Produced by Chris Garlock; engineering by Michael Nasella and Shepsu Baker |
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