Registered Nurses protested in front of the White House on Tuesday to call attention to the tens of thousands of health care workers nationwide who have become infected with COVID-19 due to lack of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The nurses, including local members of National Nurses United, the largest union of RNs in the country, read aloud the names U.S. nurses who are known to have died of COVID-19. Nurses have been demanding that the Trump administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration promulgate an emergency temporary standard so that health care workers are provided with the optimal PPE. The nurses are also demanding that President Trump use his authority under the Defense Production Act to order the mass production of PPE, including N95 respirators, face shields, gowns, gloves and shoe coverings, as well as ventilators and COVID-19 testing kits. Today’s labor history comes to us from Saul Schniderman: On April 23rd, 1980 Ida Mae Stull died. She was recognized nationally as the country's first woman coal miner who in 1906 when she was a young child followed her father into the mine, and helped her father, as best she could. Now Ida Mae, like a lot of coal miners was a fighter, so after she was booted out of the mine, she hired an attorney and she filed for reinstatement and she became somewhat of a cause celebre. She entered the mines again, and retired in 1944. Unfortunately, she died in poverty. but she left an important legacy for today's women miners…Ida Mae Stull, America's first woman miner. Today’s labor quote is by Ida Mae Stull, who (Saul audio) allegedly said, “It's my desire to use a pick handle because it feels better than a broom handle to me.” 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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Too often, Americans are asked to choose between jobs and the environment. But as we face increasingly severe impacts of environmental challenges like climate change and adapt to an interconnected global economy, we can no longer choose one or the other. The BlueGreen Alliance believes we can and must choose both.
The BlueGreen Alliance unites America’s largest labor unions and its most influential environmental organizations to solve today’s environmental challenges in ways that create and maintain quality jobs and build a stronger, fairer economy. The Alliance argues that the actions we take to create quality jobs and to protect working people and the environment must go hand-in-hand, and that together, we will build clean, thriving and fair economy. The Alliance’s work is centered around three key objectives: clean jobs, clean infrastructure and fair trade. Find out more about their work at bluegreenalliance.org In today’s labor history, on this date in 1938, one of the worst disasters in Virginia mining history occurred at the Red Jacket Coal Corporation mine near Grundy in Buchanan County. All 45 men in the mine at the time died when coal dust ignited, causing blasts that were felt two miles away. Today’s labor quote is by AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who said: “Time after time we're told corporations should have freedom from pesky job safety regulations, environmental protections and labor standards - giving working people the freedom to be crushed in collapsing mines, choke on filthy air and get paid too little to live on.” 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. O-LU-WADA-MILOL OLA-NIYAN, a correctional officer at Jessup Correctional Institution and a shop steward with AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, last week implored Maryland governor Larry Hogan to provide guards and other state workers with face masks and other tools to ensure their safety.
“If we on the front lines are not being protected the way we should be protected we are bringing this virus to our families,” OLA-NIYAN said. He’s in self-quarantine after becoming exposed to another guard who tested positive last week. “We are not afraid of doing this job,” he said. “We are afraid that we don’t have the proper equipment” to do the job. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1997, some 12,500 Goodyear Tire workers struck nine plants in what was to become a three week walkout over job security, wage and benefit issues. Today’s labor quote is by Lillian Roberts, an organizer for AFSCME, who led series of strikes at New York State hospitals to protest Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s opposition to unionization. Her efforts landed her in jail for a month, after Rockefeller signed the Taylor Law on this date in 1967, permitting union organization and bargaining by public employees, but outlawing the right to strike. Lillian Roberts, who said: "I had to break the law to force him to comply." 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. While the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks its havoc on the world's population, working people are on the front lines, joining together to save lives and keep the United States running.
And many are paying the ultimate price. The latest numbers from the CDC show that nearly 400,000 Americans have contracted the virus and more than 12,000 have died. We're currently facing one of the most challenging events in recent history. Shockingly, some greedy corporations are using this time to attack our country’s working people, attempting to use a crisis to roll back the rights of the very people who are dying while keeping America running. The dishonor role of corporations that have used the pandemic to attack the rights of working people includes the Kennedy Center right here in Washington, Amazon, Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and, sadly, Powell's Bookstore. We’ve got a link to the entire list on our website at dclabor.org In today’s labor history, on this date in 1912, 10,000 demonstrators celebrated textile workers’ win of a 10-percent pay hike and grievance committees after a one-month strike in Lowell, Massachusetts. Today’s labor quote is by Eleanor Roosevelt, who said: “We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.” 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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