“It’s a mess,” said one local bus driver on Tuesday on the first work day after Metro shut down six Blue and Yellow line stations south of National Airport. ATU Local 689 blamed poor management by General Manager Paul Wiedefeld for stranded passengers and delayed shuttle buses, saying that “We believe that issues like this are the inevitable result of attempts to privatize and contract out work that would be best handled by the hardworking, well-trained workers of Local 689.” Saying “It puts passengers and our operators at risk,” ATU 689 president Raymond Jackson called on WMATA to return all operators to their regular routes immediately.

On today’s labor calendar, meet the millennials fighting back against unpaid work when the DC LaborFest screens CALL ME INTERN today at noon at the AFL-CIO.
For all the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1943, some 25,000 White autoworkers walked off the job at a Detroit Packard Motor Car Company plant when three Black workers were promoted to work on a previously all-White assembly line. The White workers returned after the Black workers were relocated.  

Today’s labor quote is from the 1943 song "Rosie the Riveter";
Rose Will Monroe, popularly known as Rosie the Riveter, died in Clarksville, Indiana on this date in 1997. During World War Two she helped bring women into the labor force…
"All the day long,
Whether rain or shine,
She's a part of the assembly line.
She's making history,
Working for victory,
Rosie the Riveter.”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus.
If you’re thinking about hitting a theme park with your family this summer, visit unionplus.org/entertainment to get savings at America’s favorite theme parks.
 
"Rosie the Riveter" by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, released in early 1943.

(audio) We want health care for everybody as a basic human right. We want living wages, the freedom to form unions and a dignified retirement. We don’t really need much more than that. 
That’s Michigan Congressman Andy Levin, a former AFL-CIO staffer and career union organizer and activist, on the latest edition of the AFL-CIO’s State of the Unions podcast…
(audio) Right now an employer has the ability to crush workers if they try to form a union and the law doesn’t help the workers at all. So we need to change things in a big way. And if we pass the PRO Act, it would be huge. It would really change the ground we’re standing on. 
Listen to State of the Unions on your favorite podcast platform.

On today’s labor calendar…
Tune in here on WPFW at 1 o’clock this afternoon for this week’s edition of Your Rights at Work, when Ed Smith and I will take your calls on workers rights;
then at 7:15 tonight, catch the great labor classic film NORMA RAE at AFI in Silver Spring as we close out this year’s LaborFest.
Complete details at dclabor.org, click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 2002, the Ground Zero cleanup at the site of the World Trade Center was completed three months ahead of schedule due to the heroic efforts of more than 3,000 building tradesmen and women who had worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the previous eight months.

Today’s labor quote is by novelist Howard Fast, writing about the 1937 Memorial Day Massacre, when police opened fire on striking steelworkers at Republic Steel in South Chicago, killing ten and wounding more than 160.
Howard Fast, who wrote:
“Many have forgotten; millions more have joined the labor and progressive movement since that time and do not know this story. But it is well that all of us remember--and in remembering, act.”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. If you’re thinking about hitting a theme park with your family this summer, visit unionplus.org/entertainment to get savings at America’s favorite theme parks.

Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM.
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith 
DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them.

Metro strands passengers; Chavez Prep leaves teachers in the lurch; “Save UMC” campaign wins partial funding; Trump attacks govt scientists; Labor 411 DC Edition released; Norma Rae screens tonight.

HOUR 1:   
JENNIE TOMLINSON, School librarian and technology coordinator at Chavez Prep: Update on school’s closing leaving teachers (who voted to unionize last year) stranded without health care or salaries this summer. Her colleague Christian Herr will be speaking at the Norma Rae screening tonight at AFI. 
BARRY HOBSON, ATU Chief of Staff: TRANSIT UNION SAYS METRO SHUTDOWNS LEAVE PASSENGERS “STRANDED AND IN DANGER”
MARK GRUENBERG, Editor, Press Associates Union News Service
Union campaign gets partial funding restored at D.C. public hospital
Union, political pressure halts hostile hedge fund takeover of Gannett newspaper chain
Making it official, USW’s Gerard to retire in mid-July
New ATU President Costa must hit ground running vs Trump sidelining safety
Trump transfer of air marshals, possibly screeners, too, to Mexican border draws flak

HOUR 2: 
DANA GOLD, Government Accountability Project Director of Education: stories about work GAP is doing with science whistleblowers, some unionized, and how science has been under assault by this administration; On Politics: Trump Hardens Attack on Climate Science
CHERRI SENDERS, Labor 411 publisher: Labor 411 DC Edition release party tonight at McGinty’s (5:30p) before “Norma Rae” screening (7:15p at AFI). “Cherri’s picks”: top 3 favorites in this year’s edition.   

Produced by Peter Pocock and Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella​

(audio: Save UMC!)
Hotel workers were there. Teachers were there. And of course, nurses were there. They all rallied on the steps of the DC City Council Tuesday morning on a gloomy, rainy day, “not to beg, not to bargain, we are demanding that UMC be kept open!” said Katrina Clark, president of the DC Nurses Association.
And Rev. Graylan Hagler called out the DC City Council for creating an apartheid healthcare system in the city by closing hospital after hospital in poor neighborhoods whose residents are most in need.
(audio: Shame, shame, shame!)
The Council was scheduled to take a second vote Tuesday on proposed cuts to the UMC budget; follow us on Twitter and Facebook @dclabor for latest updates.
For the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1941, animators working for Walt Disney began what was to become a successful 5-week strike for recognition of their union, the Screen Cartoonists' Guild.

Today’s labor quote is by Cesar Chavez. On this date in 1996, the United Farm Workers reached agreement with Bruce Church on a contract for 450 lettuce harvesters, ending a 17-year-long boycott. The pact raised wages, provided company-paid health benefits to workers and their families, created a seniority system to deal with seasonal layoffs and recalls, and established a pesticide monitoring system.
Cesar Chavez, who said:
“The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. If you’re thinking about hitting a theme park with your family this summer, visit unionplus.org/entertainment to get savings at America’s favorite theme parks.