Blog Archives - Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

6/30/2015

For today’s local labor news and updates, go to dclabor.org; for up-to-date listings for labor activities, click on calendar.

Here’s today’s labor history:
The Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW, was founded on this date in Chicago in 1905

In 1928, Alabama outlawed the leasing of convicts to mine coal, a practice that had been in place since 1848.

The Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, a union whose roots traced back to the militant Western Federation of Miners, and which helped found the Industrial Workers of the World, merged into the United Steelworkers of America on this date in 1967

And in 1998, up to 40,000 New York construction workers demonstrated in midtown Manhattan, protesting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s awarding of a $33 million contract to a nonunion company.

Today’s labor quote is by organizer Saul Alinsky:
“Power goes to two poles – to those who’ve got the money and those who’ve got people.”

Monday, June 29, 2015

6/29/2015

For today’s local labor news and updates, go to dclabor.org; for up-to-date listings for labor activities, click on calendar.

Here’s today’s labor history:

On this date in 1885, a 7-day streetcar strike began in Chicago after several workers were unfairly fired. Wrote the police chief at the time, describing the strikers’ response to scabs: "One of my men said he was at the corner of Halsted and Madison Streets, and although he could see fifty stones in the air, he couldn't tell where they were coming from." The strike was settled to the workers’ satisfaction.

In 1936, the IWW struck Weyerhauser and other Idaho lumber camps.

On this date in 1934, an Executive Order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the National Labor Relations Board. A previous organization, the National Labor Board, had been struck down by the Supreme Court.

And in 1936, Jesus Pallares, founder of the 8,000-member coal miners union, Liga Obrera de Habla Espanola, was deported as an "undesirable alien." The union operated in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

Today’s labor quote is by Eugene Debs, who said:
“I would not be a capitalist; I would be a man; you cannot be both at the same time.”

Friday, June 26, 2015

6/26/2015

Welcome to Union City Radio for Friday, June 26. This is Chris Garlock, with the Metro Washington Council’s round-up of local labor news, updates and history.

A co-op owned and run by Montgomery County taxi drivers took another step toward reality on Monday when the Montgomery County Council Transportation Committee approved some key proposals. “While we are happy that we’ve gotten this far, we’ll continue to fight,” said Montgomery County Professional Drivers Union president Peter Ibik. The proposals, which go to the full Council at the end of July for a final vote, include a modernized dispatch system for drivers, lower credit card rates and a voice for drivers in determining their lease rates and other fees

On today’s labor calendar, the Great Labor Arts Exchange continues today at the ATU Training and Education Center in Silver Spring, where you can join labor and community cultural workers for a weekend of workshops, films, discussion groups, slam poetry, jam sessions and open mike. Be sure to catch the Art Exchange Concert tomorrow night starting at 8pm, and on Sunday the DC chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women hosts their annual Gloria Johnson Awards Luncheon at IBEW 26; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for details.

Here’s today’s labor history:
In 1894, members of the American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, refused to handle Pullman cars, in solidarity with Pullman strikers. Two dozen strikers were killed over the course of the strike.

And on this date in 1959, the 189-mile-long St. Lawrence Seaway opened, making the Great Lakes accessible to Atlantic shipping. Thousands of laborers toiled for decades to make it happen; indirectly and directly, the Seaway today supports 75,000 jobs in Canada and 150,000 in the U.S.

Today’s labor quote is by Eugene Debs:
“Solidarity is not a matter of sentiment but a fact, cold and impassive as the granite foundations of a skyscraper. If the basic elements, identity of interest, clarity of vision, honesty of intent, and oneness of purpose, or any of these is lacking, all sentimental pleas for solidarity, and all other efforts to achieve it will be barren of results.”

Thursday, June 25, 2015

6/25/2015

Teachers at Frank W. Ballou High School staged a sit-in last week to protest “reconstitution,” which requires teachers to reapply for their positions. The process has resulted in a number of layoffs, while some teachers have simply left the system entirely. WTU Local 6 President Elizabeth Davis sent a letter to DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson criticizing the way “reconstitution” is being implemented at Ballou and pointing out that “the constant teacher turnover at the school over the past five years has created an instability that is hurting student achievement.” Davis asked the chancellor to rescind the reconstitution order.

On today’s labor calendar, the Great Labor Arts Exchange starts today at the ATU Training and Education Center in Silver Spring, where you can join labor and community cultural workers for a weekend of workshops, films, discussion groups, slam poetry, jam sessions and open mike. At 11:30 this morning, check out the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust Worker Appreciation Day event and tonight at 6pm the DC National Lawyers Guild host their first annual awards reception at the Bohemian Caverns; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for details.

Here’s today’s labor history:
In 1893, more than 8,000 people attended the dedication ceremony for The Haymarket Martyrs Monument in Chicago, honoring those framed and executed for the bombing at Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886.

On this date in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act passed Congress, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week.

In 1941, at the urging of black labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order barring discrimination in defense industries.

And on this date in 1994, in Decatur, Illinois, police sprayed workers with pepper-gas workers at an A.E. Staley plant gate one year into the company's two-and-a-half-year lockout of Paperworkers Local 7837.

Today’s labor quote is by A. Philip Randolph:
“Justice is never given; it is exacted and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationship.”

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

6/24/2015

DC fire fighter Jason Woods was among those honored in this year’s Cafritz Awards, which honors District government workers who exemplify public service. Woods, a Fire Fighters Local 36 member, also serves as president of the DC Firefighters Burn Foundation, which has raised over $1 million dollars for much-needed equipment for The Burn Center at Med Star Washington Hospital Center and Children’s National Medical Center and organized a community-wide support network to help burn survivors through the process of recovery. “While many people today see their job as a paycheck, it’s my passion,” says Woods. “I eat, sleep and breathe my career as a fire fighter of this great city.” Go to dclabor.org to see a video about Woods and read more about the other award-winners.

On today’s labor calendar, Jobs with Justice’s Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Awards will be held tonight starting at 5pm at the National Museum of Women in the Arts; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for details.

Here’s today’s labor history:
Agnes Nestor, president of the International Glove Workers Union and longtime leader of the Chicago Women's Trade Union League was born on this date in 1880. She began work in a glove factory at age 14 and helped organize unions in other industries, campaigned for women’s suffrage, a minimum wage, and maternity health legislation, and against child labor.

Today’s labor quote is by Eleanor Roosevelt:
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.

Eleanor Roosevelt, who said: “I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.”

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

6/23/2015

The Fast Track battle has now shifted back to the US Senate where there will be a vote today. There's a rally at Senator Ben Cardin's district office at 10a this morning to urge him to “say no to ‘fast track!’” To reach Cardin, call 1-855-712-8441. “Make no mistake, all workers, public and private sector, teachers and building trades, will be hurt by this legislation,” warns the AFL-CIO. “This bill will kill jobs, drive down wages, hurt the environment, threaten food safety, and give corporations sweeping power. Don’t let the U.S. Senate pull a fast one on America’s working people!”

On today’s labor calendar, in addition to the 10a Fast Track rally at Senator Cardin’s office, there’s a discussion about the Loss of Citizenship and Mass Deportation of Families of Haitian Descent from the Dominican Republic at 10a at the AFL-CIO. Then at 12:15 find out more about Worker Justice in the Global Apparel Industry at the United Methodist Building; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for details.

Here’s today’s labor history:
In 1914, Charles Moyer, president of the Western Federation of Miners, went to Butte, Montana in an attempt to mediate a conflict between factions of the miner’s local there. It didn’t go well. Gunfight in the union hall killed one man; Moyer and other union officers left the building, which was then leveled in a dynamite blast.

On this date in 1947, Congress overrode President Harry Truman's veto of the anti-worker Taft-Hartley Act. The law weakened unions and let states exempt themselves from union requirements. Twenty states immediately enacted open shop laws and more followed.

And in 1999, a majority of the 5,000 textile workers at six Fieldcrest Cannon textile plants in Kannapolis, North Carolina voted for union representation after an historic 25-year fight.

Today’s labor quote is by Harry Truman, after vetoing the Taft-Hartley bill:
“I am convinced it is a bad bill. It is bad for labor, bad for management, and bad for the country...The bill is deliberately designed to weaken labor unions. When the sponsors of the bill claim that by weakening unions, they are giving rights back to individual workingmen, they ignore the basic reason why unions are important in our democracy. Unions exist so that laboring men can bargain with their employers on a basis of equality. Because of unions, the living standards of our working people have increased steadily until they are today the highest in the world.”

Monday, June 22, 2015

6/22/2015

Welcome to Union City Radio for Monday, June 22. This is Chris Garlock, with the Metro Washington Council’s round-up of local labor news, updates and history.

After the House voted last week to grant President Obama “fast track” authority to negotiate trade deals, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said that “Workers’ resolve is firmer than ever,” and pledged that “We will fight at every level and in every way to protect American workers and our economy by rejecting Fast Track and this corporate trade deal.” The vote was the first in a complicated series of moves by Obama and Republicans to reverse the previous week’s overwhelming vote against the president’s trade agenda.

The DC Nurses Association and Children’s School Services have settled a new contract that includes a 3% across the board wage increase, increases in education benefits, and a commitment to address shared nursing leadership issues.

On today’s labor calendar, Caroline Fredrickson discusses her book “Under the Bus: How Working Women Are Being Run Over” today at 12:30pm at the AFL-CIO; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for details.

In this week's labor quiz; how much more were weekly median earnings for a two-income, union family in 2014 than for a nonunion family? Is the union difference $12, $23, $66, $400, or $727? Go to unionist.com and click on Labor Quiz and you could be next week's winner!

Here’s today’s labor history:
86 passengers on a train carrying members of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus were killed, and another 127 injured in a wreck near Hammond, Indiana in 1918. Five days later the dead were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, in an area set aside as Showmen’s Rest, purchased only a few months earlier by the Showmen’s League of America.

On this date in 1922, violence erupted during a coal mine strike at Herrin, Illinois; 36 were killed, 21 of them non-union miners.

Today’s labor quote is by John L. Lewis:
“The union miner cannot agree to the acceptance of a wage principle which will permit his annual earnings and his living standards to be determined by the hungriest unfortunates whom the non-union operators can employ.”
Lewis led the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960.

Friday, June 19, 2015

6/19/2015

Organized labor’s stunning defeat of Fast Track headlined Monday’s meeting of the Metro Washington Council. AFL-CIO staffer Maya Goines updated Council delegates on the continuing fight against Fast Track and the TPP, which will probably be brought up for another vote soon. Saying “the fight is not over yet,” Goines urged delegates to call Maryland Congressional representatives Chris Van Hollen and Donna Edwards to thank them for their votes, and to stay tuned for more updates. Delegates also approved the Council’s new strategic plan, which includes a change to a full-time Executive Director and a volunteer President, effective early next year when current president Jos Williams retires.

On today’s labor calendar, ONE DC is holding a Marriot Accountability Report Press Conference today at 10am, there’s a Justice for Janitors Rally at 4pm and thentonight the Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO hosts their annual “Salute to Leadership” Awards Dinner starting at 6pm. Tomorrow there’s a conversation with workers of the occupied RR Donnelly factory in Argentina at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore. For complete details on all these great events, go to dclabor.org and click on calendar.

Here’s today’s labor history:
In 1912 the eight-hour work day was adopted for federal employees.

On this date in 1934, a pioneering sit-down strike was conducted by workers at a General Tire Company factory in Akron, Ohio. The United Rubber Workers union was founded a year later. The tactic launched a wave of similar efforts in the auto and other industries over the next several years.

And in 1937, The Women’s Day Massacre took place in Youngstown, Ohio, when police used tear gas on women and children, including at least one infant in his mother's arms, during a strike at Republic Steel. One union organizer later recalled, "When I got there I thought the Great War had started over again. Gas was flying all over the place and shots flying and flares going up and it was the first time I had ever seen anything like it in my life..."

Today’s labor quote is by Jeremy Brecher, author of “Strike”:
“The sit-down idea spread so rapidly because it dramatized a simple powerful act, that no social institution can run without the cooperation of those whose activity make it up.”

Thursday, June 18, 2015

6/18/2015

Area labor leaders hit the muggy District streets Tuesday morning to show their support for Washington Teachers Union Local 6, which is battling a Freedom of Information Act exemption buried in the DC City Council’s Budget Support Act. The union charged DC Public Schools with using the exemption to hide data that would reveal why more than 500 DC teachers have been fired since 2010, alleging a pattern of discrimination. Among those at Tuesday morning’s press conference in front of the Wilson Building was Fire Fighters Local 36 president Ed Smith, who said that “It is a basic right of any union to have access to data as it relates to representation of their members.” The teachers are demanding an end to the FOIA exemption and disclosure of public records -- with teachers' personal information redacted -- related to DCPS and the IMPACT teacher evaluation system.

On today’s labor calendar, Justice for Janitors is holding a rally for members in Reston, Virginia today at 4; complete details are at dclabor.org; click on calendar.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1941, union and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph and others met with President Roosevelt about a proposed July 1 March on Washington to protest discrimination in war industries. A week later, Roosevelt ordered the industries to desegregate, and Randolph called off the rally.

Today’s labor quote is by A. Philip Randolph:
“We must develop huge demonstrations, because the world is used to big dramatic affairs. They think in terms of hundreds of thousands and millions and billions... Billions of dollars are appropriated at the twinkling of an eye. Nothing little counts.”

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

6/17/2015

Contract bargaining talks are now underway for over 10,000 janitors in the metro DC area and their union, SEIU Local 32BJ, is conducting activities all week throughout the area. “Our biggest fight this year is to create more fulltime opportunities for our members,” says Local 32BJ Vice President and Area Director Jaime Contreras. “We are going to fight, united we are stronger,” said Victoria Dominguez, who cleans offices in both D.C. and Northern Virginia.

On today’s labor calendar, there’s a Justice for Janitors rally and march in DC at 4pm starting at McPherson Square; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details.

Here’s today’s labor history:
Twenty-one young women and girls making cartridges at the Washington, D.C. arsenal during the Civil War were killed in an accidental explosion on this date in 1864. Most of the victims were Irish immigrants. A monument was erected in the Congressional Cemetery, where 17 of the workers were buried.
In 1873, Susan B. Anthony went on trial in Canandaigua, New York for casting her ballot in a federal election the previous November, in violation of existing statutes barring women from the vote.
And on this date in 1903, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones led a rally in Philadelphia to focus public attention on children mutilated in the state's textile mills.
On this date in 1972, nine firefighters were killed and eight more injured when a large section of Boston’s Hotel Vendom collapsed on them. The firefighters were performing cleanup when the collapse occurred, having successfully fought a fire at the luxury hotel earlier in the day.

Today’s labor quote is by Susan B. Anthony:
“It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union...”

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