As the lockout of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians enters its second week – and support pours in from around the country -- picketing continues every morning this week, from 7:30 to 10:30 am.

And there are two noontime labor rallies in downtown DC today.
The first is “No Vote Until NAFTA 2.0 is Fixed!” on Capitol Hill; Trump wants a vote on the revised NAFTA as soon as possible, but if enacted as-is, the deal would lock in high medicine prices and fail to stop NAFTA’s ongoing outsourcing of jobs and pollution.
Also at noon, in Triangle Park at 20th and Virginia, NW, federal workers will rally to “Stop the Merger of OPM and GSA!” Trump’s plan to dismantle the Office of Personnel Management and transfer critical functions to the White House would undermine the civil service as a federal workforce that works for the American people.
You can also visit afge.org/SaveOPM and add your name to those taking a stand against dismantling OPM.

For complete details, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1994, police pepper-gassed workers at the A.E. Staley plant gate in Decatur, Illinois, one year into the company's two-and-a-half-year lockout of Paperworkers Local 7837.  

Today’s labor quote is by August Vincent Theodore Spies, one of the eight men framed and executed for the bombing at Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886; on this date in 1893, more than 8,000 people attended the dedication ceremony for The Haymarket Martyrs Monument in Chicago, honoring the eight men. The following quote by Spies, recorded just before his execution, is inscribed on the base of the monument:
"The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voice you are throttling today."

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Summer is here, which means it’s a cool time to take advantage of union members savings on theme and water park tickets. Visit unionplus.org/entertainment.

(audio) Jerame Davis: HRC is the largest LGBTQ civil rights organization in the country-probably the world. They’re a massive organization. So they carry a lot of weight here in Washington especially with lawmakers and so forth but they also carry a lot of weight in corporate America. They are in many ways using their corporate equality index which is kind of their guide for how LGBTQ friendly a particular corporation is.”
That’s Pride At Work Executive Director Jerame Davis on the latest edition of the AFL-CIO’s State of the Unions podcast.
(audio) “But the problem is that when you look at a lot of these corporations that they’re grading and they’re giving them great scores--100, 90, etcetera, they’re really awful corporations. The tagline for the corporate equality index is great places to work for LGBTQ people, and that’s literally how they bill it as LGBT people could work here and would be supported. And then they give 90s to companies like Walmart that treat their employees terribly and pay them low wages and give them no benefits. And in fact, they had to rescind Walmart’s score last year because of a lawsuit, a transgender discrimination lawsuit that was won and HRC decided to rescind their score that year.
Tim Schlittner:  Big deal.
Jerame Davis: Yeah but it’s incredibly problematic that this is more of a PR campaign for corporations than an actual guide to how LGBTQ friendly they are because we all know that corporate policy isn't worth the paper it’s written on. They enforce it when they want to enforce it unless there’s a union there to enforce it. So giving these corporations these great scores and then those corporations of course then release press releases of their own saying look how great we are with the LGBTQ community and some of these corporations like Wells Fargo and T-Mobile--just go down the list and they’re just horrible the way they treat their employees and in some cases the way they’re treating the environment and our country.”
Catch “State of the Unions” wherever you listen to podcasts.

For the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1880, Agnes Nestor was born. President of the International Glove Workers Union and the longtime leader of the Chicago Women's Trade Union League, she began work in a glove factory at age 14.

Today’s labor quote is by Haymarket martyr Albert Parsons, born on this date in 1848. Albert Parsons, who said:
“Let the voice of the people be heard!”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Summer is here, which means it’s a cool time to take advantage of union members savings on theme and water park tickets. Visit unionplus.org/entertainment.

Today is Day 5 of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Lock-Out, and the BSO musicians will be picketing at 7:30 am this morning and again at 11:30 am at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall at the corner of Cathedral and Preston Streets in Baltimore.
Negotiations are set for later today and we’ll keep you posted on our website – dclabor.org -- and on social media @dclabor of Twitter and Facebook, where we’ve also posted links on how to contribute to support the locked-out musicians.
Former BSO Music Director David Zinman will be joining the picket line on Monday; we’ll have an update on Union City Radio then.

On today’s labor calendar, the 40th annual Great Labor Arts Exchange is going on now out at the ATU’s Tommy Douglas Center in Silver Spring; and don’t miss their big “Songs of Resistance” free concert tomorrow night at 7:30; details at dclabor.org, click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1997, an estimated 100,000 unionists and other supporters marched in solidarity with striking Detroit News and Detroit Free Press newspaper workers.

Today’s labor quote is by Abraham Lincoln, who said:
“If a man tells you he loves America, yet he hates labor, he is a liar!”  

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 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.

HOUR 1: BSO lockout and Pride At Work's 25th anniversary
Brian Prechtl on the BSO lockout; he's a percussionist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2003, and co-chair of the Baltimore Symphony Musicians Players’ Committee (AFM Local 40-543).
Mark Gruenberg, Editor, Press Associates Union News Service
• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra bosses cancel summer season, lock out unionized Musicians
• New Poor People’s Campaign demands redirecting military dollars to domestic needs
Jerame Davis, Executive Director, Pride At Work: Celebrating Solidarity to mark 25 years since our founding and 50 years since Stonewall. June 20, 2019 6PM at AFL-CIO in Washington, DC.

HOUR 2: Circus workers of the world, unite!
Murray Horwitz (right), American playwright, lyricist, NPR broadcaster, and arts administrator
Chris Bricker (Ieft), longtime labor organizer, saw-playing member of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 1000 (acoustic travelling musicians union), attending the 40th annual Great Labor Arts Exchange, which starts today and runs through Sunday out at the ATU’s Tommy Douglas Center in Silver Spring. Chris also hosts Morning on the Salish every Tuesday morning from 9:30 to 11am on KPTZ FM, in storied Port Townsend, Washington.  
Both were graduates of the Ringling College of Clowns, Class of 1971 and went on to be professional clowns and then union reps at the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Plus: NLRB Can't Shut Down 'Scabby'-Aided Protest

Produced by Chris Garlock, engineered by Chris Bangert-Drowns. photos/collage by Chris Garlock