Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock and Hannah Kane of the Employment Justice Center discuss worker rights with local activists/organizers and take listener calls.

With guests Jaime Contreras, SEIU 32BJ, and Marilyn Irwin, CWA 2108. 

The show for all you workers out there. It's about the rights you have on the job: what they are, how to use and protect them. And it's about the rights you don't have, and how to get them.

Garlock, Union Cities Coordinator for the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO, hosts the daily Union City Radio feature on WPFW. Kane is a EJC Employment Justice Organizer and has worked extensively in the area as an organizer and social worker. Engineer: Mike Nasella

The notion that unionization and higher wages decrease income inequality is a fundamental premise of the Solidarity Center and other labor allies.
But now a surprising source has reached the same conclusion. The International Monetary Fund says that “The decline in unionization is related to the rise of top income shares and less redistribution, while the erosion of minimum wages is correlated with considerable increases in overall inequality.” The IMF study examined 20 advanced economies between 1980 and 2010. Long a bastion of pro-employer policies, the IMF is not willing to go so far as to recommend the obvious. Acknowledging its findings can “suggest that higher unionization and minimum wages can help reduce inequality,” the IMF dodges the logical conclusion to pursue such policies, saying its data “do not constitute a blanket recommendation for more unionization or higher minimum wages.”

For more on the latest 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 1970, members of the National Football League Players Association began what was to be a 2-day strike, their first. The issues: pay, pensions, the right to arbitration and the right to have agents.

In 1981, a fifty-day baseball strike ended.

And in 1999, the Great Shipyard Strike of 1999 ended after Steelworkers at Newport News Shipbuilding ratified a breakthrough agreement which nearly doubled pensions, increased security, ended inequality, and provided the highest wage increases in company and industry history to nearly 10,000 workers at the yard. The strike lasted 15 weeks.

Today’s labor quote is by Israelmore Ayivor:
“Don't give up! It seems difficult to you, right? Why not do something little about it every day? A little strike each day can chop down big trees. Give it a try!”
Israelmore Ayivor, born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, is a youth leadership coach, leadership entrepreneur, author and speaker.

Last week, Democrats introduced a bill, the Schedules That Work Act, which would push employers in fields with known scheduling abuses to create predictable and stable schedules and would protect workers who ask for schedule changes. While the bill is not expected to get anywhere in the GOP-controlled Congress, the issue is also being pushed on the local level, including here in the District.

In international labor news, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe recently upheld a decision that companies can now terminate workers’ contracts at any time, without offering them layoff benefits, simply by giving them three months’ notice. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is vowing to hold street protests until the government addresses the ruling, which they say destroys the gains "achieved over the past 35 years."
For more on the latest 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 1903, a preliminary delegation from Mother Jones' March of the Mill Children from Philadelphia arrived at President Theodore Roosevelt's summer home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, publicizing the harsh conditions of child labor. They were not allowed through the gates.

In 1956, nineteen firefighters died while responding to a blaze at the Shamrock Oil and Gas refinery in Sun Ray, Texas.

And in 1970, following a 5-year table grape boycott, Delano-area growers filed into the United Farm Workers union hall in Delano, California, to sign their first union contracts.

Today’s labor quote is by United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez:
“It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.”

Registered nurses and other allies of guaranteed health care for all will rally at the US Capitol today at 9:30 am. They’re joining actions in over 25 cities across the country today to honor Medicare and Medicaid's 50th anniversary with a National Day of Action celebrating the theme "Medicare is as American as Apple Pie." Senator Bernie Sanders will join the rally to urge policy makers to protect, improve, and expand Medicare to cover everyone with a single standard of quality care, not just based on ability to pay. The Washington action starts at 9:30 am in Upper Senate Park this morning.
For more on the latest 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 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Social Security Act of 1965, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

In 1975, former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa disappeared. Declared legally dead in 1982, his body has never been found.

And in 1999, United Airlines agreed to offer domestic-partner benefits to employees and retirees worldwide.

Today’s labor quote is by Jimmy Hoffa:
“I've said consistently that no employer ever really accepts a union. They tolerate the unions. The very minute they can get a pool of unemployment they'll challenge the unions and try to get back what they call managements prerogatives, meaning hire, fire, pay what you want.”

Tens of thousands of Verizon workers are ready to strike. At a rally last Saturday in New York City with thousands of workers and supporters, the Communications Workers of America  announced that an overwhelming majority – a whopping 86% -- of Verizon workers have voted to authorize a strike if necessary.  The contract expires at midnight this Saturday, August 1 and covers 39,000 CWA and IBEW represented telephone workers from Massachusetts to Virginia. “Our members are clear and they are determined,” said Dennis Trainor, Vice President for CWA District One. “They reject management’s harsh concessionary demands, including the elimination of job security, sharp increases in workers' health care costs, and slashing retirement security.” With Verizon reporting $4.4 billion in profits in just the second quarter of 2015 alone, Trainor said the telecom giant’s “demands are completely outrageous and unwarranted.”

The region’s commercial office cleaners have ratified a new contract covering 10,500 workers that will provide a two-dollar-an-hour pay increase over the life of the four-year deal with the Washington Service Contractors Association, which represents the area's major commercial cleaning companies. "We got a really great contract that's going to change people's lives," said Viridiana Queensbury, a cleaner who works and lives in Northern Virginia. The wage increases in the contract will mean more than $68 million in additional income over four years for low-wage workers, their families and their communities in Washington, Baltimore, Montgomery County and Northern Virginia.  

On today’s labor calendar, economist James Galbraith will discuss on the Greek debt negotiations and what their outcome is likely to mean for the Greek and European economies. The talk starts at noon today at the Economic Policy Institute; for complete details, go to dclabor.org and click on calendar.

Here’s this week’s Labor Quiz: Before her untimely, mysterious death, Karen Silkwood was a member of which union? Was it the United Food and Commercial Workers, the  International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union, the United Steel Workers or the American Federation of Government Employees? Go to unionist.com and click on Labor Quiz and you could be next week's winner!

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1869, women shoemakers in Lynn, Massachusetts created the Daughters of St. Crispin to demand pay equal to that of men.

In 1913, a strike by silk workers in Paterson, New Jersey for an 8-hour day and improved working conditions ended after six months, with the workers’ demands unmet. During the course of the strike, approximately 1,800 strikers were arrested, including Wobbly leaders Big Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.

And in 1932, Federal troops burned the shantytown built near the U.S. Capitol by thousands of unemployed World War One veterans, camping there to demand a bonus they had been promised but never received.

Today’s labor quote is by the Washington Evening Star, which wrote of the Bonus Army vets that “These men wrote a new chapter on patriotism of which their countrymen could be proud.”

Homeward-bound commuters in Langley, Virginia last Thursday afternoon were greeted by hundreds of protestors outside CIA headquarters, many of them sporting American flags and other patriotic garb. The demonstration was organized by Operating Engineers Local 99, which is trying to reach a contract agreement with AECOM, a subcontractor at the agency. “Look, we love our country and we love working at the agency, but we feel disrespected,” said Robert Poe, an electrical specialist and Local 99 shop steward, wearing a t-shirt with “USA” emblazoned on across his chest. “Here we have a company that’s violating labor laws, and is trying to slash costs on our backs.” Another negotiating session has been scheduled for this Wednesday.

On today’s labor calendar, economist James Galbraith will discuss on the Greek debt negotiations and what their outcome is likely to mean for the Greek and European economies. The talk starts at noon today at the Economic Policy Institute; for complete details, go to dclabor.org and click on calendar.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1869, William Sylvis died. Sylvis was the founder of the National Labor Union.

In 1918, Canadian coal miner and labor leader Albert “Ginger” Goodwin was shot and killed by Canadian police. Although he had been ruled unfit for military service during World War I because he had lung disease, the conscription board reversed its decision just days after Goodwin led a smelter workers’ strike for the eight-hour day. Opposed to the war, Goodwin fled and for months avoided capture by the authorities. His death, considered an assassination by many, inspired Canada’s first general strike on August 2 in Vancouver.

Today’s labor quote is by Albert “Ginger” Goodwin:
“We know that all this misery is the outcome of someone's carelessness, and that someone is the capitalists, those who own the machinery of production. Now, as this class of parasites have been living on the blood of the working class, they are responsible for the conditions existing at the present time.”
Albert Goodwin, who said “In order to throw this system over we have got to organize as a class and fight them as class against class.”

Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock and Amy Gelatly of the Employment Justice Center discuss worker rights with local activists/organizers and take listener calls.

With guests Paco Fabian, Good Jobs Nation, on striking low-wage workers who massed outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to demand “$15 and a union,” and Nikki Lewis, DC Jobs with Justice on the “Just Hours” campaign. 

The show for all you workers out there. It's about the rights you have on the job: what they are, how to use and protect them. And it's about the rights you don't have, and how to get them.

Garlock, Union Cities Coordinator for the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO, hosts the daily Union City Radio feature on WPFW. Gelatly is a EJC Employment Justice Organizer and has worked extensively in the area as an organizer and social worker. Engineer: Mike Nasella

Dozens of MetroAccess workers launched a “practice picket” at their bus garage Wednesday, saying that a private company contracted by WMATA to provide the service is abusing workers and demanding forfeiture of their basic human rights. The company, Transdev, is one of four private contractors that operate the MetroAccess service on WMATA’s behalf. According to the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents more than 400 Transdev employees at this location, the company pays poverty wages. This sort of low-paying work combined with Transdev’s other inhumane demands, the union says, creates a toxic workplace with high turnover, resulting in poorer service for riders.

If you missed last night’s Joe Hill concert in DC, you can catch another one tonight in Baltimore. The concerts mark the 100th anniversary of labor martyr Joe Hill’s death; Hill was executed by a Utah firing squad in 1915 after being convicted of trumped-up charges. Tonight’s concert at the Unitarian Church starts at 7:30 pm.
For complete details, go to dclabor.org and click on calendar.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1968, the United Auto Workers and the Teamsters formed the Alliance for Labor Action, later to be joined by several smaller unions. The ALA's agenda included support of the civil rights movement and opposition to the war in Vietnam. It disbanded after four years following the death of UAW President Walter Reuther.

The U.S. minimum wage increased to $6.55 per hour on this date in 2008. The original minimum, set in 1938 by the Fair Labor Standards Act, was 25¢ per hour. And on this date in 2009, it rose to $7.25 per hour, where it remains to this day, despite a grassroots movement of raise minimum wages on the local level across the country.

Today’s labor quote is by Benjamin Todd Jealous:
“No person can maximize the American Dream on the minimum wage.”
Benjamin Todd Jealous, who said “In a democracy there are only two types of power: there's organized people and organized money, and organized money only wins when people aren't organized.”
Benjamin Todd Jealous is an American political and civic leader and former president of the NAACP. 

Operating Engineers Local 99 is staging a rally in front of the CIA this afternoon. The union is in a bargaining impasse with AECOM, and members have already authorized a strike. The local is urging “as many allies as possible to assist us” as they attempt to settle a contract and avoid a walkout. The rally starts at Langley Fork Park in McLean, Virginia, at 2:30 pm.

Yesterday, government contract workers walked off their jobs for the 13th time to call on this President – or the next – to sign a “$15 and a Union” Executive Order. Senator Bernie Sanders joined the strikers, who included workers who cook and clean for nine Presidential candidates who are current and former US Senators.

And just a quick reminder that the 100th anniversary of labor martyr Joe Hill’s death is being marked this week with two local concerts. Hill was executed by a Utah firing squad in 1915 after being convicted of trumped-up charges. The Joe Hill Roadshow is celebrating the life and legacy of this iconic organizer with a series of concerts, including tonight at the Washington Ethical Society and tomorrow in Baltimore at the Unitarian Church; both shows start at 7:30 pm.
For complete details, go to dclabor.org and click on calendar.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1892, anarchist Alexander Berkman shot and stabbed steel magnate Henry Clay Frick in an effort to avenge the Homestead massacre 18 days earlier, in which nine strikers were killed. Berkman also tried to use what was, in effect, a suicide bomb, but it didn't detonate and Frick survived.

In 1913, Northern Michigan copper miners struck for union recognition, higher wages and an 8-hour day. By the time they threw in the towel the following April, eleven hundred miners had been arrested and Western Federation of Miners President Charles Moyer had been shot, beaten and forced out of town.

Today’s labor quote is by Alexander Berkman:
"’Man's inhumanity to man’ is not the last word. The truth lies deeper. It is economic slavery, the savage struggle for a crumb, that has converted mankind into wolves and sheep.” Anarchist Alexander Berkman, who also said “If you intend to live in peace and harmony with your fellow-men, you and they should cultivate brotherhood and respect for each other. If you want to work together with them for your mutual benefit, you must practice cooperation.”

AFSCME, along with other public sector unions, has begun to ramp up its internal organizing efforts in response to a looming Supreme Court case which could eliminate agency shops overnight. In an agency shop, employers are free to hire union or non-union workers, and employees don’t have to join the union, but they do have to pay a fee to cover bargaining costs. The case has forced unions to take a critical look at how to involve more workers beyond just paying fees. This means letting workers know what the union does besides bargaining their contract. “It is important to convert people into actual members because it shows the strength of the union,” said Andre Powell, a shop steward with AFSCME. Since the new effort began, unions like AFSCME have organized over 100,000 workers into full-fledged union members, and defeated right-to-work laws in several southern states.

The 100th anniversary of labor martyr Joe Hill’s death is being marked this week with two concerts. Hill was executed by a Utah firing squad in 1915 after being convicted of what have now been established as trumped-up charges. The Joe Hill Roadshow is celebrating the life and legacy of this iconic organizer with a series of concerts, including this Thursday, July 23, in Washington, when Magpie, Charlie King, the DC Labor Chorus and George Mann will, perform at the Washington Ethical Society at 7:30 pm. Then on Friday in Baltimore, Magpie, Charlie King and George Mann will perform at the Unitarian Church at 7:30 pm.
For more on the latest 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:
Newly unionized brewery workers in San Francisco, mostly German socialists, declared victory on this date in 1886 after the city’s breweries gave in to their demands for free beer, the closed shop, and the freedom to live anywhere (they had typically been required to live in the breweries). They also won a 10-hour day, 6-day week, and a board of arbitration.

On this date in 1916, a bomb was set off during a "Preparedness Day" parade in San Francisco, killing 10 and injuring 40 more. Tom Mooney, a labor organizer, and Warren Billings, a shoe worker, were convicted of the crime, but both were pardoned 23 years later.

Today’s labor quote is by Frederick Douglass:
“It is a great mistake for any class of laborers to isolate itself and thus weaken the bond of brotherhood between those on whom the burdens and hardships of labor fall.”