A new study shows Metro workers’ pay and benefits are in line with those of other major transit systems, blunting long-standing criticism of the agency’s labor costs, the Washington Post reported last week. 
“Basically what we’re finding is both wages and benefits [at Metro] are average for the transit industry,” said consultant Roy Kienitz, who conducted the study for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. 
We've got a link to the Post story on our website at dclabor.org

On today's labor calendar, there's a Sick and Safe Leave Forum tonight at 6 pm at La Casa in Mt. Pleasant. 
Also at 6, catch a screening of "The Trotsky," an "inspired, often-dangerously-funny" comedy, at the Busboys and Poets in Takoma Park.
You'll find complete details on both at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. 
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Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1877, workers staged a general strike—believed to be the nation’s first—in St. Louis, in support of striking railroad workers. The successful strike was ended when 8,000 federal troops and deputized special police killed at least eighteen people in skirmishes around the city.

Today’s labor quote is by Brooks Atkinson, who said:
"Don't be condescending to unskilled labor. Try it for half a day first." 

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

“There is a child, a laid off worker, a struggling family who is able to eat a nutritious meal today because the labor community did not forget them,” says Kathleen McKirchy, executive director of the Metro Washington Council’s Community Services Agency.
With hunger a continuing problem in the metro DC area, McKirchy thanked generous staff at both American Income Life and the Bank of Labor for donating food to the agency last week.
If you want to help, details are on our website at dclabor.org, click on Community Services.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 2009, the U.S. minimum wage rose to $7.25 per hour, where it remains. 
Since 2012, the "Fight for $15" movement has pushed for an increase in the minimum wage and a growing number of local governments across the country, including here in the metro area, have passed laws that will gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Today’s labor quote is by former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who said:
"If the minimum wage in 1968 had simply kept up with inflation it would be more than $10 today.  If it also kept up with the added productivity of American workers since then, it would be more than $21 an hour…"

​Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

Two area labor leaders have made the 2017 El Tiempo Latino Powermeter, the publication’s list of the 100 most influential people for Latinos in the metro Washington area. 
SEIU Local 32BJ Vice President Jaime Contreras and Unite Here Local 25 Executive Secretary-Treasurer John Boardman were chosen from more than 400 nominees. 
“Considered a key figure among the new generation of leaders in immigration and labor rights groups in DC,” Contreras – who also serves on the Metro Washington Council’s Executive Board -- “has been able to build alliances with a growing immigrant community in DC, Maryland, and Virginia while bridging the gap between labor and New Americans,” while Boardman “has arduously fought to help hundreds of Latino workers improve their work benefits by pushing for contracts with improved pension plans and wages.”

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1926, radio station WCFL, owned and operated by the Chicago Federation of Labor, took to the airwaves with two hours of music. The first and only labor-owned radio station in the country, WCFL was sold in 1979.
In a related update, just a week ago, a group organized in part by the Chicago Federation of Labor announced the acquisition the Chicago Sun-Times -- Chicago's oldest daily newspaper -- the Chicago Reader and the straightdope.com website, as well as Answers Media, a digital communications company. 

Today’s labor quote is by Wendell Phillips: 
"The labor movement means just this; It is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth."
​
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Hosts:  Chris Garlock and Ed Smith; JOIN US AT 202-588-0893

Also, if you miss our live show – or want to hear a past show – Your Rights At Work is now available as a podcast! Just click on "subscribe" at right, or search for Union City Radio on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone!

This week's guest: 
Ari Schwartz, Lead Organizer for DC Jobs With Justice, on the Sick and Safe Leave Forum set for July 25. 
With just a few exceptions, if you work in DC, you have the right to take paid sick days when you or a loved one is ill, to go to a doctor, or to receive services related to domestic violence or assault. “It's outrageous how many employers still violate this law on a daily basis,” says Ari Schwartz, Lead Organizer for DC Jobs With Justice. To make paid sick days for all a reality, “workers need to know their rights and have the tools to defend them,” says Schwartz, which is why the Just Pay Coalition is hosting a Sick and Safe Leave Forum this presentation July 25, in partnership with the DC Department of Employment Services’ Office of Wage-Hour (OWH). “It's time for every employer to follow the law and for every worker to know about their right to paid sick days,” said Schwartz. Click here for details and to RSVP.

1:30 Labor Song: Sick Leave Blues · Gaye Adegbalola & the Wild Rutz

CREDITS: Produced by Peter Pocock -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRODUCER PETE! -- and Mackadoodle Miller, engineered by Mike "The Man" Nasella; Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families. Find out more at unionplus.org. And we’re supported by you, our listeners: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org.

Laurette Ford is a force of nature. For more than a decade as a UFCW Local 400 shop steward, she made it her mission to build her union by signing up as many new members as humanly possible. On June 30, Laurette retired from Giant after 29 years as a proud Local 400 member, with the knowledge that she is leaving her union better than she found it. “I joined our union in 1988,” Laurette said. “I was making $5.25 an hour. When the kids today complain they don’t make enough money, I tell them that—and make the point that because of their union, they can expect to do a whole lot better in the future just like I’ve done. That’s usually enough to pull them in." You can read the rest of the story -- and see a photo of Laurette -- on our website at dclabor.org

On today's labor calendar, tune in at 1 o'clock this afternoon for this week's edition of Your Rights At Work, when we'll be discussing the upcoming Sick and Safe Leave Forum and the threats to Administrative Law Judges who have organized a union. 

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1971, postal unions and the US Postal Service signed the first labor contract in the history of the federal government. The previous year, 200,000 postal workers staged the largest wildcat strike in U.S. history.  

Today’s labor quote is by William Burrus, former president of the American Postal Workers Union. William Burrus, who said:
"Those unions that enjoy the right to strike have no guarantee that sacrificing their jobs and their livelihood will result in victory but they nevertheless engage in lengthy strikes, not because they are assured of winning but because they are determined to fight." 

​Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

After a long battle to form a union, members of IFPTE Judicial Council 3 at the DC Office of Administrative Hearings -- or OAH -- are once again under attack by management. Union president Judge Jesse Goode and other high-profile union members -- who serve as administrative law judges at the OAH -- are being threatened with termination by management. IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Paul Shearon called it "The most blatant, open attack on a union leader and their members that I have ever seen in all my time in labor." Judge Goode has served for 12 years at OAH and was just promoted last year, but management apparently now views his union activities advocating for his colleagues as a threat. The union urges those concerned to contact the Mayor's office at 202-727-2643 or tweet her @MayorBowser, to ensure Judge Goode gets a fair hearing, as well as investigate OAH management's anti-union actions.
           
Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1940, the Hatch Act, a federal law whose main provision prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity, was amended to also cover state and local employees whose salaries include any federal funds. 

Today’s labor quote is by Louis H. Albert, who said:
"I don't mind coming to work -- I just don't want to stay when I get there."

​Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

“People say slavery is done… [but] it’s still there – in the corner,” says Gulnahar Alam, a domestic worker who, like many others, suffered workplace abuses. To combat this exploitation, often hidden away in employers’ homes, Alam began organizing. “People feel very powerful and so much more confident when they see that they are not alone. They no longer feel ashamed.” Alam’s story is one of 18 brought to life in "Shifting the Universe: Spoken Histories of Work & Resistance" by first-time author Candace Wolf, who lives in Takoma Park. You can read the rest of Pete Tucker's review on our website at dclabor.org

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1944, two ammunition ships exploded at Port Chicago, California, killing 322, including 202 African-Americans assigned by the Navy to handle explosives. It was the worst home-front disaster of World War II. The resulting refusal of 258 African-Americans to return to the dangerous work underpinned the trial and conviction of 50 of the men in what is called the Port Chicago Mutiny.  47 of the 50 were released in 1946 and in 1999, President Clinton pardoned Freedie Meeks, one of the few members of the Port Chicago 50 who was still alive. 

Today’s labor quote is by Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court Justice, who was then the chief special counsel for the N.A.A.C.P., who went to California to observe the Chicago 50 trial.
Thurgood Marshall, who said:
“This is not 50 men on trial for mutiny. This is the Navy on trial for its whole vicious policy toward Negroes.”

​Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

National Airport cleaners have authorized a strike against their employer, MBS, a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority contractor. The workers say they’ll walk off the job if necessary to protest low wages and a lack of affordable health care.

And after months of what it said were “long, difficult negotiations, full of tough decisions,” UFCW Local 400 announced that it has reached a tentative agreement at Lipton. Contract ratification votes are scheduled for next week. 

On our weekend labor calendar, there's a daylong series of events celebrating the historic 1877 railroad strike tomorrow, Saturday, in Baltimore starting at 10:15; check out complete details on our website at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. 

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1877, The Great Uprising nationwide railway strike began after the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad cut wages for the third time in a year. In the following days, strike riots spread through 17 states, supported by 100,000 workers. The strike lasted 45 days, ending only after federal troops were called out. 

Today’s labor quote is by a Pittsburgh mill worker in 1877, declaring solidarity with the striking rail workers:
"We're with you," the mill worker said. "We're in the same boat...I won't call the employers despots. I won't call them tyrants. But the term capitalist is sort of synonymous and it will do."

​Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

Hosts:  Chris Garlock and Ed Smith; JOIN US AT 202-588-0893

Also, if you miss our live show – or want to hear a past show – Your Rights At Work is now available as a podcast! Just search for Union City Radio on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone!

This week's guests:
Roxie Mejia on the “Free Hugo!” campaign. A national call-in day was held earlier this week to support two union members detained by ICE. Although Hugo Mejia and Rodrigo Nuñez are union construction workers in California, “this could happen anywhere, including here in metro DC,” says Roxana Mejia (no relation), Political Director for Painters District Council 51. “These two union members were only detained because they showed up for work,” said Painters president Kenneth Rigmaiden. “We will not allow the act of showing up to work to be criminalized.” IUPAT is asking union members and supporters to call David Jennings, Director for the San Francisco ICE Field Office, at 844-526-8492 to demand the release of Hugo Mejia. 

Former Jimmy John's worker Erik Foreman on the recent ruling by a federal appeals court that ruled that a Twin Cities Jimmy John’s franchisee didn’t violate the union organizing rights of six employees fired for publicly protesting the company’s sick leave policy, saying the workers were “so disloyal” that they lost their legal protections. 

Labor Song: from the Broadway show Hamilton: Immigrants (We Get The Job Done) 

Produced by Mack Miller and Peter Pocock, engineered by Mike Nasella; Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families. Find out more at unionplus.org. And we’re supported by you, our listeners: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org.

Davon McRae joined a family tradition this week: D.C. firefighting. It's a proud, but somewhat painful legacy; McRae's father, Kevin, died two years ago while fighting an apartment fire in northwest Washington. And his cousin, James, died 10 years ago fighting a fire. Both were members of Fire Fighters Local 36, as is Davon. 
"My father was a good man, he was a great man. A good role model," McRae said. "Seeing my father go down in the line of duty inspired me to want to do it more." 
Read more, and see a photo of Davon on our website at dclabor.org

On today's labor calendar, catch this week's edition of "Your Rights At Work" at 1 o'clock, when Ed Smith and I will take listener calls on worker rights.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1995, Detroit newspaper workers began a 19-month strike, involving 2,500 workers in six unions. The strike turned into a lockout, which lasted four more years.  

Today’s labor quote is by Chris Rhomberg, in "The Broken Table: The Detroit Newspaper Strike and the State of American Labor."
Chris Rhomberg, who wrote: 
“Deliberately negotiating to impasse, unilaterally imposing conditions, and breaking strikes—all of these actions destroy the function of collective bargaining…”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.