Hosted by Chris Garlock, with Damon Silvers (Ed Smith is away)
Today's guests: ATU 689 president Jackie Jeter on Metro workers’ just-announced petition drive to remove WMATA general manager Paul Wiedefeld from office; DC-ROC’s Diana Ramirez on the move by D.C. Council to overturn Initiative 77; SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh's abysmal record on worker rights, this week's music: “Strike” by UNION. Your Rights At Work is also available as a podcast! Just search for Union City Radio on iTunes, Stitcher, OverCast or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone! Produced by Pete Pocock and Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nasella.
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Going by his past rulings on federal appeals courts, GOP President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill Justice Anthony Kennedy’s vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat – federal appellate judge Brett Kavanaugh -- will be bad news for workers and unions if Kavanaugh makes it to the High Court.
• In 2007, Kavanaugh said the Defense Department had temporary authority to curb the collective bargaining rights of 700,000 civilian defense workers. AFGE and its allies later persuaded Congress to dump that. • Kavanaugh also said undocumented workers can’t unionize under the National Labor Relations Act; in a 2008 case involving a Brooklyn kosher meat packer, the appeals court majority said they could. • In 2015, Kavanaugh ruled that the U.S. Constitution protected not just union demonstrators at the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas, but the casino’s right to call the police on the peaceful protest. “Judge Kavanaugh has a dangerous track record of protecting the privileges of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of working people,” said AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1983, a nine-year strike, the longest in the history of the United Auto Workers, began at the Ohio Crankshaft Division of Park-Ohio Industries in Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio. Despite scabs, arrests and firings, UAW Local 91 members hung tough and in 1992 won a fair contract. Today’s labor quote is by Tom Donahue, who served as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO from 1979 to 1995 and as president in 1995. Tom Donahue, who said: “The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor.” A coalition of labor unions -- including the Communications Workers -- is currently in national bargaining with the American Red Cross. CWA represents Red Cross employees in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York. At the last national bargaining session in June, the Union Coalition presented ways to increase savings for the company and reinvest those savings into the workforce. “Management, however, claims there is not enough money to provide workers a living wage and financial stability,” reports CWA. “The Union Coalition told management that workers will not make an agreement that takes them backward on wages or healthcare.” On today’s labor calendar, “Collective Action on the Rise: How the Labor Movement Can Sustain the Momentum of Change,” a panel discussion of union activists on the future of the labor movement, today at 12 noon at the AFL-CIO; if you can’t make it in person, catch the livestream on YouTube; details at dclabor.org, click on Calendar Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1946, Sidney Hillman died at age 59. Hillman led the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and was a close advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today’s labor quote is by educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, born on this date in 1875: Mary McLeod Bethune, who said: “We live in a world which respects power above all things. Power, intelligently directed, can lead to more freedom. Unwisely directed, it can be a terrible, destructive force.” IATSE 22 recently made Ron Moore, Head Driver for Clark Transfer, an honorary member of the local, “not only (for) his outstanding work, but for his unfailing good humor that made even all-night load outs at the National go smoothly.” Local 22 president Chuck Clay said that "Ron really a great driver, legally pulling off feats with a tractor trailer that even experienced drivers would not attempt, as well as a fine human being with a great attitude." You can see a photo of Ron and his friends at Local 22 on our website at dclabor.org Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1935 New York City subway system managers in the Bronx tried to make cleaning crews on the IRT line work faster by forcing the use of a 14-inch squeegee instead of the customary 10-inch tool. After six workers were fired for insubordination, a two-day walkout by the Transport Workers Union won reversal of the directive and the workers’ reinstatement. Today’s labor quote is by Bill Fletcher Jr., the racial justice, labor and international activist, and host of the “Arise!” show here on WPFW. On this date in 2001, five thousand demonstrators rallied at the state capitol in Columbia, South Carolina, in support of the "Charleston Five," labor activists charged with felony rioting during a police attack on a 2000 longshoremen's picket of a non-union crew unloading a ship. Bill, who was coordinating the AFL-CIO's support for the workers called this: “A very compelling case, one that brings together all the issues, a voice at work and the right to organize, issues of racial justice and issues of democracy." |
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