Last week, nearly 200 workers at the Lipton plant in southeast Virginia voted to unionize with Local 400 of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union. 
“I woke up this morning feeling wonderful,” said Lisa Gayle, who’s been with the company for 14 years. “As a unified group, now we can make Lipton the best place it can be. I’m so excited!” 
The Lipton plant has operated in Suffolk, Virginia for more than 60 years and produces nearly all of the Lipton tea sold in North America. More than 200 employees currently work at the plant, but that number could as much as double in the coming months as the company expands its workforce.
“I couldn’t be happier to welcome such a wonderful group of people into the UFCW family,” said Mark Federici, President of UFCW Local 400. “Their courage, commitment and tireless efforts bolstered my faith in the power of working people to stand up for themselves and improve the lives of all hardworking men and women.”
Read more on our website at dclabor.org, where you can also find out about the latest local labor events and actions by clicking on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1919, John Reed formed the Communist Labor Party in Chicago. The American journalist, poet, and socialist activist is best remembered for his first-hand account of the Bolshevik Revolution, “Ten Days That Shook the World.”

In 1921, some 10,000 striking miners began a fight at Blair Mountain, West Virginia, for recognition of their union, the United Mine Workers of America. Federal troops were sent in and miners were forced to withdraw five days later, after 16 deaths.

In 1980, the "Solidarity" workers movement was founded as a strike coordination committee at Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk, Poland. The strike launched a wave of unrest in the Soviet Union that ultimately led to its dissolution in 1991.  

And in 1991, an estimated 325,000 unionists gathered in Washington, D.C., for a Solidarity Day march and rally for workplace fairness and healthcare reform.

Today’s labor quote is from the Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Frierich Engels
"Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!"

Staffing shortages are endangering youth and staff at a residential center for high-risk young offenders in Sabillasville, Maryland, according to AFSCME Maryland Council 3.
The staff shortage creates a strain on employees who are often forced to work overtime at facilities such as the Victor Cullen Center in Sabillasville, said Terra Smith, a resident adviser at the center and a Council 3 member.
“Right now, we don’t have enough staff to make sure that we can provide the highest level of safety for the youth or ourselves at Victor Cullen,” Smith said.
The issue came to a head on March 11 when a fight broke out between two groups of youth, involving about a dozen boys.
Maryland State Police were called to help bring the facility under control, and six staff members, including two who were working overtime, were assaulted in the fight, said Smith, who rallied outside the center on August 17 with co-workers and union representatives to demand relief from the Department of Juvenile Services. Read more on our website at dclabor.org, where you can also find out about the latest local labor events and actions by clicking on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1834, delegates from several East Coast cities met to form the National Trades' Union, uniting craft unions to oppose, quote, "the most unequal and unjustifiable distribution of the wealth of society in the hands of a few individuals." The union faded after a few years.
In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt's Wealth Tax Act increased taxes on rich citizens and big business, and lowered taxes for small businesses.

Today’s labor quote is by Franklin Delano Roosevelt
“No business which depends for its existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level – I mean the wages of decent living.”

Areas of Arlington National Cemetery are being neglected amid the refusal of grounds-keeping contractors to negotiate with their striking workers. 
A section of the cemetery lawn which had been removed and was slated for re-seeding remains unplanted, while areas in between tombstones have become over-grown and neglected, according to Larry Doggett, Business Manager of Local 572 of the Laborers’ International Union, which represents the grounds-keepers. 
The workers struck on August 15 to protest delays by their employers in negotiating a contract and the firing and discipline of workers who refused overtime. 
“Veterans and their cemetery deserve contractors who put getting the job done ahead of greed,” said Doggett, himself a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. “It’s time for the Army to put the good of the cemetery first, and tell this contractor to deal with its striking employees.”
Read more -- and see photos of the neglect at Arlington Cemetery -- on our website at dclabor.org 
For the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1996, dancers at San Francisco’s  Lusty Lady Club voted 57-15 to be represented by SEIU Local 790. Their first union contract, ratified eight months later, guaranteed work shifts, protection against arbitrary discipline and termination, automatic hourly wage increases, sick days, a grievance procedure, and removal of one-way mirrors from peep show booths. After management cut wages in 2003, the workers struck and won. The workers subsequently bought the club and instituted a peer review process in which the dancers evaluate each other, rather than the managers. Eventually, however, declining business and increased rent took their toll and the Lusty Lady closed on Labor Day 2013. 

Today’s labor quote is by the dancers at the Lusty Lady
"We are workers just like everyone else. We deserve to be treated with the same respect as steel workers, truck drivers, teachers, and social workers. We will not allow ourselves to be treated as less than full working citizens, to be stigmatized and marginalized, just because our work involves taking off our clothes, just because our work deals with the forbidden subjects of sex and sexual desire."

Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock hosts, with co-host Ed Smith, Executive Director of DCNA. 

This week's guest:
Philip Fornaci, Executive Director, Employment Justice Center (in-studio)
​
1:30: Break/Labor Song: The Internationale, Billy Bragg

Courtney Jenkins, a mail processing clerk for the United States Postal Service, was born and raised in Baltimore, a city torn apart and thrust into the national spotlight in 2015 for the tensest protests the city had seen since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
Jenkins spoke about what he saw during the riots and their aftermath, and spoke from his own experience during the AFGE Women's and Fair Practices Departments' third Diversity Week gathering in Washington,  earlier this month. 
“I'm a young black male with a high school diploma from Baltimore," said Jenkins. "Not too many organizations would be willing to invest in me like the postal workers union has.  Unions have shown me that equity isn't a dream, it is a reality. It has put me in a position to fight for racial and economic justice, which my city needs most at this very moment.”
You can read more about Jenkins on our website at dclabor.org
 
And, for the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.
 
Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1920, after three-quarters of the states had ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, women won their long struggle for the vote. 
In 1970, the Women’s Strike for Equality was staged in cities across the U.S., marking the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, under which women won the right to vote.  A key focus of the strike—in fact, more accurately a series of marches and demonstrations—was equality in the workplace.  An estimated 20,000 women participated.   

​Today’s labor quote is from signs at the 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality, which carried the iconic slogan, “Don’t Iron While the Strike is Hot.” 

Shuttle drivers who serve the National Institutes of Health and their supporters rallied yesterday morning as a months-long labor dispute boiled to the surface.
At the heart of the story is a private contractor, W&T Travel Services, which holds transportation contracts with the NIH, FDA, and other federal and state agencies. Its nearly forty employees who serve as NIH shuttle drivers are represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764 and have been denied a contract or wage increase by W&T owner Darnell Lee since 2012.
When the workers began off-duty leafleting of their passengers to raise awareness of the issue earlier this year, Lee suspended without pay or fired all union shop stewards and bargaining committee members, along with every employee who testified before the National Labor Relations Board.
"The NIH is letting this contractor make runaway profits off of taxpayers while he threatens, interrogates, and abuses the workers who transport NIH employees," said ATU Local 1764 Trustee Sesil Rubain. "It's unconscionable."
Lee was recently featured on CNBC's Blue Collar Millionaires, bragging about his 8,000 square foot house with a gym and theater, a custom-made Super Bowl ring, and a collection of 10,000 designer suits and shirts.
The union recently launched a petition – available at dclabor.org -- and is asking NIH employees and other federal workers to call NIH Director Francis Collins to support the riders.

On today’s local labor calendar, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston will discuss his new book “The Making of Donald Trump” at 1p today at the AFL-CIO.
Also at 1pm, here on WPFW, our guests on "Your Rights At Work" include Philip Fornaci, Executive Director at the DC Employment Justice Center, and two French journalists, Fanny GUINOCHET and Jerome LEPEYTRE, who will discuss similarities and differences between US and French labor law.
For all the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1819, Allan Pinkerton was born. Pinkerton’s strike-breaking detectives – also known as "Pinks" -- gave us the word "fink."
In 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was founded at a meeting in New York City. A. Philip Randolph became the union's first organizer.

​Today’s labor quote is by A. Philip Randolph
“At the banquet table of nature, there are no reserved seats. You get what you can take, and you keep what you can hold. If you can't take anything, you won't get anything, and if you can't hold anything, you won't keep anything. And you can't take anything without organization.”
A bust of Randolph, with this quote, is in Union Station here in Washington, DC, in front of the Starbucks.

In the beginning, all was darkness in the hallways at the Greenleaf Apartments in Southwest DC. But after a little wire work, there was light.
Last Saturday’s IBEW Local 26 Community Service Day was the fifth such event since the partnership began between Local 26 and the DC Housing Agency. The Agency supplies the materials and Local 26 members perform the work, volunteering their time and skills.
“The work our members do on a daily basis is not just a job,” said IBEW 26 member Robert Smith, “it's a career. It's about more than turning wires, it's about opportunity and improving lives.”
As he helped install modern and energy efficient lights at Greenleaf, Smith cited the union’s apprenticeship process and the importance of the union to its member’s lives as reasons why he gives back at events like the Community Service Day.

On the local labor calendar, there’s a rally to support NIH shuttle drivers this morning from 7 to 9am at the Medical Center Metro Station and Bus Stop on Rockville Pike in Bethesda.
For the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1970, the United Farm Workers Union began their strike against lettuce growers who would not negotiate contracts with farm workers for decent wages and working conditions. The Salad Bowl strike was a series of strikes, mass pickets, boycotts and secondary boycotts that led to the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history. Shipments of fresh lettuce nationwide virtually ceased, and the price of lettuce doubled almost overnight. Lettuce growers lost half a million dollars a day. A state district court enjoined Cesar Chávez personally and the UFW as an organization from engaging in picketing, but both Chávez and the union refused to obey the court's orders.

Today’s labor quote is by Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez, who said “The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.”

Laurel Regional Hospital, originally slated to close, is staying open, thanks in part to efforts by 1199 SEIU.
After Dimensions Health System announced plans last year to shutter the hospital, 1199 SEIU members organized a series of town hall meetings and lobbied for the passage of an emergency bill in the Maryland General Assembly requiring greater transparency by a hospital prior to announcing a closure.  
Caregivers at Laurel Regional Hospital joined Prince George's County elected officials and the Laurel community at a press conference last month, for an announcement that the hospital will now delay further service cuts.
1199’s critical role in keeping the hospital open was acknowledged by several elected officials during their remarks.

A labor musical is on today’s labor calendar, with a 6:30pm performance of “Pray for the Dead-A Musical Tale of Morgues, Moguls and Mutiny” at the Hyattsville Busboys and Poets. Find out more about this and the rest of the upcoming local labor calendar listings, at dclabor.org; click on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1912, the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations was formed by Congress, during a period of great labor and social unrest. After three years, and hearing witnesses ranging from Wobblies to capitalists, it issued an 11-volume report frequently critical of capitalism. The New York Herald characterized the Commission's president, Frank P. Walsh, as "a Mother Jones in trousers."  

In 1927, Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, accused of murder and tried unfairly, were executed on this day. The case became an international cause and sparked demonstrations and strikes throughout the world.

And in 1966, the Farm Workers Organizing Committee – which later became the United Farm Workers of America – was granted a charter by the AFL-CIO.

Today’s labor quote is by James 'O Connell and John Brown Lennon
"This country is no longer a field for slavery, and where men and women are compelled, in order that they may live, to work under conditions in determining which they have no voice, they are not far removed from a condition existing under feudalism or slavery."
'O Connell and Lennon, of the American Federation of Labor, both served on the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations.  

Dozens of contracted cleaners at the Government Accountability Office have voted to authorize a strike to protest their employer’s proposal to stop paying into the workers’ pension fund. Their union says the decision by Creative Management Technologies would undermine retirement security for cleaners, many of whom have worked at the GAO for decades. “We do back-breaking work and deserve a future where we can make ends meet and support our families,” said Loretta Cunningham-Pettus, who cleans GAO offices. “Our strike vote shows that we’re determined to do whatever it takes to someday retire with dignity.” SEIU Local 32BJ is in negotiations with Creative Management Technologies, a janitorial services subcontractor, for a contract that expires on August 30.

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

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1945, five flight attendants formed the Air Line Stewardesses Association, the first labor union representing flight attendants. They were reacting to an industry in which women were forced to retire at the age of 32, remain single, and adhere to strict weight, height and appearance requirements. The association later became the Association of Flight Attendants, now a division of the Communications Workers of America.

In 1963, the International Broom & Whisk Makers Union disbanded. The union had been dedicated to “the promotion of the material and intellectual welfare of all the workers in the broom trade.”  

Today’s labor quote is by Grover Cleveland
“A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.”
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, the only President in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office.

Movies have never really been simply escapist entertainment, and in this election year summer of electoral discontent, no less an authority than New York Times chief critic A.O. Scott recently identified "the problems of management and morale in the modern office" as the "grand, overarching themes" of this year’s blockbuster movies.
In "Even Superheroes Punch the Clock," Scott writes that "This summer, your local multiplex is home to an extended business seminar. There are sessions on crisis-management and how to deal with office romances in 'Star Trek Beyond'; on office rivalries and mission-statement drafting in 'Captain America: Civil War'; on start-ups in 'Ghostbusters' and I.T. disasters in 'Jason Bourne'. Every action movie," says Scott, "is a workplace sitcom in disguise." 
While Scott is obviously having some fun, his analysis is serious and well-grounded. For example, he argues persuasively that "'Jason Bourne'...is one of the few recent blockbusters that examines the underside of modern working life, since it adopts the point of view of the disaffected worker trapped in a nightmarish bureaucratic maze. All of Bourne’s enemies, as well as his potential allies, are colleagues of one kind or another, and his very existence is a horrifying reductio ad absurdum of life on the corporate treadmill."
Cool, I think we just got a head start on next year’s DC Labor Film Festival. 

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

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1909, the first edition of IWW Little Red Song Book was published. 

And in 1983, Phelps-Dodge copper miners in Morenci and Clifton, Arizona were confronted by tanks, helicopters, state troopers and National Guardsmen brought in to walk strikebreakers through picket lines in what was to become a failed 3-year fight by the Steelworkers and other unions. 

Today’s labor quote is by Joe Hill, from "Workers of the World, Awaken!" a song in the IWW's Little Red Song Book:   
Workers of the world, awaken!
Rise in all your splendid might;
Take the wealth that you are making,
It belongs to you by right.
No one will for bread be crying,
We'll have freedom, love and health.
When the grand red flag is flying
In the Workers' Commonwealth.