Dozens of MetroAccess workers based out of Gaithersburg, Maryland, picketed WMATA subcontractor Challenger Transportation earlier this week.
The workers voted unanimously to join the Amalgamated Transit Union last year and have been trying to negotiate a fair first contract ever since.
In June, the MetroAccess workers – members of ATU Local 1777 -- voted to authorize a strike and Tuesday’s practice picket was one of several steps the union said it will take to ensure members are “strike ready” should Challenger Transportation continue to refuse to settle a fair deal.
On the Labor Day weekend calendar, there are all kinds of events, from the 4-day Greenbelt Labor Day Festival to the annual Gaithersburg Labor Day Parade and more; and don’t forget to tune in right here on WPFW from 8am to 12 noon on Monday for our annual “Workers Rising” Labor day special, co-hosted by me and Elise Bryant, with labor music, special guests and more;
for complete details and all the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In 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 "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.   

Today’s labor quote is by President Franklin Roosevelt, whose Wealth Tax Act, increasing taxes on rich citizens and big business and lowering taxes for small businesses, passed on this date in 1935.
Franklin Roosevelt, who said:
“Taxes, after all, are the dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Union members get exclusive savings on award-winning SimpliSafe with the new Union Plus Home Security Program. Protect what matters most. Visit unionplus.org/homesecurity. 

Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Mark Gruenberg
 
Guests:
SHAWNA BADER-BLAU, Executive Director, Solidarity Center
Topic: Solidarity Center Report: Landmark Pact to End Gender Violence at Lesotho Garment Factories
More than 10,000 garment workers who make jeans and knitwear for US corporations will be covered in a landmark program that will address gender-based violence and harassment in factories in Lesotho, a country in southern Africa.  Lesotho-based unions and women’s rights groups, Levi Strauss, The Children's Place and Kontoor (Wrangler and Lee), and international worker rights organizations, including the Solidarity Center, negotiated with the factory owner, Nien Hsing Textiles, to mandate education and awareness trainings for all employees and managers, an independent reporting and monitoring system and remedies for abusive behavior.
Find out more at the Solidarity Center. 
See below for video of Shawna Bader-Blau describing the GBVH program

JASON WALSH, Executive Director of the BlueGreen Alliance
Topic: Latest campaigns at the Alliance and how the labor and environmental movements are working together to save both jobs and the environment.
 
Music: "We Belong to the Union!" - Australian Union Song
Union song written by Tim O'Brien describing solidarity within the labor unions of Australia.
In honor of Vanessa Seagrove, Assistant Secretary of Unions, New South Wales, Australia, who’s one of our special guests Monday here on WPFW on our “WORKERS RISING” LABOR DAY SPECIAL, Monday, September 2, 2019, 8a-12 noon EDT, WPFW 89.3 FM, hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant. 

Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella. Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus.

Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM
Hosted by 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.
 
On today’s show: Labor lawyers Bob Samet from Ashcraft & Gerel and David Schloss from Koonz McKenney join us to launch the new “Case of the Week” feature, we preview the upcoming annual Labor Day show (Monday, Sept 2, 8a-12 noon), and get an update on the AFL-CIO’s Labor Day press conference. Plus listener calls.

Music: Warren Zevon: Lawyers, Guns and Money

Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella
Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus, FIND OUT MORE AT UNIONPLUS.ORG

For more than three decades, Roger Wendell “Buck” Hill walked DC’s streets delivering mail by day but at night he was “The Wailin’ Mailman,” a saxophonist who accompanied such greats as Miles Davis, Max Roach and Dizzy Gillespie.
Hill, a longtime member of Letter Carriers Branch 142, was honored Tuesday at a noontime ceremony – kicked off, of course, with live jazz -- at the Reeves Municipal Center when a 70-foot-tall mural of him wearing his Letter Carrier uniform and playing his sax was unveiled on a building at 14th and U Streets NW as the city declared August 27 “Buck Hill Day.” 
Hill was so popular for his personality, his work and his sax playing that when he first tried to retire, the Postal Service wouldn’t let him do so.
Hill played his sax in Europe early in his career, but “wanted to stay in DC to care for his family and because he could always come home,” his daughter-in-law told Union City Radio.
Now, with the mural on the wall at 14th and U, Buck will never leave home, though his music, of course, belongs to the world. Here he is, playing Someone Like That In Your Life (audio)

On today’s labor calendar…
Locked-out Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians picket at 8:30 this morning…
and tune in at 1pm this afternoon for this week’s edition of Your Rights At Work. We’ll launch a brand-new feature and preview my Labor Day special, and take listener calls, as usual.
For details and all the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1996, dancers at San Francisco’s  Lusty Lady Club voted to unionize. Their first union contract 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. The club closed on Labor Day 2013.

Today’s labor quote is by Ramona Falls, organizer for Minneapolis’ chapter of Sex Workers Outreach Project, after the Minneapolis City Council recently passed an ordinance that will improve working conditions for adult entertainers. Ramona Falls, who said:
“I think this is a welcome first step towards building a community in which sex workers can expect transparency and accountability in their workspaces and from their elected representatives.”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Union members get exclusive savings on award-winning SimpliSafe with the new Union Plus Home Security Program. Protect what matters most. Visit unionplus.org/homesecurity. 

Transdev workers at the Cinder Bed Road facility in Northern Virginia have voted unanimously to strike if ongoing negotiations stall.
The workers belong to ATU Local 689 and drive the same routes, on the same roads, with the same buses as WMATA, but earn $12 less per hour than other operators in the region because they work for a private contractor.
The workers are also demanding improvements to safety and working conditions.
“The workers at Cinder Bed have stood together for almost a year to fight Transdev and WMATA to make sure that they’re treated with respect,” said ATU Local 689 President and Business Agent Raymond Jackson.

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

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1963, the march for jobs and freedom—the Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have A Dream" speech march—was held in Washington, D.C. with 250,000 participating.

Today’s labor quote is from Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech:
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

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.

(audio) We were dismayed to be notified frankly through an email that a program, a grant that we had been partnering with Department of Labor on since 2016 was going to be terminated without explanation...”
That’s Mike Monroe, Chief of Staff at North America's Building Trades Unions, on the latest edition of the AFL-CIO’s “State of the Unions” podcast. NABTU is a federation of 14 North American unions in the building trades…
(audio) “This has been focused on communities of color, women and veterans in particular the apprenticeship readiness and in 2007 we had about a handful of those. We have over 175 of these programs now nationwide. And again, an acknowledgement from the Department of Labor that this work has been successful. Here is $1 million grant over multi-year phase that we want to expand this work. We want to target some areas, right? So we did, and for the past three years, we moved nearly 5,000 people into apprenticeship. Under that program, 3,800 of them were from communities of color, over a thousand were women. So, we saw the success, and we were continuing the work and to get the notification that was canceled as abruptly as it was without conversation was startling…. So, it looks like they've had a change of heart. We brought that again to the light of day and maybe that's the moral of the story here. Bringing these things out and let the people decide. 'cause I don't think this is what people signed up for when we went to the voting booth.”

On today’s labor calendar, locked-out Baltimore Symphony Musicians picket today from 8:30am to 10:00am at the BSO in Baltimore; and mark your calendar now for the BSO musician’s fundraiser coming up Tuesday, September 17 at the Takoma Busboys and Poets.
You can RSVP and get all the latest local labor calendar listings at dclabor.org; click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1950, President Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize all the nation's railroads to prevent a general strike.  The railroads were not returned to their owners until two years later.  

Today’s labor quote is an African proverb, which says that
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Union members get exclusive savings on award-winning SimpliSafe with the new Union Plus Home Security Program. Protect what matters most. Visit unionplus.org/homesecurity. 

Dozens of Maryland state workers rallied in Ocean City last week, protesting understaffed and underpaid working conditions throughout government institutions across the state. Wearing their green union shirts and with packets of info in hand, members of AFSCME Council 3 gathered in the parking lot outside Ocean City's Convention Center, calling on Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to improve conditions. Some say the staffing crisis is a matter of life and death, becoming alarmingly common among many places like correctional facilities and state hospitals. "Tell Governor Hogan to provide us with services, with staffing, and of course, provide state employees with more salary increases," said Flo Jones, AFSCME's Secretary-Treasurer.

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

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1819, Allan Pinkerton was born. His company’s strike-breaking detectives were known as "Pinks," which gave us the word "fink."
 
Today’s labor quote is by A. Philip Randolph, the first organizer for the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, founded on this date in 1925 at a meeting in New York City.  A. Philip Randolph, who said:
“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.”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Did you know you can help support the labor movement when you choose your wireless plan? AT&T is the only nationwide unionized wireless carrier, and union members can save with special discounts. Visit unionplus.org/att.

(audio) We are in dire need of infrastructure investment.”
That’s Mike Monroe, Chief of Staff at North America's Building Trades Unions, on the latest edition of the AFL-CIO’s “State of the Unions” podcast. NABTU is a federation of 14 North American unions in the building trades…
(audio) Everybody says they agree. There seemed to be a little glimmer of hope. There were some White House meetings with Dem leadership. Those broke down. You could argue whether or not that was sincere or manufactured. There are some people that don't want to pay for infrastructure and I would put at the top of the list acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney and some of those folks, and I think that Democrats were worried about pay-fors? Let's put it this way...I don't think you're going to balance a $22 trillion deficit on the backs of infrastructure bill, so we should look to what ways are going to actually drive growth, and we've always been a believer in that. I think people sitting in traffic would be a believer in that. People that are sending their kids to schools that are falling down, I think would be a believer in that. Clean water, folks that can't get clean water, I think would be a believer in that. Being able to retrofit buildings and put us on a path to a cleaner, greener economy. I think people would believe in that. Resiliency measures with more extreme weather events. These are all things that we can invest in now and move forward on. So, we need it to be a priority.
Check out “State of the Unions” wherever you listen to podcasts.

On the weekend labor calendar, the Working While Black Expo takes place tomorrow and Sunday at Coppin State University in Baltimore; for details and the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date 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 legendary farm worker organizer Cesar Chavez, who said:
“Fighting for social justice, it seems to me, is one of the profoundest ways in which man can say yes to man’s dignity, and that really means sacrifices. There is no way on this earth in which you can say yes to a man’s dignity and know that you’re going to be spared some sacrifice.”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Did you know you can help support the labor movement when you choose your wireless plan? AT&T is the only nationwide unionized wireless carrier, and union members can save with special discounts. Visit unionplus.org/att.

Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM.
Hosted by Chris Garlock (Ed Smith is away this week)
DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them.

On today’s show: Protecting federal workers’ free speech rights; New DC paid leave regs fall way short; Black Women’s Equal Pay Day; a brand-new song from the R.J. Phillips Band. Plus your calls at 202-588-0893!
In-studio with us today: Mark Gruenberg from PAI News. 
On the line: AFGE 2578 president Ashby Crowder and Ashley Morse, Communications Manager for Jews United for Justice. 
AFGE Sues to Protect the Speech Rights of Federal Employees
New DC paid leave regs don’t cover all workers
Plus: American Factory offers hope, dismay and a more-automated future

Music 
Artist: The R.J. Phillips Band
Song title: Nat Turner
On August 21, 1831, Nat Turner launched the most deadly slave revolt in American history. The R.J. Phillips Band, a group of Baltimore musicians and regular contributors to the Labor History Today podcast, remind us what was behind this rebellion with "Nat Turner," a brand-new song.

Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella
Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus, FIND OUT MORE AT UNIONPLUS.ORG

On today’s labor calendar,
Locked-out Baltimore Symphony Musicians picket this morning starting at 8:30am outside the BSO;
Then at 1 o’clock this afternoon, tune in to this week’s edition of Your Rights at Work here on WPFW, when our topics will include civil rights for federal workers and why new paid leave regulations in DC are falling short;
And at 6 tonight the DC Health Justice Coalition will meet with community leaders in wards 7 and 8 for a conversation about the state of health care services in the District of Columbia;
Finally, at 7 tonight, NoVA Labor hosts a vigil to protest the recent raids on poultry plants in Mississippi;
for details on these -- and all the latest local labor calendar listings -- go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1927, Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, accused of murder and tried unfairly, were executed. The case became an international cause and sparked demonstrations and strikes throughout the world.
 
Today’s labor quote is by Joyce Miller, a vice president of the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers, who became the first female member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council on this date in 1980.
Joyce Miller, who said:
“Don't forget, when we started (the Coalition of Labor Union Women), all letters were signed ‘fraternally.’”

Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Did you know you can help support the labor movement when you choose your wireless plan? AT&T is the only nationwide unionized wireless carrier, and union members can save with special discounts. Visit unionplus.org/att.