This week’s wide-ranging bipartisan federal budget agreement apparently avoids a further hit on federal workers, the two top unions for those workers say. But it also potentially blows a big hole in large private employers’ responsibility for providing health insurance to their workers. And the unions warned that the budget drama isn’t over yet. That’s because a temporary spending bill, covering all government agencies, expires December 11.
 
Wearing purple T-shirts that read “Fighting for $15 and union rights at the airport,” about 200 airport workers from across the country rallied at National Airport last week for better wages and benefits. The Washington Post reports that the event kicked off efforts by SEIU 32BJ to win better wages and benefits for the contract workers who keep the airport running– the wheelchair attendants, janitors, cabin cleaners and baggage handlers– and earn as little as $6.75 an hour.  Last week’s rally was part of a nationwide campaign for a $15 minimum wage for airport workers.
 
On today's Labor Calendar, The Maryland State and District AFL-CIO 30th Biennial Convention kicks off this morning at the Washington Court Hotel; At 12:30pm check out “Struggle for the Soul of the Postwar South” at the AFL-CIO; NoVA Labor-to-Labor phone banks continue today and then tomorrow at 8:30am, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe will rally labor volunteers before they hit the doors to turn out the union vote in next Tuesday’s elections; And on Sunday from 10-2, Teamsters 730 and their allies will leaflet area Safeway supermarkets to protest the planned closing of the Safeway distribution center in Landover.
Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. 
 
Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1986, Ed Meese, attorney general in the Ronald Reagan administration, urged employers to begin spying on workers "in locker rooms, parking lots, shipping and mail room areas and even the nearby taverns" to try to catch them using drugs.
 
Today’s labor quote is by Marion Wright Edelman:
"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee."
An American activist for the rights of children, Marion Wright Edelman is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.
 
Today in Labor History is provided by Union Communication Services, at Unionist.com.
 
Rockin’ Solidarity is performed by Joe Uehlein and The Bones Of Contention; hear more at uliners.com
 
Union City Radio engineering is by David “The Cleaner” Kelly.
 
Union City is available at dclabor.org, on Facebook, and on Twitter; follow us @dclabor.
 
Union City Radio is a partnership between the Metro Washington Council and 89.3 FM WPFW, your station for jazz and justice. 
 
 
This has been Chris Garlock; see you on the line!

Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock and DCNA’s Ed Smith discuss worker rights with local activists/organizers and takes listener calls. 

Guests on today’s show include Caitlin Connolly, Home Care Fair Pay campaign coordinator at the National Employment Law Project, on new rules on labor standards for home care workers,  and Employment Justice Center organizer Emma Cleveland, with the story of Blanca de Leon, a hair stylist recently fired without notice by Bubbles Salon in DC; click here to sign a petition demanding that Bubbles establish a policy that requires that employees be given 30 days notice before being fired.

Management at United Way Worldwide has agreed to card check recognition and neutrality in future organizing drives among staffers at its Arlington, Virginia, headquarters. The pact was crafted after The Washington-Baltimore News Guild Local 32035 hit unexpected anti-union resistance from United Way managers after agency staffers started organizing with the Guild earlier this year. A number of top labor leaders serve on the United Way board and many union members contribute to the charity.

Behind those delicious berries at your local supermarket may be wage theft and union busting. Local activists picketed the 14th Street Whole Foods and Trader Joe's last Saturday to ask both chains to drop Driscoll's Berries and urge customers to boycott them. “Driscoll's is a major distributor for Sakuma, a berry producer known for wage theft, union busting, and even an armed raid on a camp where their workers were living,” reports “Mark,” a grocery store worker and member of the DC IWW, one of the picket organizers.
Read more at dclabor.org
 
On today's Labor Calendar, NoVA Labor-to-Labor phone banks continue today with less than a week to go before next Tuesday’s elections; there’s a discussion of labor market trends and the gig economy today starting at 9:30am at the Economic Policy Institute, and at 1pm on the "Your Rights At Work" Call-in Radio Show on WPFW 89.3 FM, we’ll take listener calls and visit with the National Employment Law Project’s Caitlin Connolly, who will discuss workplace issues for homecare workers.
Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. 
 
Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1929 —"Black Tuesday"— Wall Street crashed, throwing the world's economy into a years-long crisis including an unemployment rate in the U.S. that by 1933 hit nearly 25 percent.
 
Today’s labor quote is by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis:
“We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few; but we can't have both."    

​Oscar-award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence has been making headlines lately, but not because she’s promoting an upcoming film. Lawrence recently penned an honest, frank letter on her personal experience with the wage gap in Hollywood. Her realization that she has been paid significantly less than her male peers despite performing the exact same work is a story that working women everywhere can relate to. Unfortunately, even in 2015 when women make up nearly half of the workforce, too many don’t earn equal pay for equal work. 
Wage inequality impacts our entire economy, not just women who are systemically shortchanged on the job. Jennifer Lawrence is a union member and is lucky enough to be protected by a union contract. But not all working women are so fortunate. Whether you are a famous actress in Hollywood or a teacher in a small town, receiving less pay than a male co-worker simply because of gender is never right. By joining together and negotiating for higher wages, working women can begin to conquer the pay gap. 
Read more on the AFL-CIO’s blog at aflcio.org

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

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1879, union organizer and anarchist Luisa Capetillo was born in Puerto Rico.  She organized tobacco and other agricultural workers in Puerto Rico and later in New York and Florida. In 1916 she led a successful sugar cane strike of more than 40,000 workers on the island.  She demanded that her union endorse voting rights for women.  In 1919, three years before her death, she was arrested for wearing pants in public, the first woman in Puerto Rico to do so.  The charges were dropped.

In 1965, the Gateway Arch, a 630-foot high inverted centenary arch of stainless steel marking the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis, Missouri, was completed after two and one-half years. Although it was predicted 13 lives would be lost in construction, not a single worker died.

Today’s labor quote is by Harry S. Truman, who said:
“It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours." 
The 33rd President of the United States, Harry Truman was born and died in Missouri.

A 14-year lawsuit between Fire Fighters Local 36 and the District government was resolved Saturday when DC Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a settlement agreement. Before signing the agreement, Bowser donned firefighting gear and, along with other firefighters and with Smith at her side, entered a burning training building at the D.C. Fire and EMS Training Academy in Southwest, saying "It gives me a good appreciation for what the men and women do every single day.” The settlement helps ensure that firefighters are paid for the overtime that they have already worked and earned, said Mayor Bowser. The District will now pay Local 36 members time and a half for overtime. Union members are owed some $45 million in back pay, dating back to 2001. Local 36 president Ed Smith thanked Bowser for settling the long-running dispute, saying that "It means the world to the men and women who serve the District residents every day and night." 

On today's Labor Calendar, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will speak about the current status of working women today at 9:30am, highlighting some of the challenges working women face in the workplace today and outlining solutions. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. 

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1904, the New York City subway opened; it was the first rapid-transit system in America. More than 100 workers died during the construction of the first 13 miles of tunnels and track.

In 1935, three strikes on works-relief projects in Maryland were underway today, with charges that Depression-era Works Projects Administration jobs were paying only about 28 cents an hour—far less than was possible on direct relief.  Civic officials in Cumberland, where authorities had established a 50-cent-per-hour minimum wage, supported the strikers.

And in 1951, the National Labor Council was formed in Cincinnati to unite Black workers in the struggle for full economic, political and social equality. The group was to function for five years before disbanding, having forced many AFL and CIO unions to adopt non-discrimination policies.

Today’s labor quote is by folksinger Woody Guthrie:
“Any song that points out something that is wrong, needs fixing, and shows you how to fix it – is the undying song of the working people. If it is made a little jazzy or sexy that ain’t wrong – what book could you read to a crowd that would make them dance?”

UFCW Local 400 health care professionals working at Kaiser recently ratified a national collective bargaining agreement that increases their wages, and sets standards to improve the quality and safety of health care. “This is a sound agreement that paves the way for our local bargaining with Kaiser Mid-Atlantic that will take place in 2020," said Local 400 Secretary-Treasurer Lavoris “Mikki” Harris. "What’s been most positive about this process is how it has galvanized member activism. There is great energy and a wonderful spirit of participation. That will serve us well in implementing the contract and in improving working conditions for our members.” 
The national collective bargaining agreement covers 105,000 Kaiser Permanente employees, including more than 1,000 Local 400 members. OPEIU Local 2 members who work at Kaiser had previously ratified an agreement.

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

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1825, after eight years and at least 1,000 worker deaths – mostly Irish immigrants – the 350-mile Erie Canal opened, linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. 

In 1905, over 2 million workers were on strike throughout the Russian Empire. Following the government’s massacre of more than 1,000 workers gathered at the Tsar’s palace in January, a huge wave of strikes erupted, coordinated by workers’ councils. By late December, the military put down what became known as the Russian Revolution of 1905, crushing the strikes and imprisoning the leaders of the workers’ councils.

Today’s labor quote is by poet Carl Sandburg:
“I am the people – the mob – the crowd – the mass. Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me? I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world’s food and clothes.”lick here to edit.

Safeway workers will leaflet a dozen area supermarkets this Sunday to protest the company's plan to close the Collingwood distribution center. Go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar for the complete list of targeted stores.
Cerberus Capital Management, Safeway’s new owner, last week abruptly announced plans to close the facility, one of the newest grocery distribution centers in the country, during the Christmas holidays, costing local workers 900 jobs. "Please come out this Sunday and help us let your neighbors know what's at stake," urges Ritchie Brooks, president of Teamsters Local 730, which represents the warehouse workers. Also affected are Safeway drivers represented by Teamsters Local 639 and building maintenance workers who are members of Operating Engineers Local 99. 

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

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt established a fact-finding commission that suspended a nine-months-long strike by Western Pennsylvania coal miners fighting for better pay, shorter workdays and union recognition.  The strikers ended up winning more pay for fewer hours, but failed to get union recognition.   It was the first time that the federal government had intervened as a neutral arbitrator in a labor dispute.

In 2001, postal workers Joseph Curseen and Thomas Morris died nearly a month after having inhaled anthrax at the Brentwood mail sorting center in Washington, D.C.  Other postal workers had also been sickened but survived. Letters containing the deadly spores had been addressed to U.S. Senate offices and media outlets.

Today’s labor quote is by Theodore Roosevelt:
"If I were a factory employee, a labourer on the railroad, or a wage earner of any sort, I would undoubtedly join the union of my trade."

Please support WPFW during the Fall membership drive; call 202-588-9739 or give online at wpfwfm.org; click on the big Donate Now button and be sure to select Morning 
Brew/Union City to show your support.

The AFL-CIO's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference will be held in Washington, D.C. January 15-18, 2016, and the Metro Washington Council has been asked to play a major role as the host city's Council; early-bird registration is now open and you'll find a link on our website at dclabor.org. 

Metro Council president Jos Williams says the conference is "an opportunity to come together to learn more about the civil and human rights campaigns of today and determine how we’re going to rewrite the rules and build power for all working people." 

On today's Labor Calendar, at 1pm tune in today's edition of Your Rights at Work here on WPFW 89.3 FM; we'll take your calls and our guest will be Gabby Madriz, Director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center DC, which works to improve working conditions in the local restaurant industry. 
Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. 

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1934, bank robber Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was killed by FBI agents near East Liverpool, Ohio. He was a hero to the people of Oklahoma who saw 
him as a "Sagebrush Robin Hood," stealing from banks, destroying mortgage papers and sharing with the poor. 

Today’s labor quote is by Woody Guthrie, from "The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd":
"As through this world you travel, you'll meet some funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen"

Please support WPFW during the Fall membership drive; call 202-588-9739 or give online at wpfwfm.org; click on the big Donate Now button and be sure to select Morning Brew/Union City to show your support.

Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock discusses worker rights with local activists/organizers and takes listener calls. 

Guests on today’s show include ​Eric Conrad, at the Restaurant Opportunities Center, and Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).