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).
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Last week, an overwhelming majority of digital journalists working for Al Jazeera America voted to be represented by the NewsGuild of New York. Al Jazeera America joins a growing number of digital outlets that have recently organized, including The Guardian U.S., Gawker, Vice and Salon. Bernie Lunzer, president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA said that “In voting to join The NewsGuild, journalists at Al Jazeera America are sending a strong message to all digital media workers—that they don't need management's approval to form a union.”
On today's labor calendar, hear from a panel of experts why public banking is a key to a healthy and just economy and why it makes sense at DC Public Dollars/Public Bank in DC: Building our Future at 5:30pm today at the Goethe-Institut. Go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1933, Wisconsin dairy farmers began their third strike of the year in an attempt to raise the price of milk paid to producers during the Great Depression. Several creameries were bombed before the strike ended a month later. The economy eventually improved, allowing the farmers to make more money. Today’s labor quote is by John F. Kennedy: “Those who would destroy or further limit the rights of organized labor – those who cripple collective bargaining or prevent organization of the unorganized – do a disservice to the cause of democracy.” You know, WPFW is the only place you’ll hear Union City Radio; please support WPFW during the Fall membership drive; call 202-588-9739 or give online at wpfwfm.org. Make sure workers voices – and our issues and history – continue to have a home on the airwaves; 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. Last Friday, MetroAccess para-transit workers overwhelmingly ratified their first union contract. The new contract will entitle the First Transit MetroAccess workers – members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 -- to an increase in wages, a formal grievance structure, affordable healthcare, paid vacation and arbitration language. “The work MetroAccess workers do is so important to this region,” said Local 689 president Jackie Jeter. “They transport the most precious cargo in our community: the elderly and those with disabilities. This is an exciting win for all of us as these workers come closer to earning a living wage.”
For the latest local labor events, go to dclabor.org and click on calendar. This week's labor quiz asks Who wrote "The Jungle," which exposed the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the Chicago meatpacking industry? Was it Sinclair Lewis; John Steinbeck; Upton Sinclair; Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway? Submit your answer at unionist.com and you could be next week's winner! Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1926, Eugene V. Debs, U.S. labor leader and socialist, died in Elmhurst, Illinois. Among his radical ideas: an 8-hour workday, pensions, workman's compensation, sick leave and social security. He ran for president from a jail cell in 1920 and got a million votes. In 1947, Hollywood came under scrutiny as the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence within the motion picture industry. Dozens of union members were among those blacklisted as a result. And on this date in 1980, Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan promised PATCO President Robert Poli that if the union endorsed Reagan, "I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available and to adjust staff levels and work days so that they are commensurate with achieving a maximum degree of public safety." He got the endorsement. Nine months after the election, he fired the air traffic controllers for striking over staffing levels and working conditions. Today’s labor quote is by Eugene V. Debs: “Too long have the workers of the world waited for some Moses to lead them out of bondage. I would not lead you out if I could; for if you could be led out, you could be led back again. I would have you make up your minds there is nothing that you cannot do for yourselves.” If you like hearing Union City Radio here on WPFW, please support the station during the Fall membership drive; call 202-588-9739 or give online at wpfwfm.org. Your support ensures that the voices of working people can continue to be heard on the air here in the nation’s capital. 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. Local labor and political leaders on Friday angrily criticized the decision to close two Safeway distribution centers in Upper Marlboro and Landover. Rallying outside the Upper Marlboro center, several hundred denounced the move by C&S Wholesale Grocers, which operates the Safeway-owned facilities. Congresswoman Donna Edwards called it “devastating, not just to the 900 workers and their families but the citizens and taxpayers of Prince George’s County” who granted the company tax breaks to build the centers. Teamsters Local 639 President Tommy Ratliff called the closure “a disgrace” after decades of dedicated work by the warehouse workers and drivers for more than fifty years. The political and labor leaders are calling for a moratorium on the closures and are demanding that C&S come to the table to discuss alternatives.
On today's Labor Calendar, Bill Lucy, longtime Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and founder of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, will provide his firsthand account of the 1968 sanitation workers' strike in Memphis, Tennessee, today at noon at the AFL-CIO. And tonight at 6:30 the Metro Washington Council holds its monthly meeting at the AFL-CIO. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1949, the National Association of Letter Carriers achieved equalization of wages for all letter carriers, meaning city delivery carriers began receiving the same wages regardless of the size of the community in which they worked. And in 1980, the J.P. Stevens textile company was forced to sign its first union contract after a 17-year struggle in North Carolina and other southern states. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King Jr.: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. “ 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. |
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