Teamsters are calling for Safeway to keep good jobs in Maryland, after the company unexpectedly issued a notice that it plans to start closing its Upper Marlboro and Landover, Maryland, grocery distribution facilities 19 days before Christmas, laying off more than 700 workers.
The warehouse workers, members of Teamsters locals 730 and 639, based in Washington, D.C., received a 60-day layoff notice from C&S Wholesale Grocers, which operates the Safeway-owned facilities. Safeway intends to close the operation, with plans to send the bulk of these family-supporting jobs to Pennsylvania. “The greed of this multi-billion dollar private equity firm is unmatched,” said Tommy Ratliff, President of Local 639. “Workers here have spent decades working night shifts, weekends and holidays to make Safeway a profitable company. We will do whatever it takes to save these jobs.” On today’s Labor Calendar, Safeway workers and their allies will rally against the distribution center closings from 1 to 2pm in Upper Marlboro. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis the 16th, was beheaded during the French Revolution. When alerted that the peasants were suffering due to widespread bread shortages, lore has it that she replied, “Let them eat cake.” In fact she never said that, but workers were, justifiably, ready to believe anything bad about their cold-hearted royalty. In 1859, abolitionist John Brown led 18 men, including five free blacks, in an attack on the Harper's Ferry ammunition depot, the beginning of guerilla warfare against slavery. Today’s labor quote is by John Brown: “I have only a short time to live, only one death to die, and I will die fighting for this cause. There will be no peace in this land until slavery is done for.” John Brown, who also said, “These men are all talk; What is needed is action — action!” 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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Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock and the Employment Justice Center Amy Gelatly discuss worker rights with local activists/organizers and take listener calls.
Guests on today’s show include former Indigo restaurant worker Reyna Maradiaga, who's owed over $7,000 in unpaid wages and overtime, and Rafi Kamhi, organizer of the Haifa Labour Film Festival, discussing worker rights in Israel. Click here for an archive of previous “Your Rights At Work” preview shows. A new Solidarity Center photo essay explores the daily lives of Mexican mine workers, members of the Los Mineros union. Through their union, miners are winning collective bargaining pacts that include significant economic benefits, essential safety and health protections and other fundamental rights on the job. The union also is breaking ground by raising the visibility of the work and activism of women members through the leadership and gender equality training program at the Mineras de Acero, or Women Mineworkers of Steel. You can see the full photo essay at the Solidarity Center's website at solidaritycenter.org
On today's labor calendar, check out a free noontime program of labor trailers for labor films, introduced by labor film festival organizers in town for their annual conference at the AFL-CIO. At 1pm I'll be hosting this week's "Your Rights At Work" Call-in Radio Show here on on WPFW 89.3 FM; And tonight at 6pm DC Jobs with Justice celebrates its 15th anniversary at the annual "I'll Be There" Awards at All Souls Church in Northwest DC; Go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Clayton Antitrust Act—often referred to as "Labor’s Magna Carta"—establishing that unions are not "conspiracies" under the law. It for the first time freed unions to strike, picket and boycott employers. In the years that followed, however, numerous state measures and negative court interpretations weakened the law. Today’s labor quote is by Woodrow Wilson: "The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy." 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 DC Public Employee Relations Board is planning more trainings in the coming months, following up on last year's successful training. “This will be more participatory, geared to issues that frequently arise in PERB cases and in labor-management relations in DC government,” reports Ann Hoffman, a member of PERB. The program is open to union representatives of DC's public sector unions and DC agency representatives; dates will be announced soon.
This week's labor quiz asks where the "Lattimer Massacre" took place. Did the violent deaths of 19 unarmed striking immigrant anthracite coal miners happen in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky or West Virginia? Submit your answer at unionist.com and you could be next week's winner! On today's labor calendar, check out a free noontime program of labor trailers for labor films, introduced by labor film festival organizers in town for their annual conference at the AFL-CIO. And at 4:30 this afternoon there's a "We Will Rise for Clean Air/People's Climate Movement" demonstration at the corner of K and 13th Northwest. Go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1883, the International Working People's Association was launched in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the anarchist group had been established two years earlier at a convention held in London, England. In 1938, the Seafarers International Union was founded as an AFL alternative to what was then the CIO’s National Maritime Union. The Seafarers are an umbrella organization of 12 unions of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working on U.S.-flagged vessels. And on this date in 2013, construction began on what is expected to be a five-year, $3.9 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River. It's estimated the project will employ 8,000 building trades workers over the span of the job. Today’s labor quote is by Albert Parsons, "Let the voice of the people be heard!" Albert Parsons was an American socialist and labor activist who became an anarchist and was a delegate to the 1883 International Working People's Association convention in Pittsburgh. 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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