Happy Halloween!

Tens of thousands of federal workers like Wesley McCarville have traveled to Puerto Rico and other natural disasters this year to aid in hurricane recovery efforts. Wesley is a member of Local 1924 of the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, whose members work at federal immigration agencies here in Washington.
“Now their pay is on the chopping block,” says AFGE in a new 60-second video. AFGE is urging supporters to tell Congress to support workers like Wesley by not cutting federal pay and jobs. 
The video and a toll-free number for Congress are on our website at dclabor.org, where you'll also find the latest labor events by clicking on calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1891, the state of Tennessee sent in leased convict laborers to break a coal miners strike in Anderson County. The miners revolted, burned the stockades, and sent the captured convicts by train back to Knoxville. 
And in 1941, after 14 years of labor by 400 stone masons, the Mount Rushmore sculpture was completed in Keystone, South Dakota.

Today’s labor quote is by Alex Lichtenstein, author of "Twice the Work of Free Labor: The Political Economy of Convict Labor in the New South."  Alex Lichtenstein, who wrote
"For ex-slaves and their children, the right to leave one employer for another was second only to the desire to work for one's self as freedom's most precious gift."

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

1199SEIU is working with the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus to develop an apprenticeship program to train entry-level hospital employees to fill in-demand patient care jobs.
The local 1199SEIU union and UMMC Midtown hope to help entry-level workers in jobs like food service, transportation and janitorial work obtain Certified Nursing Assistant certifications.

On today's labor calendar, the Metro Washington Council is hosting a Meet and Greet with candidates for County Executive in Prince George's and Montgomery counties from 6 to 9 pm. Complete details on our website, dclabor.org, click on calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1986, Ed Meese, attorney general in the 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 Sebastian Junger, who wrote the book “The Perfect Storm,” about the fishing boat Andrea Gail, out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, which was caught in ferocious storm and lost at sea with her crew of six on this date in 1991. The city of Gloucester has lost more than 10,000 whalers and fishermen to the sea over its 350-year history.
Sebastian Junger, who wrote:
“As societies become more affluent they tend to require more, rather than less, (work) time and commitment by the individual, and it’s possible that many people feel that affluence and safety simply aren’t a good trade for freedom.”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

Nearly two dozen sheet metal apprentices – members of SMART Local 100 -- graduated to journeyworkers on Saturday, October 21. "These graduates now have a lifetime of great work ahead of them, and the chance to build good union careers in the sheet metal industry," said Local 100 Training Director Norbert Klusmann.

On today's labor calendar, labor’s Get Out The Vote efforts in Virginia continue tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. at the NoVA Labor offices in Annandale;
Complete details on our website, dclabor.org, click on calendar.
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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.

Today’s labor quote is by Luisa Capetillo, who said:
“Do not buy finery or jewels, because books are worth more than they are. Adorn your understanding with their precious ideas, because there is no luxury that dazzles like the luxury of science.”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

Local labor leaders have been taking a turn in the spotlight at the AFL-CIO convention this week in St Louis.
Delegates at the convention passed a resolution calling for  Medicare for All on Monday, after Registered Nurse Sandra Falwell -- a Vice President at the National Nurses Union and member of the Metro Washington Council's Executive Board -- recalled a tragic story of a premature child born at Childrens Hospital, whose parents had to take out a second mortgage yet still couldn't pay for needed aftercare.
And yesterday, on the final day of the convention, a resolution on safe jobs and the need to address workplace violence passed  after Metro Washington Council president Jackie Jeter (right) -- who also heads up the local transit workers union -- spoke in its support.

On today's labor calendar, catch this week's edition of Your Rights At Work here on WPFW at 1pm this afternoon,
and tonight at 6pm DC Jobs With Justice's "I'll Be There" Awards will be held at the All Souls Unitarian Church;
Complete details on our website, dclabor.org, click on calendar.

​Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1825, after eight years and at least a thousand worker deaths—mostly Irish immigrants—the Erie Canal opened, linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. 

Today’s labor quote is by Eugene V. Debs, who said:
"What can Labor do for itself? The answer is not difficult. Labor can organize, it can unify; it can consolidate its forces. This done, it can demand and command."

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

Hosts: Chris Garlock, with Ed Smith

JOIN US AT 202-588-0893
Also, if you miss our live show – or want to hear a past show – Your Rights At Work is now available as a podcast! Just search for Union City Radio on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone!

Guest: Carlos Jimenez (in-studio); reporting on AFL-CIO convention, including the demand for a “Workers' Bill of Rights” and why “Labor Rights Protections in Trade Deals Don’t Work”

Labor Song: Fats Domino - Blue Monday ('Live From Austin TX' performance)

CREDITS: engineered by Robin Smith; Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families. Find out more at unionplus.org. And we’re supported by you, our listeners: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org.
​photo by Chris Garlock

They’ve survived hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and civil wars – but now Donald Trump plans to throw them out of the U.S. 
But not if the nation’s construction unions can help it. 
“They” are some 329,000 people who have entered the U.S. since the start of this century on “Temporary Protected Status,” or TPS. They’re not permanent residents, they’re not undocumented workers, they don’t hold green cards and they have to keep reapplying to stay here. 
They work legitimately and openly in the U.S., and many are construction union members. Ejecting them would slam workers and hurt unions, say leaders of the building trades, who are lobbying Congress and the administration this week to allow their members to work at their jobs and have time with their families. 

On today's labor calendar, the film "From The Land of Gandhi" screens free at the Shirlington Busboys and Poets tonight, with director Prakash Wadhwa. 
Complete details -- and the latest labor events -- on our website, dclabor.org, click on calendar.

​Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1940, the 40-hour work week went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act, signed by President Roosevelt two years earlier.

Today’s labor quote is by Franklin Roosevelt, who said:
“No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

This week is National Retirement Security Week. But according to the National Public Pension Coalition, the reality is that many working families are not saving at all and are woefully unprepared for retirement. Much of the problem stems from lack of access to a retirement savings plan through an employer. At any given time, roughly half of working Americans do not have a retirement savings plan through their job. Among workers who do have a retirement savings plan at work, there has been a significant shift over the past three decades from pensions to 401(k)-style plans. As of last year, just 17% of workers were covered by a pension, a remarkable shift that has a real impact on people’s retirement security.

​On this weekend’s labor calendar, former Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello will be joined by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring at tomorrow’s NoVA Labor Canvass, starting at 9am.
Complete details at dclabor.org, click on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1926, Eugene V. Debs, U.S. labor leader and socialist, died in Elmhurst, Illinois. His “radical” ideas included an 8-hour workday, pensions, workman's compensation, sick leave and social security.

Today’s labor quote is by Eugene Debs, who said:
“I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.”

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.

Hosts: Chris Garlock, with Ed Smith
JOIN US AT 202-588-0893
Also, if you miss our live show – or want to hear a past show – Your Rights At Work is now available as a podcast! Just search for Union City Radio on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone!

Today's topic: sexual harassment at work; recognizing it and how to deal with it
Guests:
Robin Runge, Senior Specialist, Gender, Equality and Inclusion, Solidarity Center 
Maya Raghu, Director of Workplace Equality & Senior Counsel, National Women’s Law Center; 
 
Labor Song: Lady Gaga – Till it happens to you 

CREDITS: engineered by Wendy Paul and Mike “The Man” Nasella; Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families. Find out more at unionplus.org. And we’re supported by you, our listeners: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org.
Special thanks to everyone who pledged this hour -- including matching pledge sponsor Jules Bernstein -- and raised $2,300, far surpassing our goal for the hour!

A bill requiring all D.C. public and charter schools to have a full-time nurse moved forward at the DC City Council on Tuesday, when the Council’s Committee on Health voted 5-0 to pass the bill out of committee.
The DC Nurses Association has been working closely with parents and the Washington Teachers Union to pass the bill. They’re worried about funding for full-time nurses, however, and are urging the Mayor to make this a priority and to put the lives of District children first. Current DC law requires school nurses just 20 hours a week.

On today's labor calendar, both Unite Here and UFCW Local 400 have a number of actions scheduled for today, and the Metro DC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is hosting a discussion tonight about socialist trade unionism.
Complete details at dclabor.org, click on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date 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 Frederick Douglass, the former slave, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman who said:
"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."

Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.