Richard Melville Hall -- better known as the musician Moby -- once said
"It's heartbreaking that so many hundreds of millions of people around the world are desperate for the right to vote, but here in America people stay home on election day." With that in mind, let me remind you that early voting starts today in Maryland and runs through Thursday, November 1. In DC, early voting began on Monday and goes through November 2. There’s no early voting in Virginia, but you can vote absentee in-person if you have a valid excuse for not being able to vote on Election Day. We have complete details – including where you can vote early or get an absentee ballot, on our website at dclabor.org On today’s labor calendar, catch this week’s edition of Your Rights At Work right here on WPFW starting at 1pm today; we’ll get an update on the Marriott strike and then at 2 we’ll visit with the hosts of “State of the Unions,” the AFL-CIO’s brand-new podcast; plus of course your calls with questions about your rights at work; for complete details, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1899, what many believe to be the first formal training on first aid in American history took place at the Windsor Hotel in Jermyn, Pennsylvania, when Dr. Matthew J. Shields instructed 25 coal miners on ways to help their fellow miners. Upon completion of the course each of the miners was prepared and able to render first aid. The training led to decreases in serious mining injuries and fatalities. Today’s labor quote is by Oliverio Gomez, a worker at the Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica, California. After a two-year fight, workers there won a union contract in 2011 calling for pay increases, better breaks and other gains. Oliverio Gomez, who said “They didn’t treat us like people.”
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Hosted by Chris Garlock and Peter Pocock
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: Hour 1 (local) Unite Here 7 organizer Tracy Lingo on the Marriott strike, now almost 3 weeks old. Alex Baptiste, from the National Partnership for Women and Families, on “Miscarrying at Work: The Physical Toll of Pregnancy Discrimination.” Here are two resources on pregnancy rights from the National Partnership: Know Your Rights and background on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which marks its' 40th anniversary on October 31. Plus: "Union Blood" the latest song by SpudWrench, AKA Michael Peterson, the singing elevator engineer. Hour 2 (national) Tim Schlittner, co-host of the AFL-CIO's new “State of the Unions.” podcast. Georgetown University graduate student workers Hailey Huget and Kevin Carriere, members of the Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees (GAGE). Plus: "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton. Produced by Chris Garlock and Peter Pocock; engineered by Mike “The Man” Nasella In the largest multi-city hotel worker strike in American history, nearly 8,000 workers at Marriott have walked off the job in recent weeks.
From Boston to Hawaii, Oakland to Detroit, and in San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose, workers – members of the Unite Here! union -- are fighting for Marriott to raise pay so that one full time job is enough to live on in these cities. They’re also striking for basic job security around automation in the industry, and for an end to the unsafe workplaces created by the so-called “Green Choice” program. Locally, workers at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront are organizing for a fair process to decide on union representation at the largest and richest hotel company on the planet. Find out more at unitehere.org On today’s labor calendar, labor to labor phonebanks continue throughout the area; complete details are at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. In 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, and which also required employers to pay the minimum wage and imposed several child labor provisions. Today’s labor quote is by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he signed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. FDR, who said “Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day… tell you… that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at UnionPlus, this week offering an Accident Only Pet Insurance Plan. Help your pet receive the best care without worrying about the financial cost. Find out more at unionplus.org Keep Union City Radio on the air by pledging your financial support to WPFW 89.3 FM now: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online. Thank you! Workers at the American Red Cross prevented takeaways and made some important national gains in a recent agreement.
The workers won cumulative across-the-board wage increases of more than 8% over three years, significant wins on health care and benefits, standard-setting health and safety protections for members, and agreement by the Red Cross to engage collaboratively on key issues with the coalition of unions representing 4,500 Red Cross workers. On today’s labor calendar, if you missed the terrific film “Teacher of the Year” last week, we’re screening it again tonight – for free -- at the Shirlington Busboys and Poets, starting at 6pm. Complete details are at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 2001, local postal workers Joseph Curseen and Thomas Morris Jr. died after inhaling anthrax at the Brentwood mail sorting center in Washington, D.C. Other postal workers were also made ill. Letters containing the deadly spores had been addressed to U.S. Senate offices and media outlets. During the anthrax crisis, more than 700,000 postal workers demonstrated uncommon courage by just showing up for work each day. In honor of the fallen postal workers, the Brentwood facility was renamed the Curseen-Morris mail sorting center. Read more here Today’s labor quote is by Thomas Morris Jr., from a 911 call he placed just hours before his death. Thomas Morris Jr., who told the 911 operator: "They never let us know whether this thing was anthrax or not… My breathing is labored; my chest feels constricted. I am getting air, but I -- to get up and walk and what have you -- it just feels like I'm going to pass out if I stay up too long." Union City Radio is supported by our friends at UnionPlus, this week offering an Accident Only Pet Insurance Plan. Help your pet receive the best care without worrying about the financial cost. Find out more at unionplus.org Keep Union City Radio on the air by pledging your financial support to WPFW 89.3 FM now: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online https://pledge.wpfwfm.org. Thank you! |
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