Labor activists and allies plan to turn out in force tonight to support union workers at Montgomery County's Department of Liquor Control. "We can’t let 350 union jobs and $35 million in annual revenue slip away," says UFCW Local 1994's Gino Renne. Although the county has opposed the push to privatize the DLC, proponents -- led by Delegate Charles Williams Frick -- are trying to end-run local opposition by pushing state legislation. Recent reports reveal that the main proponents of privatization have received large campaign donations from major players in the liquor industry.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1854, “Fighting Mary” Eliza McDowell, also known as the “Angel of the Stockyards,” was born in Chicago. As a social worker she helped organize the first women’s local of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1902.
In 1930, Mother Jones died at the Burgess Farm in Adelphi, Maryland. Mary Harris Jones—“Mother Jones”—was the most dynamic woman ever to grace the American labor movement. Employers and politicians around the turn of the century called her “the most dangerous woman in America” and rebellious working men and women loved her fiercely. Mother Jones was an absolutely fearless and tireless advocate for working people, especially coal miners. A founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World—the Wobblies—she feared neither soldiers’ guns nor the ruling class’s jails.
In 1999, unionists and activists shut down World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, Washington.
 
Today’s labor quote is by Mother Jones, who said:
“I’m not a lady, I’m a hell-raiser!” 
Mother Jones, who also said, “My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong.”

​Today is Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, and also a day for activists to hit the streets. 
At 9a OUR Walmart workers and supporters will rally at the H Street Walmart in downtown DC. Previous demonstrations have forced the bigbox giant to raise hourly wages but workers there “are still struggling to put food on our tables and so our fight continues,” says Cynthia Murray, a founding OUR Walmart member from Laurel.
Then at 10a, take action against corporate greed at the Verizon Wireless store at 13th and F Streets. Despite making more than $1 billion in profits every month, Verizon is squeezing its workers, demanding cuts in retirement and job security, raising health care costs by thousands of dollars per worker, and even taking away benefits from employees who have been injured on the job. Verizon has also been threatening and intimidating non-union wireless workers who dare to stand up for their rights. 
More details about both actions are on our website at dclabor.org
 
Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1828, William Sylvis, founder of the National Labor Union, was born.
In 1891, the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, precursor to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, was founded.
In 1908, 154 men died in a coal mine explosion at Marianna, Pennsylvania.  Engineer and General Superintendent A.C. Beeson told the local newspaper he had been in the mine a few minutes before the blast and had found it to be in perfect condition.
And in 1953, some 400 New York City photoengravers working for the city’s newspapers, supported by 20,000 other newspaper unionists, began what was to become an 11-day strike, shutting down the papers.

Today’s labor quote is by William Sylvis:
“Our cause is a common one. It is war between poverty and wealth. … This moneyed power is fast eating up the substance of the people. We have made war upon it, and we mean to win it. If we can, we will win through the ballot box; if not, then we shall resort to sterner means.”

Today, as most of us are making room on our plates for second helpings or thumbing through ads for the best Black Friday deals, the men and women who will ring up our purchases are heading to work. Why are they making this sacrifice? Often, it’s for survival. Some work on the holiday because they don’t dare risk losing their jobs by putting their families first. Others can’t afford not to take advantage of the extra hours and pay they’ll earn for working on the holiday. Jobs With Justice is standing with retail employees and calling for fair wages and schedules throughout the year so that no one has to depend on working holiday shifts to make ends meet; add your voice to the call for justice by going to dclabor.org and taking the pledge to stand with retail employees in the fight for better jobs and better lives.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1936, some 1,200 workers sat down at Midland Steel in Detroit, forcing recognition of the United Auto Workers.
And in 1937, the pro-labor musical revue, “Pins & Needles” opened on Broadway with a cast of garment workers union members. The show ran on Friday and Saturday nights only, because of the cast’s regular jobs; The original cast was made up of cutters, basters, and sewing machine operators, all members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. The revue was also performed in 1938 in the White House for Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. 

Today’s labor quote is from “One Big Union For Two” one of the songs from “Pins & Needles”:
I'm on a campaign to make you mine
I'll picket you until you sign
In one big union for two
No courts and junction can make me stop
Until your love is all closed shop
In one big union for two
Seven days a week I want the right
To call you mine both day and night
The hours may be long
But fifty million union members can't be wrong

Are you ready to change the rules? Local activists will be joining the AFL-CIO to discuss the most important issues facing labor and community activists at the 2016 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil  & Human Rights Conference, coming up January 15–18, 2016. Go to dclabor.org to register before November 30, when the rate goes up. From taking down the confederate flag to fighting against massive deportations—labor and community activists have a strong voice in the changes that this country must make to achieve equality for all working people.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1883, some 10,000 New Orleans workers, Black and White, participated in a solidarity parade of unions comprising the Central Trades and Labor Assembly. The parade was so successful it was repeated the following two years.
In 1946, teachers struck in St. Paul, Minnesota, the first organized walkout by teachers in the country. The month-long “strike for better schools” involving some 1,100 teachers—and principals—led to a number of reforms in the way schools were administered and operated.
In 1952, George Meany became president of the American Federation of Labor following the death four days earlier of William Green.
And in 1983, Canadian postal workers, protesting a Post Office decision to offer discounts to businesses but not individuals, announced that for one week they would unilaterally reduce postage costs by about two-thirds. 

Today’s labor quote is by George Meany:
“As long as there are such trade unionists, labor will be opposed by those who seek to portray workers and their unions as separate entities-referring to unions as an unneeded 'third force,' just as the diehard segregationists falsely labeled civil rights organizations as 'outside agitators.'”