Last week, a single judge in Texas ignored 78 years of legal precedent and took money out of the pockets of millions of working people across the country. How did he do it? By blocking a long overdue update of the overtime rule designed to restore overtime protections for an estimated 4.2 million workers, while making it harder for employers to deny overtime to another 8.9 million workers already eligible for overtime. 
These workers, the majority of whom are women, earn modest salaries, work long hours and have just been told that they will still be denied fair pay. The updated rule was scheduled to take effect tomorrow, but has now been blocked by Judge Amos Mazzant, who argued that the Labor Department does not have legal authority to set a minimum salary threshold. 
But the Labor Department has been exercising that authority since 1938. In fact, it has increased the threshold seven times, most recently in 2004 under President George W. Bush. Congress has amended the overtime law several times and never objected to the minimum salary threshold, and no court had previously ruled that the salary threshold violated congressional intent.
The labor movement joined the Labor Department and many others in denouncing this extreme decision and will continue to fight for overtime protections.

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—better-known as “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. She was 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 as she helped organize workers in steel, railroading, textiles and mining, crusaded against child labor, fought to organize women, and was even involved in the Mexican revolution.

Today's labor quote is by Mother Jones
Mother Jones, who said “I’m not a lady, I’m a hell-raiser!”

At a noontime rally today with hundreds of low-wage airport workers, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre will join elected officials and clergy as contracted service workers at National Airport and Dulles announce plans to hold a strike vote over the holiday season against Huntleigh Corporation.
The crowd will demand that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority ensure contractors pay their workers $15 an hour. The rally, which is one of 20 happening at airports nationwide, is organized by SEIU 32BJ and starts at noon in DCA's historic lobby.

Also on today’s labor calendar, check out today’s talk on “Sugarcane Workers in Nicaragua & Human Rights” at 2:30pm at Georgetown University.
And tonight at 6:30 there’s a “Fight For $15 Solidarity Vigil” at the Montgomery County Council Building in Rockville. Go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar for complete details.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1934, clerks, teamsters and building service workers at Boston Stores in Milwaukee struck at the beginning of the Christmas rush. The strike won widespread support—at one point 10,000 pickets jammed the sidewalks around the main store—but ultimately was lost. Workers returned to the job in mid-January with a small pay raise and no union recognition.
In 1999, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that medical interns can unionize and negotiate wages and hours.

Today's labor quote is by George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO from 1955 to 1979
“While strikes sometimes cause public inconvenience, they are an inherent part of the liberties we all enjoy – free speech, freedom of association, the right of contract. The exercise of liberties in a democratic society is not only healthy; it is vital.”

The entire American labor movement is now in the cross hairs of the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress. That's according to AFSCME Council 26 Executive Director Carl Goldman, responding to reports that the incoming administration is drawing up plans to take on federal workers. 
Goldman says he believes "this war has little to do with the canards that it is too hard to fire federal workers or that they don’t work hard enough. Rather, it is about defunding the parts of the federal government that have the most progressive missions."
Trump, says Goldman, "wants to eliminate any government regulations or programs that affect the profits of corporate American and/or strengthens the 99%."
The threat was a major focus of discussion at last week's Metro Washington Labor Council Executive Board and Delegate meetings and plans are in the works for further discussion.
Goldman says that AFSCME Council 26 is "now going full steam ahead with our development of a grass roots fight back."

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1828, National Labor Union founder William Sylvus was born.
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 comes from my old boss, Jim Hightower
American syndicated columnist, progressive political activist, and author Jim Hightower, who said:
"What created democracy was Thomas Paine and Shays' Rebellion, the suffragists and the abolitionists and on down through the populists and the labor movement, including the Wobblies. Tough, in your face people... Mother Jones, Woody Guthrie... Martin Luther King and Caesar Chavez. And now it's down to us." 

On this "Black Friday," the busiest shopping day of the year, let's all take a deep breath and spare a thought for the retail workers -- many of them overworked and underpaid -- who will be working hard today to help us find that perfect bargain.
And while we're at it, let's give thanks to everyone who's on the job today, the day after Thanksgiving, keeping things running for those fortunate enough to have the day off.

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.  
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 Barack Obama
"It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label." 

While many of us will spend today feasting with our families, let's take a moment to give thanks to the workers who made it possible. From the farmworkers who picked the crops to the truckers who brought the food to market and the clerks who sold it to us as well as many more whose names we'll never know and faces we'll never see. It takes many hands to make our world run; the least we can do is say a heartfelt Thank You.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1875, Cigarmakers’ International Union Local 144 was chartered in New York City. The local's first president was Samuel Gompers, who would later found the American Federation of Labor, which became the largest and most influential labor federation in the world, and is now the AFL-CIO.
Sam Gompers was born in London, England. At the age of 10, Gompers left school and was sent to work as an apprentice cigarmaker to help earn money for his impoverished family. Owing to dire financial straits, the Gompers family immigrated to the United States in 1863, settling in Manhattan's Lower East Side. In 1864, at the age of 14, Gompers joined Cigarmakers' Local Union 15, the English-speaking union of cigar makers in New York City.

Gompers later recounted his days as a cigar maker at the bench, emphasizing the place of craftsmanship in the production process, which gives us today's labor quote:
"The craftsmanship of the cigarmaker was shown in his ability to utilize wrappers to the best advantage to shave off the unusable to a hairbreadth, to roll so as to cover holes in the leaf and to use both hands so as to make a perfectly shaped and rolled product. These things a good cigarmaker learned to do more or less mechanically, which left us free to think, talk, listen, or sing. I loved the freedom of that work, for I had earned the mind-freedom that accompanied skill as a craftsman. I was eager to learn from discussion and reading or to pour out my feelings in song."

From Butterball turkeys to Pillsbury crescent rolls and Sara Lee pumpkin pies, you can stock your Thanksgiving dinner with union-made in America food and other items essential to a traditional family holiday feast. You'll find it all -- including union-made cookware and cutlery -- on our website at dclabor.org. And speaking of thanks, a big shout-out to the Union Label and Service Trades Department, Union Plus and Labor 411 for compiling their extensive catalogs of union-made products. 

Here’s today’s labor history:
History’s first recorded strike took place in 1170 BC, by Egyptians working on public works projects for King Ramses the Third in the Valley of the Kings. They were protesting having gone 20 days without pay—portions of grain—and put down their tools. The strike so terrified the authorities they gave in and raised wages. 
In 1935, Mine Workers President John L. Lewis walked away from the American Federation of Labor to lead the newly-formed Committee for Industrial Organization. The CIO and the unions created under its banner organized six million industrial workers over the following decade.
And in 1956, the first meeting between members of the newly-formed National Football League Players Association and team owners took place in New York City. Union founders included Frank Gifford, Norm Van Brocklin, Don Shula and Kyle Rote. They were asking for a minimum $5,000 dollar salary, a requirement that teams pay for their equipment, and a provision for the continued payment of salary to injured players. The players’ initial demands were ignored. 

Today’s labor quote is by John L. Lewis
“No tin-hat brigade of goose-stepping vigilantes or bibble-babbling mob of blackguarding and corporation paid scoundrels will prevent the onward march of labor, or divert its purpose to play its natural and rational part in the development of the economic, political and social life of our nation.”

Frustrated DC school bus drivers are cautiously optimistic after management acknowledged their concerns and agreed to hold a town hall today. Management’s move came after the bus drivers and attendants -- members of AFSCME Local 1959 -- planned a big rally in front of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education last week. “The threat of the rally made a big impact,” Local 1959 president Corey Upchurch said. The rally was called off after management agreed to meet. “Our members are very excited to attend the town hall meeting and express our concerns,” Upchurch added. Those concerns include low morale, pay, safety, respect, and under-staffing. “Now we have a seat at the table and a commitment in writing,” said Upchurch. 

It’s a quiet week because of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, but to find out about the local labor calendar, just go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1909, “The Uprising of the 20,000” took place. Some 20,000 female garment workers went out on strike in New York City, where a judge told arrested pickets: “You are on strike against God.” The walkout, believed to be the first major successful strike by female workers in American history, ended the following February with union contracts bringing better pay and working conditions. 
In 1919, the district president of the American Federation of Labor and two other Caucasians were shot and killed in Bogalusa, Louisiana, as they attempted to assist an African-American organizer working to unionize African-American workers at the Great Southern Lumber Company. 
And on this date in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Generally considered a friend of labor, Kennedy a year earlier had issued Executive Order 10988, which authorized unionization and a limited form of collective bargaining rights for most federal workers. Many states followed the example set by Kennedy. 

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.” 

Senator Bernie Sanders joined with a broad array of labor, environmental, healthcare, consumer and other advocacy groups yesterday at a Capitol Hill rally. Originally planned to protest the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, the rally’s focus was broadened to promote a people’s agenda and a common commitment to stepping up grassroots mobilizations for economic and social justice and equality as the incoming Trump administration takes office. Under sunny skies, the activists celebrated the TPP’s apparent defeat, following months of protests by labor and progressive organizations that culminated in opposition to the trade deal by all three leading Presidential candidates. The successful movement to stop the TPP, said Jean Ross “indicates the power of a unified, community movement and grassroots activism that will have even greater urgency in the coming year.” Ross is a Registered Nurse and co-president of National Nurses United, which helped lead yesterday’s mobilization.

On our weekend labor calendar, there’s a Rally Against PhRMA Greed today at 4:30pm and on Sunday at noon there’s a rally to reinstate Julia Flores, an outspoken advocate for better working conditions for herself and her coworkers at Whole Foods for the last fifteen years. For full details and the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

Here’s this weekend’s labor history:
On November 19, 1915, Joe Hill, labor leader and songwriter, was executed in Utah.
On November 19, 1981, my union, the National Writers Union, was founded.
November 20, 1816, was the first time the term “scab,” was used. The word, which refers to someone who crosses a picket line, was first used by the Albany Typographical Society.
On November 20, 1884, American socialist leader Norman Thomas was born.
And, on November 20, 1888, the time clock was invented by Willard Bundy, a jeweler in Auburn, New York. Bundy’s brother Harlow started mass producing them a year later and workers have been fighting them ever since.  

Today’s labor quote is by Norman Thomas
American socialist leader Norman Thomas, who said “I am not a champion of lost causes, but the champion of causes not yet won.” Norman Thomas, who also said: “To us Americans much has been given; of us much is required. With all our faults and mistakes, it is our strength in support of the freedom our forefathers loved which has saved mankind from subjection to totalitarian power.”

Hosts:  Chris Garlock and Ed Smith

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 Your Rights At Work on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone!

Guests:
NNU national co-president Deborah Burger reports live from the TPP/Justice and Equality rally in Upper Senate Park.
Metro Washington Council Executive Director Carlos Jimenez reports live from the DC City Council hearing on immigration rights.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, reports live from the TPP/Justice and Equality rally.

Labor Song: Leonard Cohen medley
The Union Makes Us Strong – Rare Songs, Live -England (1979) 
Everybody Knows
Democracy

FROM THE CAP FILES: THE CASE OF THE DEFENSIVE WORKER with attorney Lolita Martin.