Defying threats by Gerawan Farming, the DC City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution calling on the California grape and tree fruit grower to honor contracts with its workers and respect their right to organize. "This isn't just a DC or California issue, it's an American issue," said DC Council member Anita Bonds, the resolution’s lead sponsor. "It's the right thing to do."
With the ultimate goal of improving public services and quality of life for middle-class families, 100 AFSCME activists and staff from the East Coast and Puerto Rico came together last week for AFSCME Strong training. Despite attacks against public workers, the union has grown by 140,000 new members since January 2014. By training 5 percent of AFSCME members to connect one-on-one with their coworkers, AFSCME’s goal is to engage 80 percent of its 1.6 million members nationwide. On today's labor calendar, there’s a noontime brownbag meeting with Josu Ugarte, President of Mondragon International at the Institute for Policy Studies; also at noon the DC LaborFest is hosting a rare tour of the Old Post Office Murals and at 1pm this afternoon, Fast Track opponents will rally outside Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer’s office in Greenbelt, MD; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details on all these events. In today's labor history, two died and 20 were injured in “Bloody Tuesday” as strikebreakers attempted to run San Francisco streetcars during a 1907 strike by operators; and on this date in 1937, four hundred black women working as tobacco stemmers walked off the job in a spontaneous revolt against poor working conditions and a $3 weekly wage at the Vaughan Company in Richmond, Virginia; in 1977, Philadelphia’s longest transit strike ended after 44 days. A key issue in the fight was the hiring and use of part-timers. Today's labor quote is by José María Arizmendiarrieta, who founded the Mondragón cooperative movement: “Knowledge is power. Knowledge must be socialized so that power can be democratized.” YOUR RIGHTS AT WORK: Tip #7 (click below) This is Chris Garlock, with Union City Radio’s Your Rights at Work tip of the day: Did you know that you have the right to be paid twice per month? It’s true: most workers in D.C. must be paid twice per calendar month, assuming they work the entire month. Find out more about your rights at work from the Employment Justice Center, at DCEJC.ORG or call 202-828-9675.
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