Money bills – both a short-term bill to keep the government going after September 30 and a longer-term larger bill for the new fiscal year that starts October 1 – top labor’s legislative agenda when Congress returns to D.C. today. But it’s not just the numbers themselves that are important, AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel says. It’s what the majority Republicans may try to insert into the measures, too. And most of those measures, especially the permanent money bills and the continuing resolution, offer the ruling Republicans opportunities for anti-worker measures. Samuel is particularly concerned about attempts by the Republican right to overturn pro-worker National Labor Relations Board rulings and Labor Department worker income and safety rules.
“The Republicans have a number of policy riders” that hurt workers, Samuel explains. “They may go to the brink” of shutting down the government, again “over their threats involving the NLRB and the Labor Department.” On today’s Labor Calendar, local singer/songwriters Peter and Steve Jones will perform a free Labor Day Concert tonight at 6pm at the Takoma Park Busboys and Poets as part of the monthly Bread & Roses labor series. Details on our website at dclabor.org; click on calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1909, employers gave in to the demands of striking miners in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, agreeing to improved working conditions, a 15-percent hike in wages and elimination of a wage system that gave foremen control over each worker’s pay. In 1942, workers gave up their Labor Day weekend holidays to keep the munitions factories working to aid in the war effort. Most Labor Day parades were canceled in respect for members of the Armed Services. And in 1965, the United Farm Workers union began its historic national grape boycott and strike in Delano, California. Today’s labor quote is by United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez: "The consumer boycott is the only open door in the dark corridor of nothingness down which farm workers have had to walk for many years. It is a gate of hope through which they expect to find the sunlight of a better life for themselves and their families."
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