(audio) “This is enormous. This isn't just...New England that this is affecting right now. This is affecting every worker, every blue collar worker in America right now at this very moment. And it's awesome to be a part of something that big…” That’s Kristen Johnson, a deli manager and UFCW Local 1445 shop steward at the Stop & Shop in Somerville, Massachusetts, talking about why she --- and 31,000 of her fellow workers --are on strike, on the latest State of the Unions podcast from the AFL-CIO. (audio) “We've been bargaining since January, and the fact that their shareholders met and decided they needed an 11% raise because of all the hard work that those shareholders do for their customers and their communities, they needed that raise. And, let's take it from the little guy that's working in the stores...face-to-face with our customers in our community every day. And...the company preaches…’we care about our community’...Their actions prove the total opposite of what they're saying.” The Stop & Shop strike is now in its second week; you can hear more on the State of the Unions podcast, available on your favorite podcast platform. For the latest listings of labor events, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1911, more than 6,000 immigrant workers—Germans, Dutch, Lithuanians and Poles—put down their tools in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the nation’s “Furniture City,” and struck 59 factories for four months in what was to become known as the Great Furniture Strike. Today’s labor quote is by Kristen Johnson, the striking Stop & Shop deli manager, who said: “They're realizing they have a voice, and ‘I don't have to be afraid to show it and to let people know how I feel.’ That there are other people out there that will support you and that will have your back. They may not even know you or they may be on the other side of the country, but they're supporting you. And, they understand what you're fighting for.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. If you’re thinking about a spring road trip, don’t leave town without your Union Plus car rental savings! Union members save up to 25% on rental rates. Visit unionplus.org/carrental.
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