Chanting "They care about their bonuses more than their workers," and “Up up with the workers, down down with the bosses,” dozens of Unite Here Local 23 members and their supporters picketed IL Creations in front of the USDA on Wednesday. Local 23 has represented workers at cafeterias in federal buildings for decades, and subcontractor IL Creations is one of the main providers of food for federal employees in the DC region.
“IL Creations is trying to force us to accept an unjust contract,” said Rita Langley, Local 23 Shop Steward at the State Department cafeteria. “We have to support our brothers and sisters,” said AFSCME Council 26 president Seth Cousler as he walked the picket line, “we’ve got to show solidarity and help each other.” On today's labor calendar, There will be a discussion of Thomas Frank’s new book “Listen, Liberal Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?” today at noon at the AFL-CIO. Tomorrow, CWA 2336 will picket the F Street Verizon Wireless store at 10a to protest 8 months without a contract, then at noon tomorrow, catch the Workers Vigil to End War on the National Mall, 3rd St between Madison and Jefferson. For complete details, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1970, the Post Office’s first mass work stoppage in 195 years began in Brooklyn and Manhattan and spread to 210,000 of the nation’s 750,000 postal employees. Mail service was virtually paralyzed in several cities, and President Nixon declared a state of emergency. A settlement was reached after two weeks. In 1997, the Los Angeles City Council passed the first living wage ordinance in California. In 2005, Walmart agreed to pay a record $11 million to settle a civil immigration case for using undocumented immigrants to do overnight cleaning at stores in 21 states. And in 2010, as the Great Recession continued, President Obama signed a $17.6 billion job-creation measure a day after it was passed by Congress. Today’s labor quote is by Moe Biller: “It is time that the US Postal Service realized that the American Postal Workers Union is a stand-up union. We will not back away from our determination to achieve justice and dignity for all the postal workers we represent.” Moe Biller was president of the Manhattan-Bronx Postal Union, which sparked the 1970 postal strike. Biller – who went on to lead the American Postal Workers Union from 1980 to 2001, described Manhattan post offices as "dungeons," that were “dirty, stifling, too hot in summer, and too cold in winter.”
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