(audio) “You can't know where you are going if you don't understand where you came from; there are no new strategies in this world, they only are adapted to what you have.”
That’s AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka. He sat down with Labor History Today’s Joe McCartin earlier this week to discuss the historic Pittston strike, which began on September 17, 1989, when ninety-eight members of the United Mine Workers of America and a minister occupied the Pittston Coal Company's Moss 3 preparation plant in Carbon, Virginia. The year-long occupation and strike came at the end of a decade of brutal union-busting that had begun with Ronald Reagan firing 11,000 striking air traffic controllers. Trumka led the Mine Workers during the Pittston strike and went on to be elected president of the AFL-CIO on September 16, 2009. Tune in at 9am this morning here on WPFW to hear our complete interview with president Trumka, which includes some personal memories of working in the mines with his father. On today’s labor calendar, locked-out Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians picket today at 9am; and the monthly NoVA Coalition of Labor Union Women Happy Hour is tonight at 6:30; Plus, selected screenings at the AFI Latin American Film Festival are being co-presented by the DC Labor FilmFest, and you can show your union card and get the AFI member discount. For details and all the latest labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1971, eleven AFSCME-represented prison employees and 33 inmates died in four days of rioting at New York State’s Attica Prison and the retaking of the prison. The riot caused the nation to take a closer look at prison conditions, for inmates and their guards alike. Today’s labor quote is by John L. Lewis, who led the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960. John L. Lewis, who said: “You can’t dig coal with bayonets.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. The Union Plus Car Rental Program can save you up to 25% off car rental rates. With several companies to choose from union members can hit the road for less. Visit unionplus.org/carrental.
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