The Trump administration has come up with a creative new way to silence dissenting voices: charge us for speaking out.
For the first time, the U.S. government now wants demonstrators to pay to use our parks, sidewalks and streets to engage in free speech in the nation’s capital. This is really a protest tax and it’s just one element of a larger initiative to close off public space to silence dissent using both financial and physical restrictions. If enacted, participatory democracy in America would be fundamentally altered, according to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund. Such a “pay to protest” plan will likely be challenged in court, but in the meantime you can submit your comments to the National Park Service – no charge for that, so far -- we have a link on our website at dclabor.org On this weekend’s labor calendar, a number of labor-to-labor walks are scheduled for tomorrow but that may change, depending on the weather. Get complete details and the latest updates on our website at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, Congress passed the Landrum-Griffin Act on this date in 1959. The law expanded many of the anti-labor provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act, increasing union reporting requirements and restricting secondary boycotting and picketing. Today’s labor quote is from “A Mill Mother’s Lament,” a ballad by Ella Mae Wiggins and sung here by Pete Seeger. Wiggins was a North Carolina textile mill striker and songwriter. The young mother of five was killed when local vigilantes and thugs forced the pickup truck in which she was riding off the road and began shooting on this date in 1929. How it grieves the heart of a mother, You everyone must know. But we can't buy for our children, Our wages are too low. It is for our little children, That seems to us so dear, But for us nor them, dear workers, The bosses do not care. But understand, all workers, Our union they do fear. Let's stand together, workers, And have a union here.
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