Workers at Howard University Hospital will rally to “Save The Hospital” tomorrow at 11am. Recent layoffs have the workers and their unions worried about the hospital’s future. “If we don’t fix this problem, Howard will be forced to have more layoffs until the hospital finally closes,” says Wanda Shelton-Martin, Area Director for 1199 DC.
Shelton-Martin notes that Howard University Hospital, previously known as Freedmen's Hospital, “is a historical institution” and, she says, “has served the black community in the District of Columbia for over 150 years, having been established in 1862 to cater for the medical needs of the thousands of African Americans who came to Washington during the Civil War, seeking their freedom.” Howard later became the major hospital for the area's African-American community and is one of the largest employers in the Shaw community. “Our message is that Howard is open for business,” says Shelton-Martin. “Our members are ready to serve the patients and we take pride in working at Howard.” In addition to 1199 DC, Howard University Hospital workers are represented by the DC Nurses Association and SEIU’s Interns and Residents. Read more on our website at dclabor.org, where you can also find out about the latest local labor events and actions by clicking on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1868, The Workingman's Advocate of Chicago publishes the first installment of “The Other Side,” by Martin A. Foran, president of the Coopers' International Union. It’s believed to be the first novel by a trade union leader and some say the first working-class novel ever published in the U.S. In 1886, a coalition of Knights of Labor and trade unionists in Chicago launched the United Labor party, calling for an 8-hour day, government ownership of telegraph and telephone companies, and monetary and land reform. The party elected seven state assembly men and one senator. And in 2002, California Governor Gray Davis signed legislation making the state the first to offer workers paid family leave. Today’s labor quote is by Edmund Burke “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” This quote appears at the very beginning of Martin Foran’s novel, “The Other Side.”
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