Dozens of MetroAccess workers based out of Gaithersburg, Maryland, picketed WMATA subcontractor Challenger Transportation earlier this week.
The workers voted unanimously to join the Amalgamated Transit Union last year and have been trying to negotiate a fair first contract ever since. In June, the MetroAccess workers – members of ATU Local 1777 -- voted to authorize a strike and Tuesday’s practice picket was one of several steps the union said it will take to ensure members are “strike ready” should Challenger Transportation continue to refuse to settle a fair deal. On the Labor Day weekend calendar, there are all kinds of events, from the 4-day Greenbelt Labor Day Festival to the annual Gaithersburg Labor Day Parade and more; and don’t forget to tune in right here on WPFW from 8am to 12 noon on Monday for our annual “Workers Rising” Labor day special, co-hosted by me and Elise Bryant, with labor music, special guests and more; for complete details and all the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1834, delegates from several East Coast cities met to form the National Trades' Union, uniting craft unions to oppose "the most unequal and unjustifiable distribution of the wealth of society in the hands of a few individuals." The union faded after a few years. Today’s labor quote is by President Franklin Roosevelt, whose Wealth Tax Act, increasing taxes on rich citizens and big business and lowering taxes for small businesses, passed on this date in 1935. Franklin Roosevelt, who said: “Taxes, after all, are the dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Union members get exclusive savings on award-winning SimpliSafe with the new Union Plus Home Security Program. Protect what matters most. Visit unionplus.org/homesecurity.
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