About a year ago, Darius Smith started working as a caterer at the World Bank. But problems soon arose: he and his co-workers were being asked to take on larger tasks than they could handle; some of his co-workers, many of whom are immigrants, felt that their employer was guilty of discrimination; and in January, the World Bank started cutting hours of both full-time and on-call employees without warning or explanation. “I was like, ‘Yeah, we need a union,’” Darius says. He also works at Giant and is a member of UFCW Local 400, which put him in touch with UNITE HERE Local 23, which primarily represents workers in the hospitality industry. In June, the World Bank caterers voted to join the union. For Darius, being part of a union means more than a new and improved contract. “When you’re part of a union you have something to look up to,” he says.
For the latest labor events, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. In today's labor history, two events involving longshoremen, the workers who load and unload ships. On this date in 1920, martial law was declared in a strike by longshoremen in Galveston, Texas. And on this date in 1934, a strike by San Francisco longshoreman spread, becoming a four-day general strike. Today’s labor quote is by Arthur Balfour, first Earl of Balfour and a British statesman, who said: “The General Strike has taught the working class more in four days than years of talking could have done.”
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