​Union City Radio for Tuesday, April 17

Mere months after AFSCME Maryland ratified a new contract, nearly a dozen union members from Cumberland last week stepped up to represent their workplaces and enforce their contract, becoming the newest class of shop stewards for the union. “It was such a great experience!” wrote shop steward Stacey Miller. “Thank you for taking time to help us learn to help our co-workers and to bring about some positive changes!”

On today’s Labor Calendar, Get an earlybird look at this year’s LaborFest at tonight’s DC LaborFest Sneak Preview, 6pm at the Takoma Busboys and Poets. And at 6:30 tonight, there’s a Ward 6 Town Hall on DC’s high water bills at the Payne Elementary School Gymnasium; complete details at dclabor.org, click on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1912, the military arrived to crush a strike by more than 6,000 gold miners – on strike over long hours, appalling working conditions, and starvation wages – along the Lena River in southeast Siberia, Russia. The entire strike committee was quickly arrested and when 2,500 workers marched to demand their release, soldiers opened fire on them, killing and wounding over 500. Anger over the mass murder fueled a subsequent wave of strikes across the country.

Today’s labor quote is by Sidney Hillman, head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Sidney Hillman, who said:
“What labor is demanding all over the world today is not a few material things like more dollars and fewer hours of work, but a right to a voice in the conduct of industry.”         

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