Workers and their allies are pushing for passage of two key bills today at the DC Council. Final votes will be taken on both the Universal Paid Leave Act and the Rail Safety Act. Among the most progressive paid-leave laws in the nation, the DC Universal Paid Leave Act includes 11 weeks of gender equal parental leave, eight weeks of paid family caregiving leave and up to 90% pay replacement for low-income workers on leave.
The Rail Safety Act would establish a rail safety office in DC; the city is one of the only major cities without such protection. Although both bills passed previous sessions with solid Council votes, supporters are taking no chances and will be turning out in force at the Council to push for passage. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1899, delegates to the AFL convention in Salt Lake City endorsed a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote. More than two decades later, on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting American women the right to vote was ratified. In 1906, the first group of 15 Filipino plantation workers recruited by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association arrived in Hawaii. By 1932 more than 100,000 Filipinos would be working in the fields. And on this date in 2005, thousands of workers began what was to be a 2-day strike of the New York City transit system over retirement, pension and wage issues. The strike violated the state’s Taylor Law; TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint was jailed for ten days and the union was fined $2.5 million. Today’s labor quote is from Roger Toussaint “An agreement will never ever, ever, ever be resolved by fear and intimidation.”
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