Nearly 5,000 airport workers at National and Dulles airports collected fatter paychecks last Friday under a new policy that will increase hourly wages to $12.75 by 2020. “Now we can focus more on the job instead of worrying about how to put food on the table and provide for our kids,” said Hunde Atnafu, a Huntleigh wheelchair attendant and father of seven from Ethiopia. The increases are the result of a two-year campaign by 32BJ SEIU. While union vice president Jaime Contreras hailed the increase, he noted that “Without a union, these men and women can still face retaliation and lose their jobs through no fault of their own.” The workers are continuing their campaign for $15 dollars an hour and a union.
On today's labor calendar, this month’s Bread & Roses program is “From "At The River I Stand" to Janus v. AFSCME” from 6 to 8pm tonight at the Takoma Busboys and Poets. This moving documentary recounts the two months leading up to Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in 1968, coinciding with the 65-day strike of 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers. The program is free; full details – and an RSVP link -- on our website, dclabor.org, click on calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1883, the United States Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act went into effect. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King, Jr. "No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."
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