In his final State of the Union address last week, President Obama said "Whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen. To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us." The American Federation of Government Employees has compiled a handy list of “6 Important Quotes About Working People from the 2016 State of the Union”; you’ll find a link to it at dclabor.org
Check out this week’s labor calendar at dclabor.org; click on Calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1915, twenty strikers at the American Agricultural Chemical Company in Roosevelt, New Jersey, were shot, two fatally, by factory guards. They and other strikers had stopped an incoming train in search of scabs when the guards opened fire. In 1920, some 3,000 members of the Filipino Federation of Labor struck the plantations of Oahu, Hawaii. Their ranks swelled to more than 8,000 as they were joined by members of the Japanese Federation of Labor. In 1973, Yuba City, California labor contractor Juan Corona was found guilty of murdering 25 itinerant farm workers he employed during 1970 and 1971. And in 1986, Bruce Springsteen mades an unannounced appearance at a benefit for laid-off 3M workers in Asbury Park, N.J. Today’s labor quote is by Bruce Springsteen: “Whatever their faults, unions have been the only powerful and effective voice working people have ever had in the history of this country, and this town knows that more than any other.”
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