Metro workers on Sunday voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, with thousands of union members lining up at the ATU 689 union hall to cast their votes. The frustrated Metro workers accuse WMATA General Manager Paul Weidefeld of bad-faith bargaining; they’ve been working without a new contract since July 2016 and have been in arbitration since talks collapsed last fall. Adding insult to injury, the union says WMATA has been contracting out union work recently. Things came to a head late last week when WMATA threatened some workers with suspensions, prompting Local 689 president Jackie Jeter to warn Weidefeld that if he suspended anyone for three days, the entire local “will be taking a 3 day suspension.” Sunday’s vote does not guarantee a strike; “There are a lot of possibilities,” said ATU 689 Communications Director David Stephen. In an interesting historical note, July 19 is the 40th anniversary of the 1978 wildcat Metro strike that shut down the system, over very similar issues.
On today’s labor calendar, Institute for Policy Studies analyst Sam Pizzigati makes “The Case for a Maximum Wage” at 6:30pm at the Hyattsville Busboys and Poets; for details, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. In today's labor history, on this date in 1944, two ammunition ships exploded at Port Chicago, California, killing 322, including 202 African-Americans assigned by the Navy to handle explosives. It was the worst home-front disaster of World War II. The resulting refusal of 258 African-Americans to return to the dangerous work underpinned the trial and conviction of 50 of the men in what is called the Port Chicago Mutiny. Today’s labor quote is by Freddie Meeks, one of the African-American sailors at Port Chicago, who said: “We didn't commit no mutiny. We didn't take over no ship. We didn't take over a base. We had no weapons. We didn't even have a pen. We only refused to go back to work. Now how could that be mutiny?”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Union City Radio is proud to be supported by UnionPlus, which has been working hard for union families since 1986.
Union City Radio is part of The Labor Radio/Podcast Network
Listen now...UC Radio airs weekdays at 7:15a on WPFW 89.3 FM; subscribe to the podcast here. |