One night at his UPS job, Tefere Gebre's co-worker handed him some union material. “He told me that I’d get health care and vacation and other benefits by filling it out. I said, ‘Are you serious?’ I thought, ‘Hmm. Everyone should have that.’”
Tefere, now the executive vice president of the AFL-CIO (the third-highest ranking position at the federation representing America's working people), has been a proud union member for most of his life, valuing the freedom of people to come together in union. This freedom is sacred to Tefere, considering what he had to live through to achieve it. And he won't let anyone, especially not Donald Trump, try to take that away from him. Born in Gondar, Ethiopia, Tefere came to the United States in the 1980s as a young teenager having survived a brutal military regime that killed thousands of people, even children. You can hear Tefere's amazing story and his perspective on what being an American is in a short video posted on our website at dclabor.org, where you can also find out about the latest local labor events and actions by clicking on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1869, one of the worst disasters in the history of U.S. anthracite mining occurred at the Avondale Mine, near Scranton, Pennsylvania, when a fire originating from a furnace at the bottom of a 237-foot shaft roared up the shaft, killing 110 miners. And in 1973, Tony Boyle, former president of the United Mine Workers, was charged with murder in the 1969 deaths of former UMW rival Joseph A. Yablonski and his wife and daughter. Today’s labor quote is by Tefere Gebre Tefere Gebre, who said “No political party is our salvation. Our salvation comes from our solidarity!”
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