Movies, music, art, history. Those may not be the first things that come to mind when you think of the labor movement, but the DC LaborFest aims to change that. The annual festival celebrates workers and their issues through the arts throughout the month of May, and is anchored by the DC Labor FilmFest, which has been screening films at the American Film Institute since 2001. This year’s LaborFest launches a week from today, beginning with a 3-hour May Day special right here on WPFW from 9a to 12 noon, and then we’ll screen “Support The Girls” – “A winning, rambunctious comedy about work in America” – at 7:15 that night at AFI. A line-up of more than 30 events follows, and you can get complete details on our website at dclabor.org. See you at LaborFest!
On this week’s labor calendar, join the Washington Teachers’ Union, parents, students, and others who care about funding, improving and saving our DC public schools tomorrow, April 25th, 4PM at Freedom Plaza to tell the DC mayor and city Council to “fully fund our public schools.” For all the latest local labor event listings, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 2013, an eight-story building housing garment factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,129 workers and injuring 2,515. A day earlier cracks had been found in the structure, but factory officials, who had contracts with Benneton and other major U.S. labels, insisted the workers return to the job the next day. Today’s labor quote is by Mumia Abu-Jamal. On this date in 1999, the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union halted shipping on the West Coast in solidarity with Abu-Jamal, a Philadelphia journalist who many believed was on death row because he was an outspoken African-American. After numerous appeals, his death penalty sentence was overturned by a Federal court, and in 2011, the prosecution agreed to a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. Mumia Abu-Jamal, who said: “When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is just, yet refuse to defend it -- at that moment you begin to die.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. If you’re looking for ways to cut costs on medical expenses, check out the Union Plus Health Savings Program. Learn how you can save on vision, dental and prescription out-of-pocket expenses at unionplus.org/healthsavings.
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