In the beginning, all was darkness in the hallways at the Greenleaf Apartments in Southwest DC. But after a little wire work, there was light.
Last Saturday’s IBEW Local 26 Community Service Day was the fifth such event since the partnership began between Local 26 and the DC Housing Agency. The Agency supplies the materials and Local 26 members perform the work, volunteering their time and skills. “The work our members do on a daily basis is not just a job,” said IBEW 26 member Robert Smith, “it's a career. It's about more than turning wires, it's about opportunity and improving lives.” As he helped install modern and energy efficient lights at Greenleaf, Smith cited the union’s apprenticeship process and the importance of the union to its member’s lives as reasons why he gives back at events like the Community Service Day. On the local labor calendar, there’s a rally to support NIH shuttle drivers this morning from 7 to 9am at the Medical Center Metro Station and Bus Stop on Rockville Pike in Bethesda. For the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1970, the United Farm Workers Union began their strike against lettuce growers who would not negotiate contracts with farm workers for decent wages and working conditions. The Salad Bowl strike was a series of strikes, mass pickets, boycotts and secondary boycotts that led to the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history. Shipments of fresh lettuce nationwide virtually ceased, and the price of lettuce doubled almost overnight. Lettuce growers lost half a million dollars a day. A state district court enjoined Cesar Chávez personally and the UFW as an organization from engaging in picketing, but both Chávez and the union refused to obey the court's orders. Today’s labor quote is by Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez, who said “The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.”
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