Phil Donahue is coming. So is former NSA senior executive and whistleblower Thomas Drake. Dennis Kucinich and Jim Hightower will be there, along with food and safety pioneer Michael Jacobson, and Patti Smith (yes that Patti Smith). They're all coming to “Breaking Through Power," set for May 23-26 at Constitution Hall here in Washington, DC. The theme of this citizen mobilization is “elaborating ways to break through power to secure long-overdue democratic solutions,” says the Center for Study of Responsive Law, which is organizing the event with Ralph Nader. Over the course of the conference, a wide range of speakers will present “innovative ideas and strategies designed to take existing civic groups to higher levels of effectiveness,” the Center adds.
Go to breakingthroughpower.org for more details on the event’s agenda, speakers and how to attend and participate. On today's labor calendar, Verizon strike picket lines continue today throughout the metro Washington area; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for the latest list of locations and times. The DC LaborFest continues with an IRON WORKERS HISTORY TOUR at noon and a screening of the great film CONCUSSION tonight at 7pm at the AFI Silver Theatre. And last but certainly not least, the American Federation of Teachers is hosting a panel at 4 this afternoon on the International Refugee Crisis. Full details on all these events, as always, at dclabor.org. click on calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1912, in what may have been baseball’s first labor strike, the Detroit Tigers refused to play after team leader Ty Cobb was suspended: he went into the stands and beat a fan who had been heckling him. Cobb was reinstated and the Tigers went back to work after the team manager’s failed attempt to replace the players with a local college team whose pitcher gave up 24 runs. In 1917, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters union organizers launched a campaign in the nation’s packinghouses, an effort that was to bring representation to 100,000 workers over the following two years. Jerry Wurf was born on this date in 1919 in New York City. Wurf served as president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees from 1964 to his death in 1981, and the union grew from about 220,000 members to more than 1 million during his presidency. In 1928, Big Bill Haywood, a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World – or Wobblies -- died in exile in the Soviet Union. Today’s labor quote is by Jerry Wurf “Government workers have proved that when they are not dealt with justly, they will defy the law. And they have proved that, in such situations, government is powerless.”
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