Union City Radio: Reconnecting McDowell

(audio) “The people are the best people, salt of the earth, and they want what everybody wants which is a way to succeed and achieve and to make your children’s futures brighter. And they just want the tools and the resources to be able to live their lives in dignity.”
That’s Reverend Leah Daughtry, CEO of "On These Things," about Reconnecting McDowell, a project of the American Federation of Teachers that takes a holistic approach toward revitalizing the education and community of McDowell, West Virginia, and how her faith informs her activism.
(audio) “I think our success in McDowell, and we’re not done; we got a lot more work to do--the economic development pieces of it are really tough to crack but I think to the extent we’ve had successes it’s because we saw (a) the Unions as part of the community, right. We weren't people that were just coming in--it’s our children. It’s our workers. We’re invested. Our members, whether they’re AFT(ers) or the trades or the mine workers, we’re not just these Union people that stand on the sideline, right. We are part of the community. These are our schools. These are our roads.” 
Hear more about the project on the latest episode of State of the Unions, the podcast from the AFL-CIO.

On today’s labor calendar, there’s a Labor Meet-up tonight at 6 at the Mill Creek Clubhouse in Spotsylvania, Virginia; for complete details and all the latest labor events listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1834, responding to unrest among Irish laborers building the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, President Andrew Jackson ordered the first use of American troops to suppress a labor dispute.

Today’s labor quote is by Dolly Parton, from "9 to 5," which hit number one on the record charts on this date in 1981; here’s a funky cover by Love Raptor:
Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'
Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'
They just use your mind and they never give you credit
It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it
9 to 5, for service and devotion
You would think that I would deserve a fat promotion
Want to move ahead but the boss won't seem to let me
I swear sometimes that man is out to get me!
 
Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Hey, if you’re thinking about buying a car soon, you can use the Union Plus Auto Buying Service to see what others are paying for the car you want – new or used -- and lock in your price so there's no haggling at the dealership. Plus, you can get a free Carfax report for most vehicles and rebates on new union made vehicles. Visit unionplus.org/autobuying.