In today's labor calendar, Verizon strike picket lines continue daily 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 tonight with a concert by JOE UEHLEIN, along with STEVE & PETER JONES, which includes a live simulcast on WPFW from 5-6pm and then a concert from 6-8p, both at the Takoma Busboys and Poets, where we hope you'll join us for live radio and live labor music!
And at 5pm this afternoon, the AFL-CIO hosts a discussion about Brazilian workers and their defense of democracy in that country. Complete details atdclabor.org, click on Calendar.
Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1869, thanks to an army of thousands of Chinese and Irish immigrants, who laid 2,000 miles of track, the nation’s first transcontinental railway line was finished by the joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines at Promontory Point, Utah.
In 1898, U.S. and Canadian workers formed the Western Labor Union, which favored industrial organization and independent labor party politics.
And in 2005, a federal bankruptcy judge permitted United Airlines to legally abandon responsibility for pensions covering 120,000 employees.
Today’s labor quote is by Sigmund Freud
"The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots."