“I was like, ‘You’re gonna have to find yourselves another sucker. Goodbye.’ And I left.”
Chana Luria is a travel nurse who quit an assignment in November 2021 due to inadequate COVID-19 safety measures. From “The Big Quit” This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Last week's episode: The Irish Immigrant Miners’ Memorial.
February 18 One of the first American labor newspapers, The Man, is published in New York City. It cost one cent and, according to The History of American Journalism, “died an early death.” Another labor paper, N.Y. Daily Sentinel, had been launched four years earlier - 1834 Faced with 84 hour workweeks, 24 hour shifts and pay of 29 cents an hour, fire fighters form The International Association of Fire Fighters. Some individual locals had affiliated with the AFL beginning in 1903 - 1918 February 19 American Federation of Labor issues a charter to its new Railroad Employees Dept. - 1909 A few weeks after workers ask for a 25 cent hourly wage, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit (streetcar) Co. fires 173 union members “for the good of the service” and brings in replacements from New York City. Striker-scab battles and a general strike ensued - 1910 The U.S. Supreme Court decides in favor of sales clerk Leura Collins and her union, the Retail Clerks, in NLRB v. J. Weingarten Inc. – the case establishing that workers have a right to request the presence of their union steward if they believe they are to be disciplined for a workplace infraction - 1975 Farm Labor Organizing Committee signs agreement with Campbell Soup Co., ending seven-year boycott - 1986 February 20 Rally for unemployed becomes major confrontation in Philadelphia, 18 arrested for demanding jobs - 1908 Thousands of women march to New York’s City Hall demanding relief from exorbitant wartime food prices. Inflation had wiped out any wage gains made by workers, leading to a high level of working class protest during World War I - 1917 United Mine Workers settle 10-month Pittston strike in Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia - 1990 February 21 A California state law was enacted providing the 8 hour day for most workers, but it was not effectively enforced - 1868 Transportation-Communication Employees Union merges with Brotherhood of Railway, Airline & Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express & Station Employees - 1969 United Farm Workers of America granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1972 - David Prosten click here for complete and latest listings Union City Radio: 7:15am daily WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report Wednesdays with Warner: Wed, February 16, 8:15am – 9:15am Windmill Hill Park, 500 S. Lee St., Alexandria, VA (map) D.C. COPE General Body Meeting: Wed, February 16, 10am – 11am Tri-County COPE General Body Meeting: Wed, February 16, 7pm – 8pm Alexandria Dems Labor Caucus: Wed, February 16, 7:30pm – 8:30pm Contact [email protected] for the link. PG/MoCo COPE General Body Meeting: Thu, February 17, 10am – 11am Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, February 17, 1pm – 2pm WPFW 89.3 FM or listen online. This week’s guests: Saru Jayaraman (One Fair Wage update); Cathy Feingold (Jerry Black Scholarship fund at the TraRon Center); Timothy J. Lombardo (Blue Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo's Philadelphia and Populist Politics). photo: Jayaraman at 2/8 DC event. Baltimore Labor Council meeting: Thu, February 17, 7pm – 9pm Email for call-in details: [email protected] NoVA Labor Monthly Meeting: Thu, February 17, 7pm – 8pm Agenda includes: Organizing updates (Politics & Prose; Union Kitchen; Starbucks; Loudoun Transit; Capital One Hall); Public employee collective bargaining update; General Assembly update; Building Trades Diversity Initiatives and Pre-apprenticeship training. There are now six Richmond Starbucks stores that are unionizing with Workers United/SEIU, reports NoVA Labor’s Ginny Diamond. The campaign has now spread to 87 stores in 25 states; click here for a Solidarity Tool Kit for tips and tools to support your local organizing effort. “When in Richmond, please visit them and order a ‘Union Yes’ drink,” she urges. “Take a selfie and post it.” Follow @sbworkersunited on social media. The stores are Carytown (3555 West Cary St, Richmond), Huguenot Village (2059 Huguenot Road, N. Chesterfield), Westchester Commons (15605 WC Commons Way, Midlothian), N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard and Myers (1017 N Boulevard, Richmond), Forest Hill & Cherokee (6980 Forest Hill Ave, Richmond), Midlo & Carmia Way (11136 Midlothian Tpke, North Chesterfield). “And if you are in Roanoke, visit the Bridges store that is also unionizing,” Diamond adds. Plus: A Rhodes Scholar barista and the fight to unionize Starbucks. |