 The Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO has just released the 2015 Directory of Local Unions. The Directory is a handy guide to the local labor movement, listing nearly 200 Council affiliates representing a broad cross-section of 150,000 area workers, from athletes to writers, government workers to the construction trades. For a free copy, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Metro Council at 888 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20006, Suite 520. Read more below...
 Farm workers and their supporters will march and rally in downtown DC next Tuesday, April 7 as the DC City Council prepares to vote on a resolution to tell Gerawan Farming to obey the law. The California-based grower is refusing to implement a contract ordered by the California mediator that affects over 5,000 peach and table grape workers. The action begins with an 8a picket line at Grover Norquist's office on 12th Street followed by a march to the DC city hall building.
 Over 100 young workers from across the DMV recently attended the 2015 Next Up Young Workers Summit, held in Chicago. The summit included over 80 workshops, submitted and conducted by young workers, with a focus on building relationships with other young workers in their city or state. With that in mind, the metro-DC attendees strategized on the upcoming DC special elections for Wards 4 and 8, educating DC residents on their rights, and advocating for greater enforcement and affordable housing. Discussions were led by DC Young Trade Unionist (DC YTU) Chair Tarn Goelling (IBEW), OPEIU 2 Board member Caniesha Seldon and DC Metro Council Delegate for OPEIU Local 2 Ian Stublarec. Summit workshops included “Collective Bargaining 101,” “Work Like a Girl,“ and “Queering the Labor Movement.” DC YTU is looking forward to getting to work on strengthening the middle class in the DC area and invites all interested young people to the next planning meeting on April 9. There will also be an “after-summit” happy hour on April 23.
 “We are all humans. We are all the same. We must have the same rights,” said Marcel Amiyeto at Monday’s Organizer’s Roundtable, attended by area union organizers and allies. In 2014, Amiyeto’s Coalition of Migrant Workers was able to assist over 20,000 sub-Saharan workers get their legal residency in Morocco, 60% of them are women. The Coalition's goal is to form a Domestic Workers' Union at the national level in the next five years. “We must fight for equality, for justice,” Amiyeto said. “We cannot and must not stop immigration but we can and must stop exploitation.” Many of the local organizers are working with immigrant workers and drew connections between organizing abroad and here in the DC area. The Roundtable was organized by the Solidarity Center and co-hosted by the Metro Washington Council.
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