Local union painters turned their brushes and rollers to charity last weekend, spending their holiday Saturday painting, donating clothing, and putting food in the pantry at Covenant House in southeast DC. The Painters District Council 51 Community Day of Action enabled members to lend their skills to “give back to the community,” said DC 51 on its Facebook page. “Thank you all for your caring and support.” Whether your game is baseball or soccer, you can enjoy a special labor sports night and support the Community Services Agency’s Emergency Assistance Fund. First up is the May 12 Labor Night at D.C. United – part of the upcoming DC LaborFest – as the home team takes on Sporting Kansas City. $5 of each ticket benefits CSA’s Emergency Assistance Fund. Then on June 22, the Nats take on the Atlanta Braves in this year’s Labor Night at the Nats. “Buy 50 tickets or more and get your union/organization's name on the Nats scoreboard!” says CSA Executive Director Sonte DuCote. Click here for details and to order tickets, or email [email protected]. “When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is just, yet refuse to defend it -- at that moment you begin to die.” Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. On this week’s show: The 1969 Charleston hospital workers' strike and “Reconsidering Southern Labor History.” The Int’l Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union halts shipping on the West Coast in solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Philadelphia journalist who many believed was on death row because he was an outspoken African-American - 1999 An eight-story building housing garment factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapses, killing 1,129 workers and injuring 2,515. A day earlier cracks had been found in the structure, but factory officials, who had contracts with Benneton and other major U.S. labels, insisted the workers return to the job the next day - 2013 Labor history courtesy Union Communication Services. |