The Metro Washington Council will join allies supporting the Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act at this morning’s DC City Council hearing on the bill. The proposed legislation would increase the minimum wage in the District of Columbia to $15 per hour by July 1, 2020, and increase the tipped minimum wage to $7.50 by 2022. “We applaud Mayor Bowser for taking the lead on legislation that helps workers take a big step forward along the pathway out of poverty,” said Jackie Jeter, president of the Metro Washington Council. The legislation coincides with a slew of recent reports on D.C.’s rising cost of living. Cheat Sheet recently reported that to live comfortably in Washington, an individual needs to make $108,092 per year, while MIT’s Living Wage Calculator finds one adult supporting one child in the District needs to make $30.42 an hour to have a living wage. The hearing begins at 11a at the Wilson Building.
Summer interns will meet and network with other interns at theJune 3 orientation for young people interning in the labor movement in DC this summer. They’ll also learn about the values and work of labor unions and the power of economic and social justice organizations, hear about summer actions, labor-related programs, local campaigns and job opportunities, and join a listserv that enables communication among all summer interns. The orientation is being offered by the Kalmanovitz Initiative (KI) for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the Metro Washington Council, and the AFL-CIO. Click here for details and to register your interns. photo: labor summer interns in 2015 “There is no power in the world that can stop the forward march of free men and women when they are joined in the solidarity of human brotherhood.”
Walter Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party and the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the mid 20th century. Following two days of negotiations, Kroger has reached a tentative agreement with its unionized store associates. A team of Kroger employees who make up UFCW Local 400’s bargaining committee in negotiations with the company voted unanimously to accept the company’s latest offer. “If we didn’t stand up for ourselves, this never would have happened,” said Sarah Williams, a nine-year Kroger associate from Charlottesville who served on the bargaining committee. “What we were shown last week was supposed to be Kroger’s ‘last’ and ‘best’ offer – but we proved it wasn’t either.” “For months now, I’ve sat across the table from Kroger executives as they made us many different proposals. Yesterday’s offer was by far the best one,” said Dawn Greenway, a lead deli clerk at a Kroger store in Roanoke. “It included improvements in all of the areas we were concerned about.” The tentative agreement affects 41 Kroger stores in the region stretching from Kingsport, TN to Harrisonburg, VA. The proposal will be voted on by the entire union membership at a meeting on June 8 at the Roanoke Civic Center, when the details of the company’s latest offer will be presented. Click here to read more. photo: at last week's contract/strike vote; photo courtesy UFCW 400 Facebook page |