 The Metro Washington Council (MWC) Staff and the AFL-CIO Community Services Agency were privileged to attend the 13th Annual AFL-CIO Leadership Institute, which ended last week in Columbia, Maryland. MWC Executive Director Carlos Jimenez said, “It was inspiring to spend time with other front-line leaders who are building power in their respective regions and states.” The Institute’s aim is to expand skills, knowledge, and leadership in order to overcome key challenges. Some topics included racial justice in our labor communities, strategic political action and community mobilization, and utilizing leadership styles. The institute provided a forum to network and share experiences with 40 other labor leaders from around the country. Carlos Jimenez said he “can’t wait to put a lot of the ideas and tools we received to use.” -Kathleen McKirchy
-photo: MWC staff, from left to right, David Dzidzienyo, Kathleen McKirchy, and Carlos Jimenez pose at AFL-CIO Leadership Institute “Our members all have the same big three questions: Who was underpaid, for how long, and when will it be fixed?” said Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Maryland Council 3. The Department of Budget and Management will conduct a new round of tests to better understand how many workers are affected and how much back pay is owed. The state promises to brief union leaders again in about two weeks. However, state officials say determining how much each employee is owed could take years, because they need to review thousands of old paper records, some of which may be discarded. Union officials say payroll mistakes have been commonplace for years, but the state never acknowledged a systemic problem until now. -Christian Berk
-Adapted from a report in the Washington Post  June 28: Grover Cleveland
"The laboring classes constitute the main part of our population. They should be protected in their efforts peaceably to assert their rights when endangered by aggregated capital, and all statutes on this subject should recognize the care of the State for honest toil, and be framed with a view of improving the condition of the workingman." June 29: Albert Einstein "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." Einstein was a member of the American Federation of Teachers. June 30: Booker T. Washington Booker T. Washington, who said “You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.”
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