Area union members, leaders and supporters are urged to march in this year’s Greenbelt Labor Day Parade on Monday, September 5, either with the contingent organized by Susan Flashman (IBEW 26 and Maryland/DC Alliance for Retired Americans) or the one marching with labor-endorsed candidate Delegate Nicole Williams (MD LD 22). The 2-hour parade begins at 10a; marchers should plan to arrive earlier, before streets close at 9a. CLICK HERE to RSVP (deadline COB Friday, September 3). For details/more info: Dejah Desiree Williams, [email protected] or Susan Flashman [email protected]. The AFL-CIO kicked off the Labor Day weekend, in advance, with a detailed political plan for the fall elections and beyond, released August 23 in a nationwide zoom call. The plan features massive from-the-ground-up member-driven involvement, including a feedback loop where workers’ recommendations will adjust the federation’s issue priorities between now and Election Day, and afterwards, President Liz Shuler said. “We start with worksite communications, then to local unions, then connecting back to state federations and local labor councils” and finally the national headquarters. Then the issues members decide on locally would be applied to campaigns “from school boards to the U.S. Senate,” Shuler explained. Metro Washington area labor GOTV efforts will take place throughout the DMV, including door-knocking campaigns, phonebanks, mailings and outreach to area union locals. “We’ll be working with our affiliates to ensure that their members turn out on Election Day to support labor’s candidates,” said MWC President Dyana Forester. The local efforts will dovetail with the AFL-CIO’s plans to produce materials for massive issue education campaigns to get “trusted information” into workers’ hands, especially when meeting them one-on-one at worksites, to preserve and build on the gains workers have won during the Democratic Biden administration, and to prevent the labor-hostile takeover of Congress by anti-worker forces. Details on the local efforts will be released soon. - Mark Gruenberg, PAI Staff Writer Workers at Zen Leaf cannabis dispensary in Germantown, Md. have officially unionized with UFCW Local 400. “Management always said the cannabis industry is a new and better world and we’re building it from the ground up, but we didn’t see any of that improvement happening for the workers,” said Ginko Spinel, a patient care advisor who has worked at Zen Leaf for a year and a half. “Now that we have a union, we have a voice on the job and we can contribute to making that vision a reality. I couldn’t be more excited for us to negotiate our first union contract.” “As the cannabis industry continues to blossom, it is imperative that job standards reflect the booming growth of the profession,” said UFCW Local 400 President Mark P. Federici. “By joining together as a union, these workers have taken a big step toward securing a thriving future for themselves and their employer.” A majority of Zen Leaf employees signed union authorization cards and filed for a union election in June, ballots were distributed to workers on July 28th and votes were tallied by NLRB officials on August 18. The unionized workforce covers approximately 10 employees working at the Germantown store. The staff at Zen Leaf have joined the ranks of other cannabis industry workers in the region who have unionized, including MaryMed and DC Holistic Wellness. "It's important to know you're part of a huge movement of people who still care about what happens to ordinary people in the United States."
At the 1991 Solidarity March and Rally, which drew 325,000 unionists to Washington DC. On August 31, 1991. Feldman was president of the United Federation of Teachers, the New York City branch of the American Federation of Teachers. |