This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Paul Robeson and the 1948 Library of Congress cafeteria workers’ strike: With 95% of DC’s hotel and restaurant workers out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we look back at the history of cafeteria workers’ struggle at the Library of Congress for a union and how singer and activist Paul Robeson supported their 1948 strike. Plus: AFSCME's Lillian Roberts tells how a showdown with NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller over the right of state workers to organize led to her being jailed for two weeks in December, 1968; Mark Bradley, author of Blood Runs Coal, about the brutal 1968 murder of Jock Yablonski and his family by United Mineworkers president Tony Boyle, and how it inspired a surge in union democracy; The Beginning of the End of Apartheid.
Last week’s show: America’s last general strike. photo: mass picket outside the Federal Works Administration during the 1948 cafeteria strike. December 18 General Motors announces it is closing 21 North American plants over the following four years and slashing tens of thousands of jobs - 1991 December 19 An explosion in the Darr Mine in Westmoreland Co., Penn. kills 239 coal miners. 71 of the dead share a common grave in Olive Branch Cemetery. Dec 1907, was the worst month in US coal mining history, with over 3,000 dead - 1907 A 47-day strike at Greyhound Bus Lines ends with members of the Amalgamated Transit Union accepting a new contract containing deep cuts in wages and benefits. Striker Ray Phillips died during the strike, run over on a picket line by a scab Greyhound trainee - 1983 26 men and 1 woman are killed in the Wilberg Coal Mine Disaster near Orangeville, Utah. The disaster has been termed the worst coal mine fire in the state’s history. Federal mine safety officials issued 34 safety citations after the disaster but had inspected the mine only days before and declared it safe - 1984 December 20 Delegates to the AFL convention in Salt Lake City endorse a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote - 1899. The first group of 15 Filipino plantation workers recruited by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association arrive in Hawaii. By 1932 more than 100,000 Filipinos will be working in the fields - 1906 The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) takes effect today - 1970 Thousands of workers began what was to be a two-day strike of the New York City transit system over retirement, pension and wage issues. The strike violated the state’s Taylor Law; TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint was jailed for ten days and the union was fined $2.5 million - 2005 - David Prosten click here for latest listings Union City Radio: 7:15am daily WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report MoCo/PGCo COPE Mtg: Planning for MD GA 2021: Thu, December 17, 10am – 12pm At this important meeting, we will discuss and lay out the Metro Washington Council’s plan for the upcoming 2021 legislative session. Register in advance for this meeting Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, December 17, 1pm – 2pm WPFW 89.3 FM or listen online This week's guests: we’ll preview the San Francisco Mime Troupe's "A Red Carol"with Music Producer Daniel Savio; Kathy Newman will talk with us about Christmas(and Class) Behind the Scenes in holiday movies, plus music from Charley Pride! Rebuilding Collective Bargaining Back Better (EPI): Thu, December 17, 4:00pm – 5:15pm Details/RSVP here Baltimore Labor Council meeting: Thu, December 17, 7pm – 9pm Email for call-in details: [email protected] NoVA Labor monthly meeting: Thu, December 17, 7pm – 9pm Performing Arts Unions - report by Jess Speaker (SAG/AFTRA); Community Services - report by Sonte DuCote; Federal Employee Union update: Eviction crisis and tenant organizing; Update on DACA/TPS; Swearing in of newly elected officers and Board members Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly: The SAG-AFTRA podcast; The Blue Collar Gospel Hour; The Valley Labor Report; Labor History in Two; Labor Vision; CTU Speaks “Today, we are incredibly excited to welcome the staff of Emily's List to our big union family!” tweeted OPEIU Local 2 yesterday. “Today the staff at EMILY’s List is making a new endorsement: the EMILY’s Union,” tweeted EMILY’s Union. “We can't wait for (Emily's List’s) publicly pro-union leadership to recognize their union on December 22,” added Local 2. “I thought what a great Christmas gift to give tickets to my book club and some other friends to see Radium Girls and love that it will help support CLUW,” writes Catherine Rylatt. “I do wonder if I can purchase a bunch of tickets to give as gifts?”
Click here to buy -- or give (just click on “Give as a gift”) – tickets ($2 of each ticket goes to the Coalition of Labor Union Women) to unlock an online screening of Radium Girls, based on the true story of the poisoning of young women workers by American Radium in the 1920s, and their battle for justice. |