Workers at four La Colombe Coffee Roasters are organizing a union; tomorrow, the workers at the Chinatown store will vote. “We're asking people to come into the store and show their support,” says a La Colombe worker in a video posted by the La Colombe Workers Union. “Let (La Colombe management) know that, you know, this is a union town (and) we want unionized coffee.” “I believe every worker has a right to dignity on the worksite and I'm here in support,” said a La Colombe customer at a recent “sip-in”. “Management has been stopping by, so it's just good to show that we have support,” said another La Colombe worker. The Chinatown La Colombe is at 900 6th St NW, Washington, DC 20001; follow @lcworkersunion on Twitter for the latest news. The 2023 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference is less than a month away, click here now to register. The AFL-CIO will host a series of timely and important discussions on the labor movement’s pivotal role in protecting and strengthening our democracy and how we can make life better for workers across America. You’ll hear from organizers, activists and leaders who are changing the game in labor, civil rights and politics. Featured speakers include Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Maya Wiley, Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association Tony Clark, Rev. Willie D. Francois III, Howard Gospel Choir of Howard University. “Please join us as we come together to strategize and mobilize for a brighter future for all working people,” says the AFL-CIO. “Me and my coworkers are all really united. We all feel really close to each other and we're just really excited to kind of be leading the charge in unionized coffee at La Colombe.” This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Red Jerseys in Detroit. Last week’s show: Julia Reichert: “Documentarian of the Working Class”.
A group of building trades unions from the Midwest meet in St. Louis to form the National Building Trades Council. The Council disbanded after several years of political and jurisdictional differences – 1897 21 Chicago firefighters, including the chief, died when a building collapsed as they were fighting a huge blaze at the Union Stock Yards. By the time the fire was extinguished 26 hours after the first alarm, 50 engine companies and seven hook and ladder companies had been called to the scene. Until Sept. 11, 2001, it was the deadliest building collapse in American history in terms of firefighter fatalities – 1910 Amid a widespread strike for union recognition by 395,000 steelworkers, approximately 250 alleged “anarchists,” “communists,” and “labor agitators” were deported to Russia, marking the beginning of the so-called “Red Scare” – 1919 David Prosten |