News: Few postal workers were surprised by a recent Gallup Poll that found that Americans rate the Postal Service highest among 13 government agencies – after all, the Postal Service routinely ranks at the top of such surveys. But many people were surprised to learn that young people gave the Postal Service the highest rating: 81 percent of 18-29 year olds gave the Postal Service “excellent or good” marks. “Pundits have convinced many people that the future of the Postal Service is bleak because young people consider it irrelevant,” Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein said, “but this poll shows the opposite is true.”
Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1811, the largest slave revolt in U.S. history began on Louisiana sugar plantations. Slaves armed with hand tools marched toward New Orleans, setting plantations and crops on fire, building their numbers to as many as 500 as they went. The uprising lasted for two days before being brutally suppressed by the military. Today’s the birthday of Mary Kenney O’Sullivan, the first woman organizer for the American Federation of Labor. Born on this date in 1864, she organized the Woman’s Bookbinder Union in 1880 and in 1903 was a founder of the National Women’s Trade Union League. In 1920, the AFL Iron and Steel Organizing Committee ended the “Great Steel Strike.” Some 400,000 steelworkers had been striking for more than three months, demanding union recognition. The strike failed. Today’s labor quote is by American labor historian Paul Clark: “The only thing workers have to bargain with is their skill or their labor. Denied the right to withhold it as a last resort, they become powerless. The strike is therefore not a breakdown of collective bargaining-it is the indispensable cornerstone of that process.”
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News: Sen. Elizabeth Warren will deliver the keynote address during the first National Summit on Wages today in Washington, D.C. The summit—sponsored by the AFL-CIO—will examine concrete and progressive steps to raise wages for working people to help solve the dilemma of income inequality that plagues the United States.
The event will feature a roundtable discussion by a diverse group including academics, business owners, prominent leaders—including Labor Secretary Tom Perez—and everyday working people. The Summit is being held at Gallaudet University starting at 8 am today and will be live streamed. Go to aflcio.org for details. Here’s today’s labor history: In 1939, Wobbly Tom Mooney, accused of a murder by bombing in San Francisco, was pardoned and freed after 22 years in San Quentin. In 2009, the presidents of 12 of the nation’s largest unions met and called for reuniting the American labor movement, which split into two factions in 2005 when seven unions left the AFL-CIO and formed a rival federation. The meeting followed signals from President-elect Barack Obama that he would prefer dealing with a united movement, rather than a fractured one that often had two competing voices. Unions from both sides of the split participated in the meeting. The reunification effort failed, but by mid-2013 four of the unions had rejoined the AFL-CIO. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King, Jr: “What good does it do to sit at the counter when you cannot afford a hamburger?” News: The Metro Washington Council and UFCW Local 400 joined other winners in the International Labor Communications Association’s Labor Media Awards last month at the AFL-CIO. The Metro Council's “Union City" won first place in the General Excellence - Electronic Newsletter category for 2014, while UFCW Local 400 collected an impressive seven awards, including five first places at a luncheon on Dec. 12. ILCA Executive Council President Kathy Cummings said that “All of this year’s winners truly exemplify our goal of amplifying labor’s voice around the world.”
Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1882, the Toronto Trades and Labour Council endorsed the principle of equal pay for equal work between men and women. In 1916, eight thousand workers struck at Youngstown Sheet & Tube. The following day the strikers’ wives and other family members joined in the protest. Company guards used tear gas bombs and fired into the crowd, killing three strikers and wounding 25. Today’s labor quote is by President Jimmy Carter: “Every advance in this half-century--Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another--came with the support and leadership of American Labor.” This Week's Labor Quiz asks what percentage of college teachers today are “adjuncts”? Also known as “contingent faculty,” these are part-timers with no benefits or job security, usually paid only a few thousand per course, frequently cobbling together jobs on two or three different campuses in an effort to get enough work. Is it 20, 45, 60 or 75 percent? Go to unionist.com and click on Labor Quiz to submit your answer and you could be next week's winner!
Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1869, the nation’s first black labor convention was held in Washington, D.C., with 214 delegates forming the Colored National Labor Union. In 1933, construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began in San Francisco. Ten of the 11 deaths on the job came when safety netting beneath the site—the first-ever use of such equipment—failed under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen. Nineteen other workers were saved by the net over the course of construction. They became members of the informal Halfway to Hell Club. Today’s labor quote is by Sir Francis Bacon: “Knowledge is power.” Sir Francis Bacon, who also said: “Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.” |
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