Seventy-year-old UNITE HERE Local 23 member Juan Yanez, a Temporary Protective Status recipient from El Salvador, says that by eliminating TPS “Trump is taking away all we have,” citing the years he and other immigrants have spent paying taxes into Social Security and other programs. About 88% of TPS recipients from El Salvador are employed and pay income taxes. Immigration policy experts believe it will be difficult, if not impossible, for people like Yanez to access Medicare and Social Security benefits if they’re deported to their country of origin. “We are hard workers,” said Yanez. “We don’t hurt anyone, we just work every day to survive.”
Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, guaranteeing federal workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively. Today’s labor quote is by Lucy Parsons, a labor organizer who helped found the Industrial Workers of the World and who led a hunger march in Chicago on this date in 1915. IWW songwriter Ralph Chaplin wrote "Solidarity Forever" for the march. Lucy Parsons, who said: "Strike not for a few cents more an hour, because the price of living will be raised faster still, but strike for all you earn. Be content with nothing less."
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Nearly 5,000 airport workers at National and Dulles airports collected fatter paychecks last Friday under a new policy that will increase hourly wages to $12.75 by 2020. “Now we can focus more on the job instead of worrying about how to put food on the table and provide for our kids,” said Hunde Atnafu, a Huntleigh wheelchair attendant and father of seven from Ethiopia. The increases are the result of a two-year campaign by 32BJ SEIU. While union vice president Jaime Contreras hailed the increase, he noted that “Without a union, these men and women can still face retaliation and lose their jobs through no fault of their own.” The workers are continuing their campaign for $15 dollars an hour and a union.
On today's labor calendar, this month’s Bread & Roses program is “From "At The River I Stand" to Janus v. AFSCME” from 6 to 8pm tonight at the Takoma Busboys and Poets. This moving documentary recounts the two months leading up to Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in 1968, coinciding with the 65-day strike of 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers. The program is free; full details – and an RSVP link -- on our website, dclabor.org, click on calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1883, the United States Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act went into effect. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King, Jr. "No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." Martin Luther King had a long and close relationship with organized labor and was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers when he was assassinated in 1968. Here in the Metro Washington area the labor movement will celebrate Dr King’s legacy of struggle by participating in observances of his birthday and continuing those struggles for economic and racial justice.
NoVA Labor will march in the Martin Luther King Day Parade today in Leesburg, Virginia starting at 10 am, and then Progressive Maryland and allies in Maryland's Fight for $15 Coalition will hold a rally in Annapolis, starting at 5 pm. Tomorrow, the Metro Council's Bread and Roses series presents "From 'At The River I Stand' to Janus v. AFSCME" starting at 6p at the Takoma Busboys and Poets. The free program includes a screening of the classic film 'At The River I Stand' with intro and post-film Q&A connecting public sector worker struggles past and present with AFSCME area director Edgar de Jesus, Andrew Washington, AFSCME Council 20 Executive Director, and David Burbank, president of AFSCME 3399, which represents City of Takoma Park employees. Complete details, as always, at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born. Dr. King was every bit as committed to economic justice as he was to ending racial segregation. He fought throughout his life to connect the labor and civil rights movements, envisioning them as twin pillars for social reform. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King Jr, who said: "The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress." Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which provides unique products and discounts for working families. Details at unionplus.org DC students will be healthier this year, thanks to the recent passage of the Public School Health Services Amendment Act of 2017. “Our fight was for the safety of our children,” said Katrena Clark, School Nurse and Vice President of the District of Columbia Nurses Association, which strongly supported the bill, which ensures that a Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse is in every school for 40 hours a week.
On this weekend’s labor calendar, mark your calendar for the "Gonna Take Us All" MLK Holiday Ball on Sunday night at the Silver Spring Civic Building, sponsored by the Labor Heritage Foundation. Complete details, as always, at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1919, Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson ordered police to raid an open-air mass meeting of shipyard workers in an attempt to prevent a general strike. Workers were brutally beaten, but the strike began the following month, with 60,000 workers walking out in solidarity with some 25,000 metal tradesmen. Today’s labor quote is by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who on this date in 1942 created the National War Labor Board to mediate labor disputes during World War II. FDR, who said: “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level --I mean the wages of decent living.” Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which provides unique products and discounts for working families. Details at unionplus.org |
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