News: An estimated 200,000 Burmese migrants fuel Thailand’s huge fishing industry in Samut Sakhon province, an hour outside of Bangkok. The majority of workers are ethnic Mon from farming villages and they send their salaries to their families back home. Many workers do not hold legal documents and are vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers and lack access to legal protection. The AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center documents their struggles in a new online photo essay: go to solidaritycenter.org to see it.  

Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1906, the local lumber workers' union in Humboldt County, California founded the Union Labor Hospital Association to establish a hospital for union workers in the county. The hospital became an important community facility financed and run by the local labor movement.

In 1915, Congress approved the Seamen’s Act, providing the merchant marine with rights similar to those gained by factory workers. Action on the law was prompted by the sinking of the Titanic three years earlier. Among other gains: working hours were limited to 56 per week and guaranteed minimum standards of cleanliness and safety were put in place.

And in 1931, the Davis-Bacon Act took effect on this date. It orders contractors on federally financed or assisted construction projects to pay wage rates equal to those prevailing in local construction trades.

Today's labor quote is by Grace Abbott:
Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.
Grace Abbott was an American social worker who specifically worked in improving the rights of immigrants, especially those from eastern Europe, and advancing child welfare, especially the regulation of child labor.

 

 

News: The last in our series of Black History Month Labor Profiles honors Bill Lucy. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Bill Lucy was a materials and research engineer in California when he joined AFSCME in 1956.  A decade later, he was elected president of the Local and the next year, went to work full time for the union.  He worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Memphis sanitation strike in 1968 until King was assassinated later that year. The strike continued and the union won recognition. Lucy was elected Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME in 1972, the same year he became the first president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. He was also instrumental in the anti-apartheid movement, as one of the founders of the Free South Africa Movement, that eventually led to Nelson Mandela's release from prison and to the first democratic elections in South Africa. “Though his name is not as well-known as King and Mandela, Lucy has carved out a legacy based on living wages, health care benefits, and job safety,” said the N-double A-CP. “And like these famous men, Lucy's legacy lives on through the lives of hundreds of thousands of working families around the world every day.” You can find links to all our Black History Month Labor Profiles at dclabor.org

Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1913, postal workers were granted the 8-hour day.

In 1990, more than 6,000 drivers struck Greyhound Lines; most lost jobs to strikebreakers after the company declared an “impasse” in negotiations.

Today's labor quote is by Bill Lucy, on the occasion of his retirement from AFSCME in 2010:
“We’ve always known that there’s a crisis. It may be more intense now, but there’s always been a crisis for millions of people not as lucky as we are in this room. There’s a daily crisis in their lives, as they struggle to put bread on their tables, to put clothes on their backs, to have a roof on their heads. We have a responsibility to help them out.”

News: Airline catering workers will protest at Freedom Plaza this afternoon to call attention to the low wages paid to the food workers and unaffordable health care plans. According to UNITE HERE Local 23, nearly half of airline food workers currently make less than $10.10 an hour, which means they not only can’t afford the premiums of so-called “minimum value plans,” but are also ineligible to purchase more affordable options from health care exchanges. The 3 pm action at Freedom Plaza is an escalation of the workers’ “Nickel A Ticket” campaign, which calls on United, American and Delta Airlines to earmark five cents per passenger ticket toward affordable health care options for airline catering employees. Go to dclabor.org for complete details.

Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1972, a coal slag heap doubling as a dam in West Virginia’s Buffalo Creek Valley collapsed, flooding the 17-mile long valley. 118 died and 5,000 were left homeless. The Pittston Coal Company claimed it was "an act of God."

In 2004, a 20-week strike by 70,000 Southern California supermarket workers ended, with both sides claiming victory.

Today's labor quote is by Gene Debs:
“I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.”
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World, and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States

News: The latest in our series of BLACK HISTORY MONTH LABOR PROFILES honors FANNIE LOU HAMER. Hamer began working in the cotton fields at age six and in the 1950s, she and her husband worked as sharecroppers in Mississippi. In 1962, she was kicked off the plantation where she had lived and worked for 18 years after she volunteered to lead a group of African Americans seeking to register to vote. Hamer immediately went to work as a field organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Despite being jailed and beaten, Hamer returned to Mississippi to organize voter registration drives, including the "Freedom Ballot Campaign" in 1963, and the "Freedom Summer" initiative in 1964. Hamer helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964 to challenge Mississippi's all-white and anti-civil rights delegation to the Democratic National Convention and in 1968 she was a member of the Mississippi delegation. Hamer continued her work throughout her life, including working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign. She died in 1977.
You can win one of 100 Black History Month posters by texting the code “BLACK” (for Black History Month) to 235246

Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1902, John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. Steinbeck is best known for writing The Grapes of Wrath, which exposed the mistreatment of migrant farm workers during the Depression and led to some reforms.

In 1937, four hundred fifty Woolworth’s workers and customers occupied a store in Detroit for eight days in support of the Waiters and Waitresses Union.

And on this date in 1939, the Supreme Court ruled that sit-down strikes, a major organizing tool for industrial unions, are illegal.

Today's labor quote is by Fannie Lou Hamer:
“All my life I’ve been sick and tired. Now I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

NEWS: Over 100 Georgetown students joined Aramark employees in a march on February 18th to demand better working conditions for food service workers at Hoya Court. The march ended at the Aramark office on Georgetown’s campus with the delivery of two petitions. One demanded union representation for the workers, while the other petition, signed by over 2,000 students and community members, supports the renegotiation of work conditions for workers at Leo’s, one of the restaurants at the Hoya Court. Those conditions include a 40-hour paid work week, an increase in health care benefits, protection of immigrant workers, anti-discrimination rules and greater involvement in food sustainability discussions on campus. UNITE HERE is the same union that Aramark workers from Leo’s, Cosi and Starbucks joined in March 2011. Negotiations regarding the workers’ demands were scheduled to begin last Friday.

Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1912, women and children textile strikers were beaten by Lawrence, Massachusetts police during a 63-day walkout protesting low wages and work speedups.

In 1919, Congress passed a federal child labor tax law that imposed a 10 percent tax on companies that employ children, defined as anyone under the age of 16 working in a mine or quarry or under the age 14 in a “mill, cannery, workshop, factory, or manufacturing establishment.” The Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional three years later.

Today's labor quote is by Robert Reich:
“If companies have a moral responsibility not to fill the movie theater and airwaves with violence and moral degradation, do they not also have a responsibility to keep workers employed when profits are rising?  A moral responsibility to upgrade worker skills, an obligation to fully fund pension plans, to provide health care?”
Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997.

News: The latest in our series of Black History Month Labor Profiles honors  AUGUSTA THOMAS. Currently AFGE's national vice president for women and fair practices, Augusta Thomas is a lifelong civil rights activist, labor leader and a loving mother and great-great-grandmother. Thomas joined AFGE in 1966, when she began her career as a nursing assistant at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Louisville. There, she continued her fight for equal rights, was active in the civil rights movement and became a leader in her local union. With great energy, dedication and hard work, Thomas keeps advocating for the rights of women, people of color, the LGBTQ community and working families.
Don't forget that you can win one of 100 Black History Month posters by texting the code “BLACK” (for Black History Month) to 235246

Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 2011, a crowd estimated to be 100,000 strong rallied at the Wisconsin state Capitol in protest of what was ultimately to become a successful push by the state’s Republican majority to cripple public employee bargaining rights.

Today's labor quote is by Robert M. LaFollette:
“What is it that is swelling the ranks of the dissatisfied?  Is it a growing conviction in state after state, that we are fast being dominated by forces that thwart the will of the people and menace representative government?”
"Fighting Bob" La Follette was an American Republican politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. This 1897 quote opens John Nichols 2012 book “Uprising:  How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street.”

Nurses at the Washington Hospital Center are urging Medstar Health board members to listen to their patient safety concerns and come to a fair agreement on a contract that protects patients and nurses through safe staffing. Last week, a delegation of the nurses – who belong to National Nurses United -- visited the office of board member Rosie Allen-Herring, President of the United Way of the National Capital Area, in an unsuccessful attempt to talk to her about their concerns.

CWA and the IBEW reported late last week that they had reached tentative agreements with FairPoint Communications, ending months on the picket lines for about 2,000 workers at the telecommunications company in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. A contract ratification vote is being scheduled.

On today’s labor calendar is tonight’s meeting of the Metro Washington Council, 6:30 pm at the AFL-CIO at 16th and I streets. All are welcome to attend and get the latest local labor news and updates.

In this week’s Labor Quiz, which actor portrayed former Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa in the 1992 movie "Hoffa"? Was it Robert Deniro; Jack Nicholson; Joe Pesci; Marlon Brando or Al Pacino? Go to unionist.com and click on Labor Quiz to submit your answer and you could be this week’s winner!

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1887, the Journeyman Bakers’ National Union received its charter from the American Federation of Labor.

In 1940, with the Great Depression still raging, Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” following a frigid trip—partially by hitchhiking, partially by rail—from California to Manhattan.  

Today’s labor quote is by Woody Guthrie: “We can’t just bless America, we’ve got to change it.”  Guthrie had heard Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” and wrote “This Land Is Your Land” in response.

When you go out to eat, if you’re looking for a restaurant that not only serves good food at a fair price but one that also treats its workers right, you’ll want to get ROC United’s Diners’ Guide app. The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United apps helps diners easily find restaurants that meet their standards on wages, benefits, and promotion practices, so you know the food you eat was prepared and served by workers who are being treated fairly. Go to dclabor.org for a link to the app or search for R-O-C United in the app store.

What good are unions, anyway? Are dues worth the investment? A recent study showed that wages declined in newly unionized firms -- but most research still says that you're better off in one than not, reported Lydia DePillis in The Washington Post last week. She also recently published a troubling report on “How Live Nation exploits low-wage workers to stage its rock concerts.” 

Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1834, responding to a 15 percent wage cut, women textile workers in Lowell, Massachusetts organized a strike in protest. The action failed. Two years later they formed the Factory Girl’s Association in response to a rent hike in company boarding houses and the increase was rescinded. One worker’s diary recounts a “stirring speech” of resistance by a co-worker, 11-year-old Harriet Hanson Robinson.

In 1917, thousands of women marched to New York’s City Hall demanding relief from exorbitant wartime food prices. Inflation had wiped out any wage gains made by workers, leading to a high level of working class protest during World War I.

 And in 1990, the United Mine Workers settled the 10-month Pittston strike in Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia.

 Today's labor quote is by Richard Trumka, president of the Mine Workers during the Pittston strike and now president of the AFL-CIO:
"People keep asking how long we can hold out. The answer: one day longer than Pittston."

News: David Keicher, Director of Affiliate and Federation Outreach in the AFL-CIO’s Campaigns Department, is retiring after 43 years in the labor movement. “What I remember and cherish most are the friends I have made," said Keicher. "I wish you well in our continued fight for economic and social justice for our members, their families and all workers.”  

Longtime AFGE Local 2876 president Joyce Melchor passed away recently. She had just retired on December 31 after heading the local for decades; she had been at the Government Printing Office for 50 years. 

John Bonnage died on January 26. He was a health and safety trainer for AFSCME for many years and was particularly noted for his work on HIV/AIDS Education and on the Business and Labor Responds to AIDS project of the Centers for Disease Control. 

Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1834, one of the first American labor newspapers, The Man, was published in New York City. It cost one cent, and, according to The History of American Journalism, “died an early death.” Another labor paper, the N.Y. Daily Sentinel, had been launched four years earlier.

In 1918, faced with 84-hour workweeks, 24-hour shifts and pay of 29¢ an hour, fire fighters formed The International Association of Fire Fighters. Some individual locals had affiliated with the AFL beginning in 1903.

Today’s labor quote is by labor educator Fred Kaltenstein:
“Why should we get involved?  Why should my child learn about what happened to workers a hundred years ago?  If these children don’t understand and appreciated the struggles of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, they may be doomed to fight the same battles over again.”

The Jefferson hotel – whose workers belong to UNITE HERE Local 25 -- ranks Number 10 on U.S. News & World Report's 2015 list of the nation's best hotels, jumping from number 99 on last year’s list. "Aside from honors from Fodor's and Frommer's, The Jefferson earned recognition from more industry experts in 2015, including Travel and Leisure and Lonely Planet," writes U.S. News. The Jefferson also got rave reviews from travelers, who said that the hotel's staff members went out of their way to make their stays memorable, helping it to nab a spot on the Conde Nast Readers' Choice List as well.

Here's today's labor history:
On this date in 1910, a few weeks after workers asked for a 25-cent hourly wage, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company fired 173 union members and brought in replacements from New York City. Striker-scab battles and a general strike ensued.

In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of sales clerk Leura Collins and her union, the Retail Clerks, in NLRB versus J. Weingarten Inc.—the case establishing that workers have a right to request the presence of their union steward if they believe they are to be disciplined for a workplace infraction.

And in 1986, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee signed an agreement with the Campbell Soup Co., ending a 7-year boycott.

Today's labor quote is from a Weingarten Rights card, which many union members carry at all times, with instructions to read word for word:
"If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated, or affect my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my union representative, officer, or steward be present at this meeting. Until my representative arrives, I choose not to participate in this discussion."