Longtime local labor leader Jos Williams heads up this year’s Evening with Labor award-winners.
Williams will be presented with the coveted JC Turner Award for Outstanding Trades Unionist of the Year, local labor’s top award, at the 2016 Evening With Labor on March 12. “Jos has been a shining beacon of labor leadership, not just to those of us in the metro-area movement but across the country and around the world,” said Gino Renne, first Vice President of the Council and president of UFCW 1994/MCGEO. “He has led by stellar example, setting a high bar of worker solidarity that succeeding generations are honored to carry forward.” Other award-winners include Community Services Awards for SMART Local 100 and Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 891, Organizing awards for the Washington Teachers Union and AFSCME Local 658, and Golden Picket Sign awards for National Nurses United and UFCW 400. Special honors will also go to Fred Allen, a Labor Council trustee and member of the Graphics Communications Conference of the Teamsters, who has served as Evening with Labor Dinner Chairman for most of its 39 years. News4 politics and government reporter Tom Sherwood will emcee the event. For more details on the dinner, including how to get tickets, go to dclabor.org and click on Evening With Labor. On today’s labor calendar, Supporters of Sakuma Berry Pickers will rally for justice today at 4pm, beginning at Washington Circle followed by a picket at the Foggy Bottom Whole Foods. Go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1820, Susan B. Anthony, suffragist, abolitionist and labor activist, wasd born in Adams, Massachusetts. In 1934, U.S. legislators passed the Civil Works Emergency Relief Act, providing funds for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which funneled money to states plagued by Depression-era poverty and unemployment, and oversaw the subsequent distribution and relief efforts. And in 1950, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, expelled the Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers; the Food, Tobacco & Agricultural Workers; and the United Office & Professional Workers for quote unquote “Communist tendencies.” Other unions expelled for the same reason included the Fur and Leather Workers, the Farm Equipment Union, the International Longshoremen’s Union, and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. Today’s labor quote is by Susan B. Anthony, who said: "Join the union, girls, and together say: Equal Pay for Equal Work."
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They say that honesty is the best policy but it cost a housekeeper at a major DC hotel her job. One day, at the end of her shift, the housekeeper found a large bag containing alcoholic beverages that had been left outside the employee lounge area. She turned the bag in to security but on her next scheduled day of work, she was told that she had been accused of attempting to steal the items. Told to resign or face being fired for theft of hotel property, the worker resigned. Thanks to representation by a Metro Council Claimant Advocacy Program attorney, however, the worker was able to collect unemployment benefits when she prevailed at a hearing where the employer failed to present evidence of theft or attempted theft. The Claimant Advocacy Program is a free legal counseling service available to individuals who file unemployment compensation appeals in the District of Columbia. Call 202-974-8150 for more info or go to dclabor.org and click on “Unemployment Help”
On today’s labor calendar, a major “March, Action & Rally to Demand Better Wages and Just Hours in DC” will take place this afternoon starting at 3:15 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, organized by Jobs With Justice, D.C. Jobs With Justice, UFCW Local 400, and ROC United. Go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1818, abolitionist Frederick Douglass was born into slavery near Easton, Maryland. In 1880, John L. Lewis, president of United Mine Workers of America and founding president of the CIO, was born near Lucas, Iowa. Today’s labor quote is by John L. Lewis “The labor movement is organized upon a principle that the strong shall help the weak. The strength of a strong man is a prideful thing, but the unfortunate thing in life is that strong men do not remain strong. And it is just as true of unions and labor organizations as is true of men and individuals. And whereas today the craft unions of this country may be able to stand upon their own feet and like mighty oaks stand before the gale, defy the lightning, yet the day may come when those organizations will not be able to withstand the lightning and the gale. Now, prepare yourselves by making a contribution to your less fortunate brethren... Organize the unorganized!” Today’s guests:
Rebecca Ennen, Jews United for Justice, on why workers need paid family leave. WTU Local 6 president Liz Davis on why the imposition of an extended school year violates contracts and won’t necessarily improve education. Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock hosts, with DCNA Executive Director Ed Smith. Labor song of the week: Workin' Man Blues: Merle Haggard This Week’s Quiz: Which groups have been involved in trying to organize in the last year? College Football players; graduate students; writers for news websites; teachers at Catholic schools; all of the above. If you think you know the answer, go to unionist.com and click on Labor Quiz and you could be next week’s winner! As President Obama issued the final budget of his administration Tuesday, the American Federation of Government Employees called on Congress to raise wages for federal workers, extend paid parental leave to employees, and reject proposals that would undermine basic worker rights and protections. At a rally at the US Capitol, AFGE president J. David Cox Sr. said that “Federal employees have been given the short end of the stick for far too long. It’s time to start giving back to the workers who give so much to our country.”
On today’s labor calendar, Washington Teacher’s Union president Liz Davis talks about the effects of the mayor’s unilateral extension of the school year on “Your Rights at Work” here on WPFW at 1pm. Go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar for the latest local labor events. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1913, legendary organizer “Mother” Jones was arrested while leading a protest of conditions in West Virginia mines. She was 83 years old at the time. In 1968, 1,300 sanitation workers began what was to become a 64-day strike in Memphis, ultimately winning union recognition and wage increases. The April 4 assassination in Memphis of Martin Luther King Jr., who had been taking an active role in mass meetings and street actions, brought pressure on the city to settle the strike. And in 2011, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced that he would call out the National Guard, if necessary, to deal with any "unrest" among state employees in the wake of his decision to unilaterally end nearly all collective bargaining rights for the workers. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking at a March 18, 1968 rally in support of the striking Memphis sanitation workers: “You are demonstrating that we can stick together. You are demonstrating that we are all tied in a single garment of destiny, and that if one black person suffers, if one black person is down, we are all down” |
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