(audio) “I think that people really do want their voices and their ideas heard.”
That’s Congressman Marc Veasey of Texas, on the latest episode of the AFL-CIO’s “State of the Unions” podcast. Marc is one of the co-chairs of the House Blue Collar Caucus… (audio) “And I would really like to see more attention put on listening tours and really connecting with people in some of these areas to make sure that they understand that we're not taking their vote for granted...that we do value their job and what they do for a living and that we want to hear from them...that we're listening to them and that we're going to take some of the things that they tell us and actually come here to Washington D.C. and put them in action.” Catch “State of the Unions” wherever you listen to podcasts. On today’s labor calendar, the film Councilwoman -- about a hotel housekeeper in Rhode Island who was elected to the Providence City Council – screens tonight at 6 at the LaborFest’s monthly series at the Shirlington Busboys and Poets; Complete details, as always, on our website at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1868, San Francisco brewery workers began a 9-month strike as local employers followed the union-busting lead of the National Brewer’s Association and fired their unionized workers, replacing them with scabs. Two unionized brewers refused to go along, kept producing beer, prospered wildly and induced the Association to capitulate. By the way, one of the contract benefits won by the union was free beer for workers. Today’s labor quote is by Henry Edward Manning, an English cardinal in the 19th Century, who said: Every man has a right to work or to bread. Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Thinking about buying or refinancing a home? The Union Plus Mortgage Program provides top-notch service and is union-owned. Visit unionplus.org/mortgage.
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After strong campaigning by Fight for $15, SEIU and their allies, Maryland is apparently heading for an increase in the state minimum wage to $15 an hour – despite Governor Larry Hogan’s veto threat. That’s because both houses of the state legislature passed the $15 minimum wage hike by veto-proof margins. Maryland would thus join what is now a large number of states and major cities that have gotten tired of waiting for Congress to raise the federal hourly minimum of $7.25, and gone ahead and done it themselves. The federal minimum hasn’t budged in a decade.
Today’s labor calendar is jam-packed, with a conversation with ACORN founder Wade Rathke starting at 5pm at Georgetown, Union Night in Annapolis starting at 6, a discussion at GW on The Dignity of Work at 6, and a Benefit Concert for Quality Care and Patient Advocacy at 6:30 in Baltimore; complete details, of course, at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1894, the first “Poor People’s March” on Washington took place, when jobless workers -- known as “Coxey’s Army” -- demanded creation of a public works program. Today’s labor quote is by Chris Llewelyn, from her poem, “White Light (After Sonya Levien),” from “Fragments from the Fire: the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire of March 25, 1911,” which won the Walt Whitman Award in 1986. It's not easy to teach us union. Garment girls shift like sand, start too young in the trade, wait for Prince Charming to take em away. When I arrived from Russia my cheeks like apples. And look now! But talk about a dreaming fool! Me, thirteen in the Golden Land longing to work at Life and Love. Be what you call a builder of bridges. I'd go back, show all Moscow a great American lady. My first position: feeding kerchiefs to machine. First English sentence: "Watch your needle -- 3,000 stitches A minute." I was some swift kid in those days: seventy-two-hundred an hour, eighty-six-thousand pieces A day, four dollars in the pay envelope -- and that the busy season. For three months my pay was bread. I yearned to earn wages, save my little sister's passage, I was so lonely in America. Soon like the rest I grieved at my machine, swore I'd marry any old man just to get out. One by one the others left to marry And returned to Triangle. I saw my future in a white heat light no dreams could soften. Thanks to the folks at Friday’s Folklore for sharing that poem; to sign up for Friday’s Folklore, just click here. Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Thinking about buying or refinancing a home? The Union Plus Mortgage Program provides top-notch service and is union-owned. Visit unionplus.org/mortgage. This is Chris Garlock, with the latest labor news, updates and history from the Metro Washington Labor Council.
DCNA nurses met with Nigerian health care workers recently to share their similar experiences at work. Common labor issues in nursing included nurse-patient ratios, lack of deference from management and activist campaigns. They also discussed some of the differences in the health care systems in the United States and Nigeria including private vs. public sector, the nurse’s role vs. other health care workers, and workers’ rights laws. On today’s labor calendar, tune in at 9 this morning when I’ll be hosting Arise. Our guests will include novelist Wiley Cash on his New York Times bestseller, set during the Loray Mill Strike, and historian Paul Shackel, whose article on “How a 1897 Massacre of Pennsylvania Coal Miners Morphed From a Galvanizing Crisis to Forgotten History” was just published on Smithsonian.com. That’s 9 to 10am right here on WPFW. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1998, the bitter six-and-a-half-year UAW strike at Caterpillar ended. The strike and settlement, which included a two-tier wage system and other concessions, deeply divided the union. Today’s labor quote is by Mark Twain, a lifelong member of the International Typographical Union, which is now part of the Communications Workers of America. On this date in 1886, Twain praised the Knights of Labor as a new aristocracy in the paper entitled “The New Dynasty,” in which he said: “We need not fear this king. This king is born the enemy of them that scheme and talk and do not work…He will see to it that there is fair play, fair wages, fair working hours.” Union City Radio is supported by Union Plus. The Union Plus Mortgage Program is union-owned and provides exclusive benefits for first time home buyers, union members and retirees. Visit unionplus.org/mortgage. This is Chris Garlock, with the latest labor news, updates and history from the Metro Washington Labor Council.
DCNA nurses met with Nigerian health care workers recently to share their similar experiences at work. Common labor issues in nursing included nurse-patient ratios, lack of deference from management and activist campaigns. They also discussed some of the differences in the health care systems in the United States and Nigeria including private vs. public sector, the nurse’s role vs. other health care workers, and workers’ rights laws. On today’s labor calendar, tune in at 9 this morning when I’ll be hosting Arise. Our guests will include novelist Wiley Cash on his New York Times bestseller, set during the Loray Mill Strike, and historian Paul Shackel, whose article on “How a 1897 Massacre of Pennsylvania Coal Miners Morphed From a Galvanizing Crisis to Forgotten History” was just published on Smithsonian.com. That’s 9 to 10am right here on WPFW. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1998, the bitter six-and-a-half-year UAW strike at Caterpillar ended. The strike and settlement, which included a two-tier wage system and other concessions, deeply divided the union. Today’s labor quote is by Mark Twain, a lifelong member of the International Typographical Union, which is now part of the Communications Workers of America. On this date in 1886, Twain praised the Knights of Labor as a new aristocracy in the paper entitled “The New Dynasty,” in which he said: “We need not fear this king. This king is born the enemy of them that scheme and talk and do not work…He will see to it that there is fair play, fair wages, fair working hours.” Union City Radio is supported by Union Plus. The Union Plus Mortgage Program is union-owned and provides exclusive benefits for first time home buyers, union members and retirees. Visit unionplus.org/mortgage. |
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