Citing a “consistent disregard for safety principles,” the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health has named Johns Hopkins Hospital to the “2019 Dirty Dozen List of Employers Who Put Workers and Communities at Risk.”
The list is published each year to mark Workers’ Memorial Week, observed around the world, honoring those who have been injured, suffered illnesses or lost their lives at work.
“We hope Johns Hopkins takes landing a spot on the Dirty Dozen list this year as a wake up call to listen to nurses and address the conditions we flag as unsafe for patients and healthcare workers,” said Alex Laslett, RN, a member of National Nurses United.
Registered nurses at Hopkins began organizing a union at the hospital after repeated appeals to the hospital to resolve unsafe conditions went unanswered, but management has responded by spending millions of dollars on anti-union consultants.

​On this week’s labor calendar, the annual DC LaborFest launches tomorrow night at the American Film Institute with a screening of the comedy “Support the Girls” at 7:15; complete details at dclabor.org; click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1927, an explosion at the Everettville mine in Everettville, West Virginia, killed 109 miners, many of whom lie in unmarked graves to this day.

Today’s labor quote is by Barack Obama. Under his administration, the National Labor Relations Board on this date in 2012 implemented new rules to speed up unionization elections, as a counter to employer manipulation of the law to prevent workers from unionizing.
Barack Obama, who said:
“Unions historically have been at the forefront of establishing things like the 40-hour work week, the weekend, child labor laws, fair benefits and decent wages.”
 
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For 29 years, Mary Stephens worked at the Parkersburg Care Center in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the last 14 years in laundry. By all accounts, she was a model employee. Two years ago, a subcontractor, Health Care Services Group, was hired to run the laundry. Up until this point, residents’ clothes, sheets, towels and other personal items had been washed with two workers operating the laundry. But in a cost-cutting move, HCSG decided one worker could do the job, loading all the work onto Mary. She worked as hard as she could, but Mary kept falling behind and last October, she was fired. The workers – like Mary, members of UFCW Local 400 -- united and proved that the laundry job was not able to be done by one person. Mary and her union filed a grievance and Mary got more than $12,000 dollars in back pay. Although Mary decided to start her retirement instead of returning to work, the subcontractor running the laundry operation has been bringing in extra people to help, and while this change was too late for Mary, her union ensured that justice was served.

Today’s labor calendar is jammed, starting with a Medicare for All rally at 12:30pm, and then starting at 3, the AFL-CIO will host a discussion with Brazil's national union center and the Workers Party. At 4 there’s a screening of the new film Stand! at the AFL-CIO and tonight at 6 the Baltimore chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute is hosting their Annual Awards Banquet.
Complete details, as always, are at dclabor.org; click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1894, Coxey’s Army of 500 unemployed civil war veterans reached Washington, DC.

Today’s labor quote is by Jacob S. Coxey, from a speech he attempted to give in 1894. Police arrested him for walking on the grass, but fifty years later, in 1944, Coxey finally delivered the speech from the steps of the U.S. Congress, saying:
“We stand here to-day in behalf of millions of toilers whose petitions have been buried in committee rooms, whose prayers have been unresponded to, and whose opportunities for honest, remunerative, productive labor have been taken from them by unjust legislation, which protects idlers, speculators, and gamblers..."
Read the whole speech here.
 
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As The Baltimore Sun‘s newsroom heads toward negotiations with management over a new contract, staffers -- members of the Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild -- went on social media earlier this week to highlight one of their top priorities: pay raises. Reporters posted pictures holding green balloons with an upward-pointing arrow and the words “Rai$e Our Pay Now.” In a couple photos, the balloons appeared to be tied to nearly every desk in the paper’s Port Covington newsroom.
“I’m making the same pay as I did four years ago, despite increased responsibility, a more visible beat and continually improving my skills as a journalist,” wrote reporter Pamela Wood on Twitter.

​On the weekend labor calendar, you’ve got two chances to catch screenings of “The Corporate Coup D’état” today and tomorrow at FilmFest DC. Director Fred Peabody, Executive Producer Jeff Cohen and The Intercept investigative journalist Lee Fang will be at both screenings to discuss how corporations are taking over democracy.
And find out more about the ongoing DC Healthcare Crisis at a Townhall tomorrow, organized by DC Jobs with Justice.
Complete details, as always, at dclabor.org; click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1944, on the orders of President Roosevelt, the U.S. Army seized the Chicago headquarters of the unionized Montgomery Ward after management defied the National Labor Relations Board.

Today’s labor quote is from “Bread and Roses,” the poem by James Oppenheim, published in the IWW newspaper Industrial Solidarity on April 27, 1911, and performed here by Queen Cee:
As we go marching, marching
We bring the greater days
For the rising of the women
Means the rising of the race
No more the drudge and idler
Ten that toil where one reposes
But the sharing of life's glories
Bread and roses, bread and roses
 
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Year after year some of the poorest neighborhoods in Washington continue to be neglected; our public schools have been starved of resources by both the Mayor and the DC City Council. The effects of this neglect will be felt for years to come. And this is not just a DC problem; it affects the entire metro region and beyond. The only way we can change the narrative is by standing up and demanding more, demanding better. If not, the schools in your community will be next.
That’s why parents, students, and others who care about funding, improving and saving our DC public schools are joining the Washington Teachers’ Union, for a rally at 4pm today at Freedom Plaza to demand that the DC mayor and City Council “fully fund our public schools.”  

Also on this week’s labor calendar, tune in at 1 o’clock today for this week’s edition on Your Rights At Work, when our guests will include Washington Teachers Union president Liz Davis, as well as nurse Betty Holman and others. Topics include DC public schools, the East End Hospital, the latest labor news and of course whatever you want to talk about; call in at 202-588-0893.
And for all the latest local labor event listings, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1886, The New York Times declared the struggle for an 8-hour workday to be “un-American” and called public demonstrations for the shorter hours, quote, “labor disturbances brought about by foreigners,” unquote. Other publications declared that an eight-hour workday would bring about “loafing and gambling, rioting, debauchery and drunkenness.”  

Today’s labor quote is by Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, Senior, arrested on this date in 1969 while picketing a hospital in Charleston, South Carolina in a demand for union recognition.
Ralph David Abernathy, Senior, who said:
“Bring on your tear gas, bring on your grenades, your new supplies of Mace, your state troopers and even your national guards. But let the record show we ain't going to be turned around.”
 
Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. If you’re looking for ways to cut costs on medical expenses, check out the Union Plus Health Savings Program. Learn how you can save on vision, dental and prescription out-of-pocket expenses at unionplus.org/healthsavings.