Last week, Kroger managers called the cops on their workers but in the end it was the supermarket who got in trouble. The Kroger workers were talking to customers at several stores in the Roanoke region about the company’s proposal to offer only slight raises to employees over the next four years, provide no paid sick days, and cut off healthcare for retired workers. Several shoppers signed cards to store managers saying these workers “deserve to share in the success they have helped to build.” Store managers called the police, even though it was clear that no laws were being violated. After a union rep explained that union members have a right to leaflet customers at their own stores, the police left and encouraged the workers to "keep up the good work." Later in the week, employees at several stores filed charges against Kroger for violating federal labor law, which protects union workers who are entitled to exercise their rights without retaliation by their employer. "Kroger is the most successful traditional grocery chain in the country, with billions of dollars in profits,” said Local 400, “yet it believes it can intimidate and silence the very people who make that success possible – its own workers."
On today's labor calendar, Verizon strike picket lines continue today throughout the metro Washington area; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for the latest list of locations and times. The Metro Washington Council meets tonight at 6:30 and the DC LaborFest continues with the film “7 Chinese Brothers” at 7pm at the AFI Silver Theatre, Tickets are just $5 for this film in which Jason Schwartzman stars as Larry who, along with his trusty sidekick (Schwartzman’s real-life French Bulldog, Arrow), goes through life as a misanthropic outcast, unable to retain employment or stable relationships - especially with his grandma, played with sharp timing and wit by Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis. As always, complete details on all of these events are at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Today’s labor history On this date in 1934, a Minneapolis general strike backed Teamsters, who were striking most of the city’s trucking companies. In 1938, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Mackay decision, which permits the permanent replacement of striking workers. The decision had little impact until Ronald Reagan’s replacement of striking air traffic controllers in 1981, a move that signaled anti-union private sector employers that it was OK to do likewise. And in 1979, Black labor leader and peace activist A. Philip Randolph died. He was president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black on the AFL-CIO executive board, and a principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Today’s labor quote is by A. Philip Randolph “Nothing counts but pressure, pressure, more pressure, and still more pressure through broad organized aggressive mass action.”
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The 24th annual Letter Carriers’ “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive is set for this Saturday, May 14. The food drive, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers, is the world’s largest one-day food drive, taking place in more than 10,000 cities and towns across the country. Participating in the food drive couldn’t be easier. Before your regular mail pickup tomorrow, just leave bags of non-perishable food items by your mailbox. Letter carriers will pick up the bags and —with help from retired letter carriers, other postal employees and countless volunteers — deliver the bags to local food agencies. Hunger affects some 50 million people around the country, including millions of children, seniors and veterans. Pantry shelves filled up through winter-holiday generosity often are bare by late spring. And, with most school meal programs suspended during summer months, millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition. Because the nation’s 175,000 letter carriers visit every address in the country at least six days a week, they see the struggles in the communities they serve, and they believe it’s important to do what they can to help.
On today's labor calendar, Verizon strike picket lines continue today throughout the metro Washington area; UFCW Local 400 will be joining the F Street line at 10am this morning, followed by Jews United for Justice at noon, and then the Laborers will be on the L Street line at 3pm; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for the latest list of locations and times. The DC LaborFest continues with a free screening of DREAM ON at noon today at the AFL-CIO. In an epic road trip, political comedian John Fugelsang speaks with fast-food workers and retirees, prisoners and entrepreneurs, undocumented immigrants and community organizers about their hopes, dreams, and daily struggles. And tonight you’ve got a choice between the DC UNITED UNION NIGHT, the REDES DVD preview release and There Is Power in a Union: A Labor Songs Vespers. And there’s a full schedule of LaborFest events over the weekend, including screenings of The Intern and Redes, a labor history bike tour, concerts by the DC Labor Chorus and Joe Uehlein, and the second annual Labor History Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon. As always, complete details on all of these events are at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Here's today’s labor history: On this date in 1909, the Canadian government established the Department of Labour. It took the U.S. another four years. In 1980, United Auto Workers President Douglas Fraser was named to the Chrysler board of directors, becoming the first union representative ever to sit on the board of a major U.S. corporation. And in 1998, thousands of yellow cab drivers in New York City went on a 1-day strike to protest proposed new regulations. Today’s labor quote is by Douglas Fraser “In every single democracy in the world you will find a vibrant, vital labor movement. The reason is that in a democratic society, where you have a system of checks and balances, a labor movement is absolutely indispensable. There will always be unions as long as there are bosses.” Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock hosts, with DCNA Executive Director and labor lawyer Ed Smith.
This week's guests: Ralph Nader on "Breaking Through Power" conference May 23rd - 26th; Mike Wilson, UFCW 400, with updates on the #savemystore campaign and the Kroger Roanoke contract battle. Labor song of the week: Allen Toussaint - Working in a coalmine Plus: Very happy to announce a $500 challenge grant from the CrossCurrents Foundation and another $500 challenge grant from an anonymous supporter of the show: they’ll match the first $500 we raise this hour, which means every dollar contributed is worth $3! CrossCurrents funds social and economic justice work and their contribution is to help us sustain the “Your Rights at Work” show. We also have a pair of tickets to this Friday’s DC United Game against the New York Red Bulls, generously donated by Chris’ union, the Newspaper Guild Local 32035. The game is a special DC LaborFest Union Night at DC United, and there will be hundreds of union members and our allies, including lots of folks from CASA, which received over $2,500 from Union Night ticket sales! The game starts at 7p at RFK. The first caller to make a $100 pledge gets the tickets! Update: we made the goal; thank you thank you! Fed up with being the last to know about the fate of their stores and jobs, supermarket workers marched on Giant headquarters in Landover on Wednesday, accompanied by religious, political, community and labor allies. “We’ve had enough!” shouted UFCW 400 president Mark Federici, noting that “We don’t know any more today than we did six weeks ago,” when Giant workers were first notified that eight metro-area Giant stores may be sold because of a corporate merger between the European-based parent companies of Giant Food and Food Lion. A group of workers met with executives at Giant headquarters but emerged unsatisfied. “Promises don’t put food on the table,” Federici said, “we want to see written commitments to keep these good union jobs.”
On today's labor calendar, Verizon strike picket lines continue daily throughout the metro Washington area; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for the latest list of locations and times. There’s a “Don’t Let McConnell Trump the Supreme Court” rally today at 11:15am outside Republican national headquarters and tonight at 6pm the International Labor Rights Forum holds their 2016 Labor Rights Defenders Awards; the rally is free but you’ll need tickets for the awards. Complete details at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Today’s labor history is actually yesterday’s, because I accidentally switched them up; sorry about that! So on May 11 in 1894, a nationwide railway strike began at Pullman, Illinois. Nearly 260,000 railroad workers ultimately joined the strike to protest wage cuts by the Pullman Palace Car Co. And on May 11 in 1953, seventeen crewmen on the iron ore freighter Henry Steinbrenner died when the ship, carrying nearly 7,000 tons of ore, sank during a violent storm on Lake Erie. Another 16 crewmen survived. Today’s labor quote is by Al Ekblad, Executive Secretary of the Montana AFL-CIO “I think we're at a turning point in history. We're not talking about just the survival of the labor movement. We're talking about the survival of the middle class.” |
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