Aleta Johnsons was operating a bagging machine on the line at the Tyson Foods Processing Plant in Glen Allen, Virginia when she heard a co-worker yelling “Stop, stop, stop! Please help — stop the line!”
Running to the conveyor belt, Johnsons – a shop steward for UFCW Local 400 -- saw five-pound bags of chicken piling up and falling on the floor; she immediately pulled a switch and stopped the line. Just 10 days earlier, this would not have been possible; only managers had the power to stop the line. But thanks to a recently instituted reform worked out between Local 400 members and Tyson management, any worker now has the power to halt the entire production line if he or she witnesses a safety hazard. “There are (still) things we need to work on,” Johnsons says, “like better-staffed lines and an end to 10-hour work days—but it’s coming along. And our union has been so helpful in all of this.” On today's labor calendar, Consumers love their smartphones, tablets and laptops. By 2020, four billion people will have a personal computer. Five billion will own a mobile phone. But this revolution has a dark side of deadly environmental and health costs, explored in today's LaborFest film, a free screening of "Death by Design: The Dirty Secret of Our Digital Addiction" today at noon at the AFL-CIO; complete details, as always, at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1824, men and women weavers in Pawtucket, Rhode Island staged the nation's first "co-ed" strike. In 1937, Ford Motor Company security guards attacked union organizers and supporters attempting to distribute literature outside the plant in Dearborn, Michigan, in an event that was to become known as the “Battle of the Overpass.” The guards tried to destroy any photos showing the attack, but some survived—and inspired the Pulitzer committee to establish a prize for photography. Today’s labor quote is by George M. Cohan, the legendary Broadway producer who said that “I will drive an elevator for a living before I will do business with any actors’ union” after the Actors’ Equity Association was founded at a meeting in New York City’s Pabst Grand Circle Hotel on this date in 1913. A sign later appeared in Times Square reading: “Elevator operator wanted. George M. Cohan need not apply." Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org. Please support WPFW and Union City Radio by pledging today; listener support has kept alternative voices on the DC airwaves for more than 40 years and those voices are needed now more than ever! Call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org. Tell ‘em Union City Radio sent you!
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Labor scholars and activists from across the country are convening in DC June 8 and 9 at the 2017 Labor Research and Action Network national conference to share new ideas and lessons learned, and to connect around research and campaign work.
Plenaries will focus on "Building Worker Power Under a Trump Administration" and "Messaging to Win." The conference will be held at Howard University; details on our website at dclabor.org On today's labor calendar, Hear the shocking story of "A millionaire, a hotel maid and an arrest for sex abuse" when our guest on today’s edition of “Your Rights at Work” is John Boardman of the DC hotel workers union, Unite Here Local 25; 1p here on WPFW. Then tonight at 8, catch a screening of “Revolution: New Art For A New World” at the Old Greenbelt Theatre in Greenbelt, Maryland. This bold and exciting feature documentary encapsulates a momentous period in the history of Russia and the Russian Avant-Garde. Details on our website at dclabor.org, click on LaborFest Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1805, striking shoemakers in Philadelphia were arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy for violating an English common law that barred workers from organizing to increase their wages. In 1932, thousands of unemployed World War I veterans arrived in Washington to demand early payment of a bonus they desperately needed to survive the Great Depression. They built a shantytown near the U.S. Capitol but were burned out by U.S. troops after two months. In 1936, the notorious 11-month Remington Rand strike began. The strike spawned the "Mohawk Valley formula," described by investigators as a corporate plan to discredit union leaders, frighten the public with the threat of violence, and employ thugs to beat up strikers. The National Labor Relations Board called it "a battle plan for industrial war." And on this date in 1962, the AFL-CIO began what was to become an unsuccessful campaign for a 35-hour workweek, with the goal of reducing unemployment. Earlier tries by organized labor for 32- or 35-hour weeks also failed. Today’s labor quote is by writer James Baldwin “Fires can’t be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.” Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org. Please support WPFW and Union City Radio by pledging today; listener support has kept alternative voices on the DC airwaves for more than 40 years and those voices are need now more than ever! Call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org. Tell ‘em Union City Radio sent you! Hosts: Chris Garlock and Ed Smith; JOIN US AT 202-588-0893
Also, if you miss our live show – or want to hear a past show – Your Rights At Work is now available as a podcast! Just search for Union City Radio on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts; subscribe and you’ll get our shows right on your phone! This week’s guest: John Boardman, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Unite Here Local 25, on A millionaire, a hotel maid and an arrest after the inauguration for sex abuse (The Washington Post) More than 30 hotels in the Washington area have introduced panic buttons in the past year under an agreement with Unite Here Local 25, because of incidents like the one at the Mayflower Hotel reported in The Washington Post on Sunday. Millionaire John Joseph Boswell pleaded guilty last month to misdemeanor sexual abuse in D.C. Superior Court after being arrested for assaulting a maid at the Mayflower last January. "Such incidents are all too common in an industry where about half of employees say they have been sexually assaulted or harassed by a guest, union surveys have shown," the Post reported. "Many go unreported because the housekeepers, often immigrants or women of color, fear losing their jobs." Labor Song: Donna Summer: She Works Hard For The Money CREDITS: Produced by Peter Pocock, engineered by Mike Nasella; Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus. UnionPlus is committed to improving the quality of life of working families. Find out more at unionplus.org. And we’re supported by you, our listeners: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org. More than 30 hotels in the Washington area have introduced panic buttons in the last year under an agreement with Unite Here Local 25, because of incidents like the one at the Mayflower Hotel reported in The Washington Post on Sunday.
Millionaire John Joseph Boswell pleaded guilty last month to misdemeanor sexual abuse in D.C. Superior Court after being arrested for assaulting a maid at the Mayflower last January. "Such incidents are all too common in an industry where about half of employees say they have been sexually assaulted or harassed by a guest, union surveys have shown," the Post reported. "Many go unreported because the housekeepers, often immigrants or women of color, fear losing their jobs." Read the whole shocking story on our website at dclabor.org On today's labor calendar, Find out how the horses on the Teamster logo got their names and lots of other fascinating Teamster labor history at today's guided tour of the Teamsters headquarters, starting at 12 noon. At 2 this afternoon, explore the $1.3-trillion student debt problem at Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans, hosted by the American Association of University Women. And at 7:15 tonight at AFI, the DC LaborFest screens the excellent French film "The Measure of a Man," in which an unemployed everyman must submit to a series of quietly humiliating ordeals in his search for work. Complete details and links to RSVP or buy tickets, are on our website at dclabor.org Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1883, after 14 years of construction and the deaths of 27 workers, the Brooklyn Bridge over New York’s East River opened. Newspapers called it “the eighth wonder of the world” In 1995, some 2,300 members of the United Rubber Workers, on strike for 10 months against five Bridgestone-Firestone plants, agreed to return to work without a contract. They had been fighting demands for 12-hour shifts and wage increases tied to productivity gains. Today’s labor quote is by Senator Hubert H. Humphrey "The first thing I want to say to you as individuals and as a movement-if you’re going to be something, if you’re going to do something, you have to be proud of yourself. And you have to be proud of your heritage as a Labor Movement just as you are proud of your family, or your religion, or whatever else it might be." Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org. |
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