Food and beverage workers at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center have voted to authorize a strike against Aramark. The vote last week empowers UNITE HERE Local 23’s negotiating committee to call a strike as early as this week.
“I’m proud to provide the welcome and service that convention guests to D.C. deserve,” said Carmen Valencia. “But since April 1 when Aramark took over, they have been replacing us with non-union workers and machines. I feel betrayed. I have never considered striking before, but I don’t see any other way to protect my job and my family.” Workers picketed Aramark on Sunday and will continue over the next few weeks In today’s labor history, on this date in 1962, the first Walmart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas. By 2014 the company had 10,000 stores in 27 countries, under 71 different names, employing more than 2 million people. It is known in the U.S. and most of the other countries in which it operates for low wages and extreme anti-unionism. Today’s labor quote is by President Barack Obama, on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, signed on this date in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbid employers and unions from discriminating on the basis of race, color, gender, nationality, or religion. Barack Obama, who said: "Because of the Civil Rights movement, new doors of opportunity and education swung open for everybody … Not just for blacks and whites, but also women and Latinos; and Asians and Native Americans; and gay Americans and Americans with a disability. They swung open for you, and they swung open for me. And that’s why I’m standing here today—because of those efforts, because of that legacy." Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. If you’re thinking about hitting a theme park with your family this summer, visit unionplus.org/entertainment to get savings at America’s favorite theme parks.
0 Comments
(audio) “We certainly always have a long way to go when it comes to continuing to modernize and look at new ideas and approaches.”
That’s AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler on the latest edition of State of the Unions, the AFL-CIO’s podcast, talking about how to modernize the labor movement: (audio) “We do have the tendency to want to rely on what we think has worked in the past, but the economy is changing so fast, A lot of people say that with technology, we’re going to see mass disruptions in work. And, I don’t necessarily believe all the scare tactics that we’re hearing through reports saying we’re going to lose the 75 million jobs in 12 years, but with automation and robotics and artificial intelligence, there's no doubt there’s going to be massive change going forward and probably faster than previous industrial revolutions. So I guess the question is: What is the labor movement going to do to keep up with that change, and how are we going to be modern and flexible and nimble...enough to represent the needs of workers as they transition to the jobs of the future?” Catch “State of the Unions” wherever you listen to podcasts. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1983, copper miners began a years-long long, bitter strike against Phelps-Dodge in Clifton, Arizona. Democratic Governor Bruce Babbitt repeatedly deployed state police and National Guardsmen to assist the company over the course of the strike, which broke the union. Today’s labor quote is by Bennie Martin, a local sandwich shop owner and one-time streetcar man in New Orleans. Some 1,100 streetcar workers went out of strike in New Orleans on this date in 1929, spurring the creation of the po’ boy sandwich by Bennie Martin. "Whenever we saw one of the striking men coming," Bennie later recalled, "one of us would say, ‘Here comes another poor boy.’" Martin and his wife fed any striker who showed up. Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. Summer has definitely arrived, along with heat and humidity, which means it’s time to take advantage of cool union members savings on theme and water park tickets. Visit unionplus.org/entertainment. |
Categories
All
Union City Radio is proud to be supported by UnionPlus, which has been working hard for union families since 1986.
Union City Radio is part of The Labor Radio/Podcast Network
Listen now...UC Radio airs weekdays at 7:15a on WPFW 89.3 FM; subscribe to the podcast here. |