Courtney Jenkins, a mail processing clerk for the United States Postal Service, was born and raised in Baltimore, a city torn apart and thrust into the national spotlight in 2015 for the tensest protests the city had seen since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jenkins spoke about what he saw during the riots and their aftermath, and spoke from his own experience during the AFGE Women's and Fair Practices Departments' third Diversity Week gathering in Washington, earlier this month. “I'm a young black male with a high school diploma from Baltimore," said Jenkins. "Not too many organizations would be willing to invest in me like the postal workers union has. Unions have shown me that equity isn't a dream, it is a reality. It has put me in a position to fight for racial and economic justice, which my city needs most at this very moment.” You can read more about Jenkins on our website at dclabor.org And, for the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1920, after three-quarters of the states had ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, women won their long struggle for the vote. In 1970, the Women’s Strike for Equality was staged in cities across the U.S., marking the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, under which women won the right to vote. A key focus of the strike—in fact, more accurately a series of marches and demonstrations—was equality in the workplace. An estimated 20,000 women participated. Today’s labor quote is from signs at the 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality, which carried the iconic slogan, “Don’t Iron While the Strike is Hot.”
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Shuttle drivers who serve the National Institutes of Health and their supporters rallied yesterday morning as a months-long labor dispute boiled to the surface.
At the heart of the story is a private contractor, W&T Travel Services, which holds transportation contracts with the NIH, FDA, and other federal and state agencies. Its nearly forty employees who serve as NIH shuttle drivers are represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764 and have been denied a contract or wage increase by W&T owner Darnell Lee since 2012. When the workers began off-duty leafleting of their passengers to raise awareness of the issue earlier this year, Lee suspended without pay or fired all union shop stewards and bargaining committee members, along with every employee who testified before the National Labor Relations Board. "The NIH is letting this contractor make runaway profits off of taxpayers while he threatens, interrogates, and abuses the workers who transport NIH employees," said ATU Local 1764 Trustee Sesil Rubain. "It's unconscionable." Lee was recently featured on CNBC's Blue Collar Millionaires, bragging about his 8,000 square foot house with a gym and theater, a custom-made Super Bowl ring, and a collection of 10,000 designer suits and shirts. The union recently launched a petition – available at dclabor.org -- and is asking NIH employees and other federal workers to call NIH Director Francis Collins to support the riders. On today’s local labor calendar, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston will discuss his new book “The Making of Donald Trump” at 1p today at the AFL-CIO. Also at 1pm, here on WPFW, our guests on "Your Rights At Work" include Philip Fornaci, Executive Director at the DC Employment Justice Center, and two French journalists, Fanny GUINOCHET and Jerome LEPEYTRE, who will discuss similarities and differences between US and French labor law. For all the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1819, Allan Pinkerton was born. Pinkerton’s strike-breaking detectives – also known as "Pinks" -- gave us the word "fink." In 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was founded at a meeting in New York City. A. Philip Randolph became the union's first organizer. Today’s labor quote is by A. Philip Randolph “At the banquet table of nature, there are no reserved seats. You get what you can take, and you keep what you can hold. If you can't take anything, you won't get anything, and if you can't hold anything, you won't keep anything. And you can't take anything without organization.” A bust of Randolph, with this quote, is in Union Station here in Washington, DC, in front of the Starbucks. In the beginning, all was darkness in the hallways at the Greenleaf Apartments in Southwest DC. But after a little wire work, there was light.
Last Saturday’s IBEW Local 26 Community Service Day was the fifth such event since the partnership began between Local 26 and the DC Housing Agency. The Agency supplies the materials and Local 26 members perform the work, volunteering their time and skills. “The work our members do on a daily basis is not just a job,” said IBEW 26 member Robert Smith, “it's a career. It's about more than turning wires, it's about opportunity and improving lives.” As he helped install modern and energy efficient lights at Greenleaf, Smith cited the union’s apprenticeship process and the importance of the union to its member’s lives as reasons why he gives back at events like the Community Service Day. On the local labor calendar, there’s a rally to support NIH shuttle drivers this morning from 7 to 9am at the Medical Center Metro Station and Bus Stop on Rockville Pike in Bethesda. For the latest local labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1970, the United Farm Workers Union began their strike against lettuce growers who would not negotiate contracts with farm workers for decent wages and working conditions. The Salad Bowl strike was a series of strikes, mass pickets, boycotts and secondary boycotts that led to the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history. Shipments of fresh lettuce nationwide virtually ceased, and the price of lettuce doubled almost overnight. Lettuce growers lost half a million dollars a day. A state district court enjoined Cesar Chávez personally and the UFW as an organization from engaging in picketing, but both Chávez and the union refused to obey the court's orders. Today’s labor quote is by Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez, who said “The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.” Laurel Regional Hospital, originally slated to close, is staying open, thanks in part to efforts by 1199 SEIU.
After Dimensions Health System announced plans last year to shutter the hospital, 1199 SEIU members organized a series of town hall meetings and lobbied for the passage of an emergency bill in the Maryland General Assembly requiring greater transparency by a hospital prior to announcing a closure. Caregivers at Laurel Regional Hospital joined Prince George's County elected officials and the Laurel community at a press conference last month, for an announcement that the hospital will now delay further service cuts. 1199’s critical role in keeping the hospital open was acknowledged by several elected officials during their remarks. A labor musical is on today’s labor calendar, with a 6:30pm performance of “Pray for the Dead-A Musical Tale of Morgues, Moguls and Mutiny” at the Hyattsville Busboys and Poets. Find out more about this and the rest of the upcoming local labor calendar listings, at dclabor.org; click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1912, the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations was formed by Congress, during a period of great labor and social unrest. After three years, and hearing witnesses ranging from Wobblies to capitalists, it issued an 11-volume report frequently critical of capitalism. The New York Herald characterized the Commission's president, Frank P. Walsh, as "a Mother Jones in trousers." In 1927, Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, accused of murder and tried unfairly, were executed on this day. The case became an international cause and sparked demonstrations and strikes throughout the world. And in 1966, the Farm Workers Organizing Committee – which later became the United Farm Workers of America – was granted a charter by the AFL-CIO. Today’s labor quote is by James 'O Connell and John Brown Lennon "This country is no longer a field for slavery, and where men and women are compelled, in order that they may live, to work under conditions in determining which they have no voice, they are not far removed from a condition existing under feudalism or slavery." 'O Connell and Lennon, of the American Federation of Labor, both served on the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations. |
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