AFSCME Maryland Council 3 has saved more than two dozen jobs for members at the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Instead of being laid off, they’ll be relocated to vacant positions within the agency, respecting the service of hard-working employees, while still allowing the department to reorganize human resources functions.
The Work Family Strategy Council has just released its new "Time To Care" Work and Family Toolkit. It's packed with information, reports, messaging, stories and more - all focused on paid family leave and paid sick days. The Toolkit is designed as an aid for organizations interested in joining the national movement to create workplace policies that help families. It includes resources to help build a campaign, initiate a media strategy and access key fact sheets and talking points used nationally for these campaigns. On today’s Labor calendar, tune in to the "Your Rights At Work" call-in radio show at 1pm today on WPFW, when we’ll talk with Ann Hoffman at the DC Public Employees Relations Board and Cynthia Jones at the Prince George's County NAACP, as well as take calls and questions about your rights at work. Then at 7pm tonight, Northern Virginia labor activists will meet at the monthly NoVA Labor meeting in Annandale. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1868, at a New York convention of the National Labor Congress, Susan B. Anthony calls for the formation of a Working Women's Association. As a delegate to the Congress, she persuaded the committee on female labor to call for votes for women and equal pay for equal work. But male delegates deleted the reference to the vote. In 1989, a total of 98 United Mine Workers of America members and a minister occupy the Pittston Coal Company's Moss 3 preparation plant in Carbon, Virginia, beginning a year-long strike. Among other issues: management demands for drastic limitations in health and pension benefits for retired and disabled miners and their dependents and beneficiaries. And in 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement is launched with an anti-Wall Street march and demonstration that ended up as a 2-month encampment in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. The event led to protests and movements around the world, with their focus on economic inequality, corruption, greed and the influence on government of monied interests. Their slogan: “We are the 99%.” Today’s labor quote is by Bradley McKenzie, a local miner and organizer of the student resistance during the Pittston strike: "You stick up for me, I'll stick up for you…we have the right to fight…the community has rights ..."
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The Transportation Learning Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, with its partner the Amalgamated Transit Union, and the Electrical Training Alliance and its local partner IBEW 26’s Joint Apprentice Training Center, have won nearly $10 million dollars in grants to boost apprenticeship from the US Department of Labor in a very competitive national bid. President Obama has made it clear that apprenticeships are critical to the strength of the nation’s workforce and economy. The grants were announced last week, and represent the biggest national investment in apprenticeship in history, with a total of $175 million dollars awarded to partnerships around the country. The grants will help the nation stay on the apprenticeship cutting edge in the skilled trades, an edge sharpened largely thanks to the leadership of the labor movement.
On today’s Labor Calendar, the America's Journey for Justice Rally will take place starting at 9am in Upper Senate Park. And tonight at 6:30pm, Ellen Bravo, longtime activist, former director of 9to5 and award-winning author, will discuss her new novel, "Again and Again" at the 14th Street Busboys and Poets. Complete details on our website at dclabor.org; click on calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1945, more than 43,000 oil workers struck in 20 states, part of the post-war strike wave. In 2004, a player lockout by the National Hockey League began, leading to cancellation of what would have been the league’s 88th season. The lockout, over owner demands that salaries be capped, lasted 310 days. And in 2004, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee won a signed contract with the Mount Olive Pickle Company and growers, ending a 5-year boycott. The agreement marked the first time an American labor union represented guest workers. Today’s labor quote is by Ellen Bravo: “I feel successful when I see movements grow and people stand up, when I watch people become aware of their own power as they join together with others. I measure success by that kind of growth, not just by what gets passed into law.” The NAACP says the march for voting rights is not yet finished, and they’ve just walked nearly 900 miles to make their point. In what they’ve dubbed “America’s Journey for Justice” marchers from the NAACP, along with labor and community allies, left Selma, Alabama on August 1 and arrive in Washington today. They marched through much of the South demanding reform of the criminal justice system, restoration of the Voting Rights Act, sustainable living wage jobs, and affordable quality education. You’re invited to join the marchers as they cross the Memorial Bridge at 1 pm today, as well as participate in two days of activities, including an Interfaith Service and Legislative Teach-In tonight at 7 pm at the Washington Hebrew Congregation and an Advocacy Day Rally in Upper Senate Park tomorrow at 9 am.
Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1845, some 5,000 female cotton workers in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania struck for a 10-hour day. The next day, male trade unionists became the first male auxiliary when they gathered to protect the women from police attacks. The strike ultimately failed. In 1962, President Kennedy signed off on a $900 million dollar public-works bill for projects in economically depressed areas. And in 1970, more than 350,000 members of the United Auto Workers began a 69-day strike against General Motors. Today’s labor quote is by Quincy Bates, Southwestern Region Organizer for the NAACP: “We're marching for our lives, our votes, our jobs, our schools. Fifty years ago, they gave us the right to vote and fifty years later, we're being challenged again. This is my turn. This is my time. They did it for me and I will be doing it for someone else." “My eyes have been opened and now there is no turning back,” writes Mia Campbell about her experience as an apprentice organizer at ONE DC through the 2015 Kalmanovitz Initiative Summer Organizing Internship. “From the first day on the internship, it was clear to me that the work ONE DC does—organizing to establish a more economically and racially equitable city—was absolutely needed,” adds Kevin Ruano, who was also a ONE DC apprentice organizer. Read more of their reflections on the Kalmanovitz blog; we have a link on our website at dclabor.org
On today’s Labor Calendar, there’s a discussion of economist David Madland’s new book, “Hollowed Out: Why the Economy Doesn't Work Without a Strong Middle Class” today at 12:30pm at the AFL-CIO. Madland exposes the failed trickle-down approach that has created massive inequality and proposes a more just economic model that expands from the middle out and guarantees working people mobility through a voice on the job. Complete details on our website at dclabor.org; click on calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1929, during the Loray Mill strike in Gastonia, North Carolina, National Textile Workers Union members driving back from a meeting were ambushed by a group of armed men. Organizer Ella Mae Wiggins was shot in the chest and died; five mill employees were arrested, but acquitted of her murder, despite 50 witnesses who saw it all in broad daylight. Today’s labor quote is by David Madland: “Without strong unions, our economy pays a heavy price: wages lag; insecurity, poverty, and inequality increase; and too few workers have the purchasing power needed to boost our nation’s gross national product. Workers are ever more productive, but they haven't benefited from this increased productivity as much as they should.” |
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