Union-organized public pressure forced a key D.C. City Council member, Kenyan McDuffie to publicly pledge he would fight to keep Providence Hospital in Northeast open.
And the Metropolitan Washington AFL-CIO is arranging meetings with other council members to lobby them to back the hospital, one of only two acute-care hospitals in almost all of the eastern half of the city. Approximately 100 people showed up last Thursday night at a community meeting to protest the highly profitable Catholic-run Ascension Health Care System’s plan to close Providence in December and sell the land to a developer. Patients from wards 4, 5, 7 and 8, most of them paid for by Medicare or Medicaid, would have to scramble for care if Providence closes. Ambulances would have to transport emergency patients twice as long to the nearest acute-care hospital, Washington Hospital Center. Facing a barrage of tough questions, McDuffie finally admitted: “I don’t support what’s happening. I don’t think this city or our nation can afford to have Providence Hospital close.” He too urged attendees to jam the October 10 DC City Council Health Committee meeting. On today’s labor calendar, the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO meets tonight at 6:30 at the AFL-CIO; get complete details and the latest updates on our website at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1989, ninety-eight United Mine Workers of America members and a minister occupied 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. Today’s labor quote is by Susan B. Anthony. On this date in 1868, at a New York convention of the National Labor Congress, Anthony called 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. Susan B. Anthony, who said: “Join the union, girls, and together say Equal Pay for Equal Work.”
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The Trump administration has come up with a creative new way to silence dissenting voices: charge us for speaking out.
For the first time, the U.S. government now wants demonstrators to pay to use our parks, sidewalks and streets to engage in free speech in the nation’s capital. This is really a protest tax and it’s just one element of a larger initiative to close off public space to silence dissent using both financial and physical restrictions. If enacted, participatory democracy in America would be fundamentally altered, according to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund. Such a “pay to protest” plan will likely be challenged in court, but in the meantime you can submit your comments to the National Park Service – no charge for that, so far -- we have a link on our website at dclabor.org On this weekend’s labor calendar, a number of labor-to-labor walks are scheduled for tomorrow but that may change, depending on the weather. Get complete details and the latest updates on our website at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, Congress passed the Landrum-Griffin Act on this date in 1959. The law expanded many of the anti-labor provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act, increasing union reporting requirements and restricting secondary boycotting and picketing. Today’s labor quote is from “A Mill Mother’s Lament,” a ballad by Ella Mae Wiggins and sung here by Pete Seeger. Wiggins was a North Carolina textile mill striker and songwriter. The young mother of five was killed when local vigilantes and thugs forced the pickup truck in which she was riding off the road and began shooting on this date in 1929. How it grieves the heart of a mother, You everyone must know. But we can't buy for our children, Our wages are too low. It is for our little children, That seems to us so dear, But for us nor them, dear workers, The bosses do not care. But understand, all workers, Our union they do fear. Let's stand together, workers, And have a union here. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith Hour 1 (1-2p): Saving Providence Hospital (click on top file, above) Town Hall meeting tonight, Thu, September 13, 7pm – 9pm Plymouth Congregational Church , 5301 N Capitol Street NE, Washington DC 20011 Guests: Dr. Frederick Gooding: Double specialties of Sports Medicine & Pain Management; practicing medicine for 41 years -- doctor since he was 25 -- and has been at Providence about 17 years. Erika Robinson, rehab technician at Providence; Member of NUHHCE/AFSCME 1199 DC Steven Frum, National Nurses United: broader perspective on the issue, including nurses organizing at Johns Hopkins (and elsewhere), shortage of nurses, ongoing issues in hospitals, etc David Dzidzienyo, Political Director, Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO Music: Gruff Rhys - No Profit In Pain Hour 2 (2-3p): One Fair Wage; Latest on sexual harassment at work (second link above) David Cooper, Senior Economic Analyst at the Economic Policy Institute: D.C. tipped workers would do better with ‘One Fair Wage’ Research shows tipped workers and the restaurant industry continue to thrive in cities that have eliminated the tipped minimum wage Sharyn Tejani, Director, TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund at the National Women's Law Center The TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, which is housed at and administered by the National Women’s Law Center Fund LLC connects those who experience sexual misconduct including assault, harassment, abuse and related retaliation in the workplace or in trying to advance their careers with legal and public relations assistance. Music: TLC - His Story CREDITS: Produced by Pete Pocock and Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike “The Man” Nasella Registered nurses, doctors, social justice advocates, hospital workers, and faith-based community members are demanding that Providence Hospital in Northeast D.C. remain open as a fully functioning hospital with acute-care services.
“My surgical unit is full of people from our community who need immediate care,” says Rose Farhoudi, a registered nurse at Providence and a member of National Nurses United. “Where will these people go? We already know the emergency room waits in D.C. are too long. With only one other acute-care hospital on the east side of D.C., we cannot afford to lose any more medical services.” “Closing Providence will hurt our most vulnerable,” said Reverend Graylan Scott Hagler of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ. “The poor, the elderly, those most in need will be forced to live with their diseases. They will have to die untreated, that is what we have to fight against. We need everyone in D.C. to demand Providence remain open because when we come together we can prevail.” Tune in at 1 o’clock today here on WPFW when Ed Smith and I will host an expanded edition of “Your Rights At Work,” focusing on the threat to Providence Hospital. And tonight, a diverse group of community members from around D.C. will gather to strategize and coordinate efforts to keep Providence Hospital open. The community meeting is from 7 to 9 p.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church at 5301 North Capitol Street NE. Also on today’s labor calendar, the AFL-CIO is hosting a reception with legendary photographer Earl Dotter in celebration of his new book “LIFE’S WORK, a Fifty Year Photographic Chronicle of Working in the U.S.A.” 4:30pm at the AFL-CIO. As always for all the latest local labor news and calendar postings, check out our website at dclabor.org, where you can also subscribe free to “Union City,” our award-winning daily newsletter. In today's labor history, on this date in 1926, the Post Office Department ordered 25,000 railway mail clerks to shoot to kill any bandits attempting to rob the mail. We have two labor quotes today, the first from the manifesto of demands by prisoners who took control of the New York State’s Attica Correctional Facility from September 9-13, 1971, and the second from Jerry Wurf, president of the correction officers’ union. Eleven AFSCME-represented prison employees and 33 inmates died in four days of rioting at Attica and the retaking of the prison. The riot caused the nation to take a closer look at prison conditions, for inmates and their guards alike. In their manifesto, the Attica prisoners said: "In our peaceful efforts to assemble in dissent as provided under this nation’s U.S. Constitution, we are in turn murdered, brutalized, and framed on various criminal charges because we seek the rights and privileges of all American People." And Jerry Wurf, president of AFSCME, the correction officers’ union, called for more “secure and humane penal facilities” rather than the “decaying relics of penal theories discarded long ago.” |
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