DC Circulator driver Flynn “Tiny” Burke has his job back, thanks to a campaign by the Amalgamated Transit Union and its allies. First Transit had fired Burke, a union shop steward and the face of the Circulator campaign, earlier this month after DC Circulator workers won wage parity and safer buses earlier this year. After an online petition campaign and a flash rally last week, ATU’s Elana Kessler reports that First Transit “caved to the pressure and just agreed to bring Tiny back to work!” calling it an “amazing turnaround.”
Today’s local labor calendar is jam-packed with events. Here’s a quick run-down; get details and the complete line-up at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. At 1p here on WPFW catch this week’s edition of “Your Rights At Work,” the call-in show about worker rights. Then at 5pm, DC Jobs with Justice holds its 16th Annual "I'll Be There" Awards at the All Souls Unitarian Church. Also at 5, there’s an Interfaith Rally on Rent Control and Affordable Housing at the Wilson Building; at 5:30, “Say NO to Permanent Late Night Metro Service Cuts” at Metro headquarters, and starting at 6pm, Project Retail Presents: Party With A Purpose. Go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar for complete details. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1926, Eugene Victor Debs, U.S. labor leader and socialist, died in Elmhurst, Illinois. Debs was a labor activist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who captured the heart and soul of the nation’s working people. He was brilliant, sincere, compassionate and scrupulously honest. A founder of one of the nation’s first industrial unions, the American Railway Union, he went on to help launch the Industrial Workers of the World—the Wobblies. Among his radical ideas: an 8-hour workday, pensions, workman's compensation, sick leave and social security. Gene Debs ran for president of the United States from a jail cell in 1920 and got a million votes. In 1947, Hollywood came under scrutiny as the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence within the motion picture industry. Dozens of union members were among those blacklisted as a result. In 1983, Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan won the endorsement of the air traffic controllers union by promising to support their demands for better working conditions and staffing levels. Nine months after the election, he fired the air traffic controllers for engaging in an illegal walkout over those same issues. And in 1983, American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist Merle Travis died. His song's lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners, including classics like "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark as a Dungeon." Today’s labor quote is by Eugene Debs “Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
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Chris Garlock and Ed Smith host.
This week's guest: Elizabeth Wilkins, Chief of Staff, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, discusses the upcoming DC City Council vote on the wage theft issue. FROM THE CAP FILES: The Case of the Necessary Leave with Lolita Martin. Labor Song: Merle Travis - Sixteen Tons (original version) from 1947 In 1983 on this date, American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist Merle Travis died. His song's lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners, including classics like "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark as a Dungeon." Plus: Please help keep Your Rights at Work on the air by pledging financial support for WPFW 89.3 FM: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org. Thanks! (audio clip) That’s a clip from a new video just released by the AFL-CIO, in which Randie Pearson, a steelworker from Toledo, Ohio, talks about what's at stake with the election of our next president, and why she thinks Hillary Clinton is the only person qualified for the job. The short video, called “Clinton’s Values are Union Values,” is posted on our website at dclabor.org
If you’d like to find out more about the union movement’s view on the election, drop by the phonebanks tonight at the AFL-CIO in downtown DC, or over at NoVA Labor office in Annandale, Virginia. They’re not only making calls but at NoVA Labor they’ll be hosting a debate party with snacks and ice cream sundaes. Complete details and all the latest local labor calendar listings are at dclabor.org; click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1949, the National Association of Letter Carriers achieved equalization of wages for all letter carriers, meaning city delivery carriers began receiving the same wages regardless of the size of the community in which they worked. And in 1980, the J.P. Stevens textile company was forced to sign its first union contract after a 17-year struggle in North Carolina and other southern states. Today’s labor quote is by steelworker Randie Pearson “Union workers have a lot at stake in this election. Particularly the laws governing collective bargaining and the rights to form a union. We could see all of that go away in one day, in one vote.” Contract bargaining continues between IATSE 22 and the Kennedy Center, reports Local 22 president Chuck Clay.
Meanwhile, sister local IATSE 868 ratified a new deal at the Kennedy Center back in July that includes wage increases, advances in professional development opportunities, and Local 868’s logo included in the Kennedy Center playbills, which the local called “A small win but nice to be included.” In a related development, union members at Washington National Opera – now part of the Kennedy Center -- ratified a new contract in September, reports the American Guild of Musical Artists. Our complete report is at dclabor.org Phonebanks to turn out the labor vote in the upcoming election continue today at the AFL-CIO and at NoVA Labor. Details and all the latest local labor calendar listings are at dclabor.org; click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1648, the "Shoemakers of Boston"—the first labor organization in what would later become the United States—was authorized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1911, New York City agreed to pay women school teachers a rate equal to that of men. The IWW Colorado Mine strike took place on this date in 1927; it was the first time all coal fields were out. And in 1943, the United Packinghouse Workers of America was formed as a self-governing union, an outgrowth of the CIO's Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee. UPWA merged with the Meatcutters union in 1968, which merged with the Retail Clerks in 1979 to form the United Food and Commercial Workers, or UFCW, which now has 1.3 million members in the U.S. and Canada. Today’s labor quote is by UFCW shop steward Kevin Diale "When people come from other countries, even in small groups they should not feel alone. We're all Union. All brothers and sisters. We deserve better quality of life no matter where we came from." |
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