Hundreds of protesters flooded the plaza in front of the new Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue last Thursday, chanting and waving picket signs calling on the hotel owner – Donald J. Trump – to negotiate with workers at his Las Vegas hotel.
A huge banner reading “SHAME ON TRUMP” dwarfed the gilded Trump hotel sign as activists and leaders from what seemed like every union and local in the nation’s capital chanted “Up up with the workers, down down with Trump!” and “Hey Trump you can't hide, we can see your greedy side!” The picket was organized by the AFL-CIO and the Metro Washington Council to support workers at Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas whom Trump has refused to negotiate with despite their majority vote to join a union. A delegation attempted to deliver a letter calling on Trump to negotiate but were locked out of the posh 263-room hotel in the historic Old Post Office building. "Donald Trump you're rich and rude,” chanted the protesters. “We don't like your attitude." More protests against Trump around these worker issues are expected in the new few weeks; we'll keep you posted on our website at dclabor.org, where you'll also find all the latest local labor calendar listings, like tonight's Labor Council meeting at the AFL-CIO. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1814, a huge vat ruptured at a London brewery, setting off a domino effect of similar ruptures, and what was to become known as The London Beer Flood. Nearly 1.5 million liters of beer gushed into the streets drowning or otherwise causing the deaths of eight people, mostly poor people living in nearby basements. In 1939, labor activist Warren Billings was released from California's Folsom Prison. Along with Thomas J. Mooney, Billings had been pardoned for a 1916 conviction stemming from a bomb explosion during a San Francisco Preparedness Day parade. He had always maintained his innocence. And in 1950, the "Salt of the Earth" strike began by the mostly Mexican-American members of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union Local 890 in Bayard, New Mexico. Strikers' wives walked picket lines for seven months when their husbands were enjoined during the 14-month strike against the New Jersey Zinc Company. Today’s labor quote is from The Bible, Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."
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NOVA Labor is hosting its fifth annual Chili Cook-Off tomorrow. “Bring your crockpot of chili to the office, head out for a Labor 2016 walk and then come back and taste all of the different chili’s and vote for the best!” says NoVA Labor’s Dan Duncan. “We’ll provide the cornbread and fixin’s!”
Workers rights—specifically the freedom to form unions and freely assemble—are key to achieving human rights, according to a new United Nations report on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. The AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center is among the organizations that contributed to the research. “This report is a clear call to action to governments and employers to immediately recognize worker rights, and for the broader human rights community to advocate for them,” says Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau. On today’s local labor calendar, author Gabriel Thompson discusses his book “America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century” today at noon at the AFL-CIO, with special guest, Fred Ross Jr., and of course don’t miss NoVA Labor’s Get Out The Vote walk and annual Chili Cook-Off tomorrow; get details and the complete line-up of labor events at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Here’s this weekend’s labor history: On this date in 1883, the International Working People's Association was founded in Pittsburgh. On October 14, 2013, construction began on replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River, employing 8,000 building trades workers over the 5-year span of the job. On October 15, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Clayton Antitrust Act—often referred to as "Labor’s Magna Carta"—establishing that unions are not "conspiracies" under the law. And on October 16, 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded during the French Revolution; on that same date in 1859, abolitionist John Brown led an attack on the Harper's Ferry ammunition depot, the beginning of guerilla warfare against slavery. Today’s labor quote is by Marie Antoinette French Queen Marie Antoinette, who every schoolchild knows said “Let them eat cake” when she was told that the peasants were suffering from widespread bread shortages. In fact she never actually said that, but workers were, justifiably, ready to believe anything bad about their cold-hearted and out of touch royalty. Hosts: Chris Garlock and Ed Smith (back from Ireland!).
Please support WPFW – and this show – by making a generous contribution now; call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online at wpfwfm.org. Thanks! Guests: Gabriel Thompson, author, “America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century.” Raised by conservative parents who hoped he would “stay with his own kind,” Fred Ross instead became one of the most influential community organizers in America’s history. Ross recruited and trained César Chávez and Dolores Huerta as organizers. They, in turn, went on to found and lead the United Farm Workers. Ross remained a close ally of Chávez and the UFW. Throughout his life, Ross championed Dust Bowl migrants, worked for the release of interned Japanese Americans and dedicated his life to building the political power of Latinos across California. Thompson has produced the only biography of Ross, providing a full picture of this complicated and driven man and offering vital lessons for organizers today. Thompson speaks on Friday, Oct. 14, at 12 p.m., AFL-CIO, Presidents Room, 815 16th St., NW Washington, D.C. With special guest, son Fred Ross Jr., IBEW Local 1245 organizing director. FROM THE CAP FILES: The Case of the Engineer Who Worked Late With Lolita Martin of the Claimant Advocacy Program. A building engineer who was removed from a contract won his unemployment compensation hearing after the Claimant Advocacy Program argued his case. Find out why. Labor Song: Working Man’s Blues - Bob Dylan, in honor of Dylan being awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature today. If Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wants to create good jobs, he can start with his Las Vegas hotel. That’s the message of a major noontime picket today at the Trump hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. Workers at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas recently voted to unionize, “But," says Elizabeth Bunn, Director of Organizing at the AFL-CIO, "hotel management and Donald Trump have made it clear they would rather waste time and money on a hostile anti-union campaign then give workers fair pay and good benefits.” Metro Council Executive Director Carlos Jimenez reports that “We’ve been hearing from locals and internationals across the city that they’ll be there with us today to tell Donald Trump to sit down and negotiate with workers at his hotel in Las Vegas. Let's send Trump a strong message from the nation's capital!"
Complete details on today's picketline -- 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 1934, the American Federation of Labor voted to boycott all German-made products as a protest against Nazi antagonism to organized labor within Germany. In 1985, more than 1,100 office workers struck Columbia University in New York City. The mostly female and minority workers won union recognition and pay increases. In 1998, the National Basketball Association canceled regular season games for the first time in its 51-year history, during a player lockout that lasted 204 days. Player salaries and pay caps were the primary issue. And on this date in 2000, hundreds of San Jose Mercury News newspaper carriers ended a 4-day walkout with victory. Today’s labor quote is by Kenneth Bernstein "Without unions, workers will lose many of the protections against abusive employers. Wages for all will be depressed, even as corporate profits soar. The American Dream will be destroyed for millions. And we will have a government of the corporations, by the already powerful, for the wealthy." Teacher and blogger Kenneth Bernstein spoke out in a 2011 CNN.com opinion piece on the Wisconsin measure to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights. |
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