One hundred years have passed since a firing squad at the Utah State Penitentiary executed Joe Hill at sunrise on Nov. 19, 1915, but the legendary union organizer’s memory and legacy are still very much alive. Joe Uehlein and the U-Liners will pay tribute to the labor martyr and folk hero tonight at 7p at the Takoma Park Busboys and Poets. The DC Labor FilmFest has also put together a playlist on its YouTube Channel with an inspiring collection of performances of songs by and about Joe Hill, sung by everyone from Bruce Springsteen, Paul Robeson, Joan Baez and Phil Ochs to a whole new generation of singers who are carrying Hill's torch forward. Find it at MetroDClabor. There are also still tickets available to next Monday night’s “Joe Hill’s Last Will,” a one-man musical play written by Si Kahn, starring John McCutcheon as Joe Hill, 7:30p at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Rockville. Go to dclabor.org for complete details.
On today’s labor calendar, Kent Wong will discuss "Dreams Deported: Immigrant Youth and Families Resist Deportation," the latest book from the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, today at noon at the AFT. Then at 1pm, tune in to this week’s "Your Rights At Work" Call-in Radio Show here on WPFW 89.3 FM as Ed Smith and I take your calls. This week's guest will be AFL-CIO International Affairs Director Cathy Feingold, who will talk about the TPP trade deal and worker rights. And at 7 tonight Joe Uehlein and the U-Liners celebrate the music and life of Joe Hill at the Takoma Park Busboys and Poets. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1915, Joe Hill, labor leader and songwriter, was executed in Utah on what many believe was a framed charge of murder. Born in 1879 in Sweden, Hill sang with his family and played piano at a local cafe. After immigrating to the U.S., he worked in a variety of jobs as he moved westward. He became an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the "Wobblies," and, borrowing popular melodies from church and Tin Pan Alley songs, Hill wrote biting songs denouncing the bosses and praising the virtues of labor solidarity. Among his best-known are “Preacher and the Slave,” “Casey Jones--the Union Scab,” “There is Power in a Union,” and “The Rebel Girl.” Hill was arrested in 1914 in Salt Lake City and charged with murder in a grocery store robbery. After being convicted in an atmosphere of anti-union hysteria, he was condemned to death despite international pleas for clemency. On November 19, 1915, Hill was executed by firing squad; thirty thousand people attended his funeral in Chicago. The IWW placed his ashes in envelopes which they sent around the world to be released to the winds on May 1, 1916. In his 2011 biography of Hill, William M. Adler uncovered never-before published documentary evidence that comes as close as one can to definitively exonerating Hill. Today’s labor quote is by Joe Hill: “A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over. And I maintain that if a person can put a few common sense facts into a song and dress them up in a cloak of humor, he will succeed in reaching a great number of workers who are too unintelligent or too indifferent to read.” Joe Hill, who said: My will is easy to decide, For there is nothing to divide. My kin don't need to fuss and moan -- "Moss does not cling to a rolling stone." My body? — Oh! — If I could choose, I would to ashes it reduce, And let the merry breezes blow My dust to where some flowers grow. Perhaps some fading flower then Would come to life and bloom again. This is my last and final will. Good luck to all of you. [Joe Hill]
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There was no UCR for this date due to the Pacifica fundraiser programming.
It’s getting chilly out there but you can give the gift of warmth by donating your new or slightly used coat to the Vietnam Veterans of America’s Winter Coat Drive for homeless men and women veterans. Find out more on the Community Services Agency’s page online at dclabor.org
On today’s labor calendar, there’s a Flush the TPP Rising International Solidarity march at 11am at Dupont Circle. Then at 5pm catch “Fighting for Total Person Unionism,” a book talk and signing at GW’s Gelman Library. Also at 5 today, there’s a free screening of the film “The Enemy Within,” about one of the most dramatic events in British history, the 1984-85 Miners' Strike. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who led the 1989 Pittston strike, will introduce the film at the AFL-CIO. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1916, to the huge relief of Post Office Department employees, the service set a limit of 200 pounds a day to be shipped by any one customer. Builders were finding it cheaper to send supplies via post than via wagon freight. In one instance, 80,000 bricks for a new bank were shipped parcel post from Salt Lake City to Vernal, Utah, 170 miles away. The new directive also barred the shipment of humans: a child involved in a couple’s custody fight was shipped—for 17¢—from Stillwell to South Bend, Ind., in a crate labeled “live baby.” And in 1947, with many U.S. political leaders gripped by the fear of communism and questioning citizen loyalties in the years following World War II, the Screen Actors Guild voted to force its officers to take a “non-communist” pledge. A few days earlier the Hollywood Ten had been called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Today’s labor quote is by Arthur Scargill, president of the National Union of Mineworkers in Britain: “We could surrender - or stand and fight.” Last week’s court decision in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a series of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and stalled relief for millions of working people.
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said that the decision was not a surprise, “but it is a disappointing reminder of how long the struggle for justice can take. As we so often say in our movement, however, each day longer makes us one day stronger.” Around the country, Trumka said, courageous men and women are organizing for change from the ground up. “The labor movement stands proudly with all working people who are brave enough to take action to improve conditions on the job or in their community. We will continue to push all branches of government to strengthen protections for those who exercise their most fundamental rights, including the right to live and work without the fear of being separated from their families.” On today’s labor calendar, there’s a “Flush the TPP” march and rally at the Chamber of Commerce from 4:30pm – 6:00pm, and then at 6:30pm get the latest local labor news and updates at the Metro Washington Council Delegate Meeting, at the AFL-CIO headquarters at 16th and I Streets. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1927, a county judge in Punxutawney, Pennsylvania, granted an injunction requested by the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Company forbidding strikers from speaking to strikebreakers, posting signs declaring a strike was in progress, or even singing hymns. In 1982, the National Football League Players Association ended a 57-day strike that shortened the season to nine games. The players wanted, but failed to win until many years later, a higher share of gross team revenues. Today’s labor quote is by the Occupy Wall St. movement: “The one thing we all have in common is that we are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.” |
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