The American Federation of Teachers and the Washington Teachers Union are looking for volunteers to help get 40,000 free books to DC students, families, educators and librarians. They need help sorting the books today and distributing them tomorrow, and all eligible volunteers can pick up their share of free books at the end of their shift.
The big give-away, in partnership with First Books, takes place at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center at 701 Mississippi Ave Southeast. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Christine Curry at [email protected] or call 202-879-4496. Details on our website at dclabor.org. The weekend labor calendar is so full we can’t list everything, but here’s a quick run-down of some highlights: The play “Waiting for Lefty” wraps up its run this weekend at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, with performances tonight, tomorrow and Sunday; I saw it last weekend and it’s definitely worth seeing. "Confessions of a Theme Park Worker" continues at the Charm City Fringe Festival in Baltimore; There will be a number of actions against the Trans Pacific Partnership on Saturday and Sunday, cleverly called “Flush the TPP.” Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details on all these and more. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1909, 259 miners died in the underground Cherry Mine fire. As a result of the disaster, Illinois established stricter safety regulations and in 1911, the basis for the state’s Workers Compensation Act was passed. In 1972, striking typesetters at the Green Bay, Wisconsin Press Gazette started a competing newspaper, The Green Bay Daily News. With financial support from a local businessman who hated the Press Gazette, the union ran the paper for four years before their angel died and it was sold to another publisher. The Gannett chain ultimately bought the paper, only to fold it in 2005. And on this date in 1974, Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union activist Karen Silkwood was killed in a suspicious car crash on her way to deliver documents to a newspaper reporter during a safety investigation of her Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant in Oklahoma. Today’s labor quote is by Clifford Odets: “Everywhere now, men are rising from their sleep. Men -- men are understanding the bitter, black total of their lives. Their whispers are growing to shouts. They become an ocean of understanding. No man fights alone.” Odets wrote “Waiting for Lefty” and other plays.
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Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock and the Employment Justice Center’s Amy Gellatly discuss worker rights with local activists/organizers and take listener calls.
Guests on today’s show include Will Fischer, the executive director of the Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO and Mike Bassett, an active member of Veterans for Peace. Fischer is a Marine Corps veteran of the war in Iraq and a member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades DC 51; Bassett served for 10 years in the US Army, retiring as a staff sergeant in 2006 for service-related medical reasons. He has consulted on national veterans policy and worked to raise awareness of veterans’ reentry problems, especially homelessness and suicide. Today we’re launching a new regular feature in which we’ll be taking a look at the winners and losers of the week in the struggle for the rights of working families. The winners will be the people or organizations that go above and beyond to expand or protect the rights of working families or working people who have fought for or won a significant victory. The losers will be those who limit or deny those rights or the working people who have lost a right or a battle for expanding or keeping their rights.
This week’s winners are fast-food workers, for rallying at the Republican debate in Milwaukee on Tuesday in their continued fight for a $15 minimum hourly wage. The losers of the week are working people everywhere, after the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership was released and it was even worse than we thought. Today’s labor calendar is jam-packed; here’s a quick run-down: "The Real Cost of Food" workshop spotlights the enormous external costs of producing food, today from 10:30am – 12:00pm at American University; You can help sort free books for DC students today, any time between 12 noon and 5pm, at the Southeast Tennis & Learning Center; On today’s "Your Rights At Work" call-in show from 1-2pm on WPFW, we’ll host veterans talking about the challenges they face at work, and take your calls; From 5-7pm, catch "Confessions of a Theme Park Worker" at the Charm City Fringe Festival in Baltimore. And at 6 tonight, the Berger-Marks Foundation Awards Reception Honoring Young Women in Social Justice will be held at the National Press Club. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1954, Ellis Island closed after serving as the gateway for 12 million immigrants from 1892 to 1924. From 1924 to 1954 it was mostly used as a detention and deportation center for undocumented immigrants. In 1996, “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap announced he was restructuring the Sunbeam Corporation and laid off 6,000 workers—half the company’s workforce. Sunbeam later nearly collapsed after a series of scandals under Dunlap’s leadership that cost investors billions of dollars. Today’s labor quote is by Linda Foley, President of the Berger-Marks Foundation Board of Trustees, speaking about the 2015 Young Women in Social Justice award-winners: "We honor these young women for their steadfast commitment to workers' rights. Their strength in standing up in the workplace on behalf of all of their co-workers is a reminder that there is strength in numbers and young women can lead the way." (CWA 2336 rally audio) “Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? Veterans!”
CWA Local 2336 hosted a spirited rally honoring veterans Monday morning after a Verizon vice-president called Veteran’s Day “no big deal" when employees expressed concern about being overworked by being scheduled on this week’s holiday. “It’s disgraceful,” said Jessica Hunt, whose husband serves in the Coast Guard, and who joined the picketline of camo-clad members from area CWA locals waving American flags. Meanwhile, negotiations continue to inch along for a new contract for the nearly 40,000 CWA and IBEW members at Verizon whose previous contract expired August 1. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1887, the Haymarket martyrs -- George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, and August Spies -- were hanged, after being convicted in the bombing deaths of eight police during a Chicago labor rally for the eight-hour day. There’s evidence that most of the deaths were actually caused by police crossfire, and the trial was widely believed to have been a serious miscarriage of justice, strongly condemned by prominent people such as novelist William Dean Howells, celebrated attorney Clarence Darrow, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde and playwright George Bernard Shaw. In 1893, Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld signed pardons for the three remaining defendants, calling them victims of "hysteria, packed juries, and a biased judge." The Haymarket affair is generally considered the origin of the annual international May Day observances for workers. Today’s labor quote is by Albert Spies --, Haymarket martyr and an organizer of the 8-hour day movement: "If you think that by hanging us, you can stamp out the labor movement— the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil and live in want and misery—the wage slaves— if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here we will tread upon a spark, but there, and there, and behind you and in front of you, and everywhere, flames will blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out." |
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