Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock and the Employment Justice Center’s Amy Gellatly discuss worker rights with local activists/organizers and takes listener calls.
Guests on today’s show include Bill Cobb, who deals with the problems that come up on the job for people who have been in conflict with the criminal justice system, and Ritchie Brooks, president of Teamsters Local 730, where workers are fighting to keep their jobs at a local Safeway warehouse.
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A brand-new AFGE District 14 training effort for local union leadership launched last weekend. AFGE National Secretary-Treasurer Eugene Hudson opened Sunday's session by praising District 14 for taking on new ways of training and energizing the membership, and national president J. David Cox discussed New Deal programs, which helped create a safety net and move workers into the middle class but are now under attack. “Attend your classes, study hard, learn everything, and get re-energized to help us fight the good fight for workers and for their unions!” Cox urged.
On today's Labor Calendar, Find out more about your rights on the job today at 1pm on the "Your Rights At Work" call-in show right here on WPFW 89.3 FM. At 3:30pm, the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor hosts the Georgetown Just Employment Policy 10th Anniversary Celebration to celebrate Georgetown University's Just Employment Policy. And at 5pm, don’t miss the DC Suds & Solidarity happy hour, sponsored by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild's Local 32035. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1855, Eugene Victor Debs, labor leader, socialist, three-time candidate for president and first president of the American Railway Union, was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. In 1916, at least seven Wobblies were killed, 50 wounded and an unknown number went missing in the Everett, Washington massacre. And on this date in 2007, some 12,000 television and movie writers began what was to become a 3-month strike against producers over demands for an increase in pay for movies and television shows released on DVD and for a bigger share of the revenue from work delivered over the Internet. Today’s labor quote is by Gene Debs: “The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough.” Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe visited the IBEW Local 26 Joint Apprenticeship Training Center in Manassas last Saturday to proclaim this week the first "National Apprenticeship Week" in Virginia. The Governor followed the signing ceremony with a tour of the facility that included apprentices demonstrating switch lab work and conduit bending. Governor McAuliffe tried his hand at bending pipe and celebrated an “Excellent” grade from the instructors.
Go to dclabor.org to see photos from this event, including the governor bending pipe. On today's Labor Calendar, The AFL-CIO hosts a discussion of Ari Berman’s new book, “Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America” today at 12:30pm. And then at 4pm today, the Teamsters host the “Justice for Food Chain Workers” panel and reception, about McDonald’s exploitative impact along the food chain. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1879, populist humorist Will Rogers was born near Oologah, Indian Territory, which later became Oklahoma. In 1933, some 3,000 dairy farmers demonstrated in Neillsville, Wisconsin, ultimately leading to the freeing of jailed leaders of a milk strike over low prices set by large dairy plants. Tons of fresh milk were dumped on public roads, trains carrying milk were stopped, some cheese plants were bombed during the fight. And in 1996, after a struggle lasting more than two years, 6,000 Steelworkers members at Bridgestone/Firestone won a settlement in which strikers displaced by scabs got their original jobs back. The fight started when management demanded that the workers accept 12-hour shifts. Today’s labor quote is by Will Rogers: “I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.” Will Rogers, who also said, “Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.” The national movement to unionize part-time faculty at U.S. colleges and universities has secured an initial beachhead in the Baltimore area with ratification of a first contract between SEIU Local 500 and the Maryland Institute College of Art. It’s the first union contract for any bargaining unit of part-time faculty, or adjuncts, in the city’s greater metropolitan area, where thousands of such workers are employed at about a dozen similar private and public educational institutions. The overwhelming ratification vote of 91-7 came following a protracted contract negotiation initiated when a union organizing drive won collective bargaining rights for about 300 MICA adjuncts in April of last year. Go to dclabor.org to read the complete report from In These Times.
On today's Labor Calendar, NoVA Labor-to-Labor’s get-out-the-vote efforts are running all day today to turn out the union vote for today’ elections in Virginia; Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1921, striking milk drivers dumped thousands of gallons of milk on New York City streets. In 2009, some 5,000 Philadelphia-area public transit workers began what was to be a 6-day strike centered on wages and pension benefits. Today’s labor quote is by Walter Reuther: “There’s a direct relationship between the ballot box and the bread box, and what the union fights for and wins at the bargaining table can be taken away in the legislative halls.” Walter Reuther was an American labor union leader who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party and the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the mid 20th century. |
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