With its headquarters in downtown DC at 6th and F Streets, staff and members of the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers see hunger and homelessness on the streets of the nation’s capitol first-hand every day.
That’s a big reason the Bricklayers participate in the Holiday Basket Program now underway, organized by the Metro Washington Council’s Community Services Agency. "It's about strengthening and uplifting our communities,” said Bricklayers Executive Board Secretary Bobbie Haut last week when she and her colleagues Susan Flaherty and Mark Callis dropped off donations.
Find out how you can help this holiday season; we have details on our website at dclabor.org.

On this weekend’s labor calendar, do not miss the DC Labor Chorus 20th Anniversary Concert this Saturday, December 1, 7:30pm at the Tommy Douglas Conference Center in Silver Spring. Admission is free and so is the solidarity; I know I’ll be there! Details at dclabor.org, click on Calendar.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1854, “Fighting Mary” Eliza McDowell, also known as the “Angel of the Stockyards,” was born in Chicago. As a social worker she helped organize the first women’s local of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1902.

Today’s labor quote is from “None of Us Are Free” by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, and Brenda Russell, performed here by the DC Labor Chorus:
None of us are free
None of us are free, if one of us are chained
None of us are free
It's a simple truth we all need, just to hear and to see
None of us are free, if one of us is chained
None of us are free

Union City Radio is supported by Union Plus, which offers Retiree Health Care Medicare options for union members and their families. Check out unionplus.org

Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM 
 
Hosted by Chris Garlock, Damon Silvers and Ed Smith
DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them. 

On today’s show:
Hour 1
Jane Love, Associate Executive Director, Washington - Mid Atlantic Local, SAG-AFTRA on the BBH strike.
Plus Damon Silvers discusses the GM plant closings and clips from this week’s AFL-CIO ‘State of the Unions’ podcast. 
Plus: Daddy What Did You Do In The Strike: Ewan MacColl 
​
Hour 2 
The D.C. Council's rushed deal to put a new hospital in Ward 8 and the effects on hospital workers and patients.
Guests:
Yahnae Barner, Vice President 1199 SEIU
David Dzidzienyo, Politcal Director, Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO
William Kennedy Smith, Chairman AMC, Ward 2A
Plus: A Change Is Gonna Come: Leela James 

Produced by Chris Garlock and Peter Pocock; engineered by "Magic Mike" Nasella

In the proposed Stop WALMART Act, WALMART stands for Welfare for Any Large Monopoly Amassing Revenue from Taxpayers.
Introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Ro Khanna of California, the Act would prohibit large employers from purchasing stock buybacks for shareholders unless they meet basic criteria for workers— a $15-dollar starting wage for all employees, the ability for all employees to earn up to seven days paid sick leave and limiting CEO compensation to no more than 150 times the median pay of all employees.

On today’s labor calendar, support SAG-AFTRA's strike against BBH today at 12:30; meet at the entrance to the Smithsonian Metro Station, Then at 1, tune in for this week’s edition of “Your Rights At Work” right here on WPFW when we’ll discuss the effects on workers of the proposal for George Washington Hospital to take over the United Medical Center.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1934, clerks, teamsters and building service workers at Boston Stores in Milwaukee went out on strike at the beginning of the Christmas rush. The strike won widespread support—at one point 10,000 pickets jammed the sidewalks around the main store—but ultimately was lost. Workers returned to the job in mid-January with a small pay raise and no union recognition.

Today’s labor quote is by Dennis Hale, the sole survivor of the SS Daniel J. Morrell, a freighter that broke in two during a strong storm on Lake Huron in 1966. Twenty-eight of its 29 crewmen died; Hale was found the next day, near frozen and floating in a life raft with the bodies of three of his crewmates. He had survived for nearly 40 hours in frigid temperatures wearing only a pair of boxer shorts, a lifejacket, and a pea coat. Dennis Hale, who said:
"I think somehow I give people a little hope in life, that life is a struggle, but if you have faith and determination you can go through life and come out ahead."

Union City Radio is supported by Union Plus, which offers Retiree Health Care Medicare options for union members and their families. Check out unionplus.org

Workers at the Center for Public Integrity have just joined the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. CPI, one the country’s oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations, agreed to voluntarily recognize the union.
CPI’s mission is to serve democracy by revealing abuses of power, corruption and betrayal of public trust by powerful public and private institutions using the tools of investigative journalism.

In today’s labor history, on this date in 1953, some 400 New York City photoengravers working for the city’s newspapers, supported by 20,000 other newspaper unionists, began what would become an 11-day strike, shutting down the papers.

Today’s labor quote is by William Sylvis, founder of the National Labor Union, born on this date in 1828. The National Labor Union was organized in Baltimore in August 1866 and demanded the adoption of the 8-hour day, the establishment of producer cooperatives, and the right for wage-earners to organize unions.
William Sylvis, who said:
"Single-handed we can accomplish nothing; but united there is no power of wrong we may not openly defy."  

Union City Radio is supported by Union Plus, which offers Retiree Health Care Medicare options for union members and their families. Check out unionplus.org