Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock and DCNA's Ed Smith discuss worker rights with local activists/organizers and take listener calls.
Today's guests are UFCW 400's Jonathan Williams and DC Jobs with Justice's Ari Schwartz, discussing the “Hours and Scheduling Stability Act" -- AKA “Just Hours” -- legislation introduced this week in DC City Council to begin to curb abusive scheduling practices by giving retail workers advance notice of their schedules, stopping on-call practices, and promoting full-time work opportunities by offering available hours to current employees before new ones are hired.
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Grammy-nominated West African band Cheick Hamala Diabate headlines the Renters Alliance “Building Community” celebration tonight at The Fillmore in Silver Spring. "Workers everywhere are under increasing financial pressure, especially from rising housing costs," says Gino Renne, president of UFCW Local 1994. "Workers who live in rental housing deserve quality homes that are affordable and free from code violations. " Tickets range from $25 to $125 but no-one will be turned away. "Everyone is welcome regardless of their ability to buy a ticket," say Renters Alliance event organizers. "It's a fundraiser, but it's also a big party."
On today’s labor calendar, we’ll take your calls on the "Your Rights At Work" call-in radio show here on WPFW 89.3 FM from 1– 2pm; At 5pm grab a beer – or your favorite beverage – at this month’s DC Suds & Solidarity at The Big Hunt, 1345 Connecticut Avenue Northwest; And at 6pm Pride at Work hosts their 6th annual Celebrating Solidarity reception at the AFL-CIO, 815 16th St NW. Then at 7pm the NoVA Young Emerging Labor Leaders meet in Annandale. Complete details at dclabor.org; click on calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1866, textile strikers won the 10-hour day in Fall River, Massachusetts. In 1867, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance setting an 8-hour workday for all city employees. In 1946, a general strike began in Oakland, California, started by female department store clerks. In 1984, at least four thousand people died, and possibly as many as 20,000, in one of the largest industrial disasters on record. It happened in Bhopal, India, when poisonous methyl isocyanate (i-so-si-a-nat) was released into the atmosphere at a Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant. The results of investigations by Union Carbide and the government were never released to the public; one authoritative independent study laid blame at the feet of Union Carbide for its failures on training, staffing, safety and other issues. And on this date in 2001, arrests began in Middleton, New Jersey of teachers striking in violation of a no-strike law. Ultimately 228 educators were jailed for up to seven days before they were released following the Middleton Township Education Association's agreement to take the dispute to mediation. Today’s labor quote is by Lawrence Sullivan, secretary of the Greater Boston Labor Council: “The only rights we have are the rights other people give us. We are not born with rights. All rights are conditional. They are not absolute. You have to earn your rights or fight for them.” With Black Lives Matter and labor activists, including Carmen Berkley, Bill Fletcher and more.
Three years ago last week, 112 Bangladesh garment workers were killed in a deadly fire that swept through the Tazreen factory. Hundreds of survivors are still too injured to work and cannot support their families. In interviews with the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, some survivors say the world has forgotten them. Read their stories and find out how Solidarity Center fire safety trainings are enabling garment workers to take steps to make their workplaces safe at solidaritycenter.org
On today’s labor calendar, join New America President Anne-Marie Slaughter and AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler at 9:30am for a conversation about how we can leverage lessons from the largest working women’s organization in America to improve wages and standards for all Americans. Complete details at dclabor.org. click on calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1954, the U.S. Senate voted, 65-22, to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy, Republican of Wisconsin, for, quote, “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.” McCarthy was a rabid anti-Communist who falsely accused thousands of Americans, mostly people who supported labor, civil rights and other progressive causes, of being traitors. In 2009, court documents filed in Boston said that Walmart had agreed to pay $40 million to more than 87,000 Massachusetts employees who claimed the retailer denied them rest and meal breaks, manipulated time cards and refused to pay overtime. Today’s labor quote is by Senator J. William Fulbright, in his speech in the Senate on McCarthyism on February 2, 1954: “When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled. It has no apparatus to deal with the boor, the liar, the lout, and the anti-democrat in general.” |
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