Earlier this week, December 22nd marked the one-year anniversary of the longest government shutdown in US history, a thirty-five day work stoppage that affected nearly a million government workers. The shutdown -- the third during the Trump administration -- affected about one-fourth of government activities, locking out hundreds of thousands of workers while others were forced to work without pay. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the shutdown cost the American economy at least $11 billion dollars.
On this week’s Labor History Today podcast, Patrick Dixon speaks with Gregory Guthrie, president of Local 1627 of the National Federation of Federal Employees about what he witnessed a year ago. You can find Labor History Today wherever you listen to podcasts; just search for Union City Radio. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1869, the Knights of Labor was founded. Its Constitution bars from membership “parasites,” including stockbrokers and lawyers. Today’s labor quote is from "Song for the Knights of Labor" from the "Iron & Gold" historical musical: All through this world of beauty and woe One simple law the centuries show: Our Maker's decree If Maker there be Labor must reap what labor does sow. Labor must reap what labor does sow. Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. They’ve got a credit card with 24/7 U.S.-based phone customer service, competitive rates, AND exclusive benefits for union members. Join 700,000 union members who’re using the Union Plus Credit Card Program. Find out more at theunioncard.com.
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Not to be a Scrooge, but despite cheery carols bringing tidings of comfort and joy, Christmas is a pretty stressful time of year for a lot of workers; I’m thinking about the retail workers whose stores opened at midnight on Thanksgiving to get a jump on Black Friday. Or the postal workers and letter carriers slammed with the last-minute holiday rush.
Then there’s Santa Claus. You know him as a jolly fellow bearing gifts but he actually began hundreds of years ago as a monk named St. Nicholas who gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. And if you stop and consider Santa’s modern incarnation of delivering gifts overnight worldwide to everyone’s home, doesn’t that sound a lot like Amazon? It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Amazon makes its workers wear elf hats while they dash madly about those huge warehouses. But there I go channeling Scrooge again. On this week’s Labor History Today podcast, professor Kathy Newman argues that it was the working class that invented Christmas and many of the traditions that are associated with the holiday season. You can find Labor History Today wherever you listen to podcasts, just search for Union City Radio. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1910, a dynamite bomb destroyed a portion of the Llewellyn Ironworks in Los Angeles, where a bitter strike was in progress. Today’s labor quote is by Kathy Newman, from the Labor History Today podcast "So many Christmas stories are about capitalism and are about work and are often about some kind of hard-hearted employer. Having a change of heart and seeing the light, uh, getting into the Christmas spirit and realizing that people actually need to rest during the holidays." Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. They’ve got a credit card with 24/7 U.S.-based phone customer service, competitive rates, AND exclusive benefits for union members. Join 700,000 union members who’re using the Union Plus Credit Card Program. Find out more at theunioncard.com. Leadership at Food & Water Action, and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Watch, have agreed to voluntarily recognize their staff’s union with the Nonprofit Professionals Employee Union.
The workers said that “We believe that a union will allow us to truly live up to our values; will give us a tangible way to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace; and will show the rest of the world how truly invested we are in the right of workers to make a fair living on a livable planet.” Nearly 80 workers from many parts of the country will be in the union. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1913, 72 striking copper miners’ children died in a panic caused by a company stooge at Calumet, Michigan, who shouted “fire” up the stairs into a crowded hall where the children had gathered. They were crushed against closed doors when they tried to flee. Today’s labor quote is by Woody Guthrie, from his song “1913 Massacre”: The piano played a slow funeral tune, And the town was lit up by a cold Christmas moon, The parents they cried and the miners they moaned, "See what your greed for money has done." Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. They’ve got a credit card with 24/7 U.S.-based phone customer service, competitive rates, AND exclusive benefits for union members. Join 700,000 union members who’re using the Union Plus Credit Card Program. Find out more at theunioncard.com. A majority of Southern Poverty Law Center staff across 11 offices in five states and Washington D.C. have voted to join the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. "We celebrate this momentous victory, which comes after nearly nine months of tireless organizing,” said the SPLC Union Organizing Committee.
"This is a historic moment in the history of the Southern Poverty Law Center,” they said, “and in the history of labor organizing in the Deep South.” The SPLC Union is the third largest unit in the Washington-Baltimore News Guild and the union’s largest non-profit unit. For the latest labor calendar listings, go to dclabor.org, and click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1908, officers of the American Federation of Labor were found in contempt of court for urging a labor boycott of Buck's Stove and Range Company in St Louis, Missouri, where the Metal Polishers were striking for a 9-hour day. Today’s labor quote is by Claudia Golinelli, an electrician featured in the film “Building the American Dream,” which we screened in the DC LaborFest and which reveals shocking truths about the hardworking immigrants who build the American Dream, from which they are excluded. Claudia Golinelli, who said: “I hope this story makes people feel empowered and it makes those people that are going through the same situation feel like they have the power to speak up.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. They’ve got a credit card with 24/7 U.S.-based phone customer service, competitive rates, AND exclusive benefits for union members. Visit theunioncard.com and find out why 700,000 union members are part of the Union Plus Credit Card Program. theunioncard.com; tell ‘em Chris sent you! |
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