More than a thousand activists marched and danced through DC streets Monday as they made their way from the AFL-CIO to the offices of the US Trade Representative, where police re-routed traffic as the demonstrators made clear their opposition to the Fast Track trade legislation now being rushed through Congress. The usual contingents of union members were joined by young activists in town for the Populism2015 conference, who led the way with spirited chants and raised fists. Populist Jim Hightower cut to the core of the issue when he said that “The only thing you need to know about Fast Track is that they don’t want you to know about it!” Monday’s rally followed another well-attended rally on Capitol Hill last week, and opposition has been building across the country. NOVA Labor phone-bankers made over 1,000 calls to Congress last Saturday, and the phonebank will be open in Annandale all week.
Also on today's labor calendar, the DC Young Trade Unionists are holding an "after-summit" happy hour tonight at 6pm at Kelly's Irish Times, and there's a Just Hours Campaign Canvass starting at 6pm at the Archives Metro Station. Go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for complete details. In today's labor history, the Canadian Labour Congress was founded on this date in 1956 through a merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour, the two major union congresses in Canada at the time. The CLC represents the interests of more than three million affiliated workers. In 1980, Ida Mae Stull died; she was nationally recognized as the country’s first woman coal miner. And on this date in 1993, United Farm Workers of America founder Cesar Chavez died in San Luis, Arizona at the age of 66. Today's labor quote is by Cesar Chavez, who said: “The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.” Cesar Chavez, who also said that “You are never strong enough that you don't need help.”
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