Union City Radio for Monday, December 19, 2016

As anyone who lives here knows, our nation’s capital represents when it comes to displaying some serious yuletide spirit. When you’re not hunkering down against the cold with family, friends and loved ones, we invite you and your out of town visitors to take advantage of some truly enchanting holiday offerings featuring the work of area union members. From Charles Dickens' immortal "A Christmas Carol" at Ford’s Theatre to the National Symphony Orchestra performing Handel’s "Messiah" at the Kennedy Center or just a stroll through ZooLights at the National Zoo, there are options for all ages and price ranges, and we thank our D.C. union brothers and sisters for helping to make them all sparkle.
And last but not least, an excellent way to get around town is on our great—and all-union—Metro rail and bus system, which will get you where you need to go safely and inexpensively.
Check out our complete list of DC holiday offerings – and which unions are involved in each -- on our website at dclabor.org

On today's labor calendar,
The Metro Washington Labor Council Delegate Meeting is tonight at 6:30 at the AFL-CIO and at 7pm you can catch “Requiem for the American Dream” at the New Deal Café in Greenbelt's Roosevelt Center. The film features Noam Chomsky discussing inequality.
For the complete calendar and more details, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar.

Here’s today's labor history:
On this date in 1907, an explosion in the Darr Mine in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, killed 239 coal miners. Seventy-one of the dead share a common grave in Olive Branch Cemetery. December 1907 was the worst month in U.S. coal mining history, with more than 3,000 dead.
In 1921, the Supreme Court ruled that picketing was unconstitutional. Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft declared that picketing was, in part, "an unlawful annoyance and hurtful nuisance..."
And in 1983, a 47-day strike at Greyhound Bus Lines ended with members of the Amalgamated Transit Union accepting a new contract containing deep cuts in wages and benefits. Striker Ray Phillips died during the strike, run over on a picket line by a scab Greyhound trainee.

Today’s labor quote is by Abraham Lincoln
“I know the trials and woes of working men and I have always felt for them. I know that in almost every case of strikes, the men have a just cause for complaint.”