Tefere Gebre, the AFL-CIO's Executive Vice President, came to America when he was just 15 years old, escaping an authoritarian regime in Ethiopia as a political refugee. He walked for 93 days through the Sudanese desert to find freedom. Last week, on Martin Luther King Jr. remembrance day, Tefere shared this quote by Dr, King:
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Noting that "we’re coming off of an election that reminded us we still have considerable work ahead in the struggle for freedom and civil rights," Tefere said that "This is exactly the time that will require all of us to stand up in solidarity." Check out our coverage of last weekend's rallies and marches on our website at dclabor.org On today's labor calendar, the Metro Washington Council meets tonight at the AFL-CIO; all are welcome to attend the meeting, which begins at 6:30 pm. And at 7pm tonight, there's a rally for Earned Sick Days on Lawyers Mall in Annapolis. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1913, 10,000 clothing workers struck in my hometown of Rochester, New York for the 8 hour day, a 10% wage increase, union recognition, and extra pay for overtime and holidays. Daily parades were held throughout the clothing district and there was at least one instance of mounted police charging the crowd of strikers and arresting 25 picketers. Six people were wounded over the course of the strike and one worker, 18 year old Ida Breiman, was shot to death by a sweatshop contractor. The strike was called off in April after manufacturers agreed not to discriminate against workers for joining a union. Today’s labor quote is by Tefere Gebre “It doesn’t matter if you came in bondage as a slave into this country or you came generations ago as Eastern European to build cities like Chicago or New York. Or you were Chinese and built railroads in this country. Or a modern day immigrant who make our beds and clean the offices and build our highways or the refugee engineers remapping the country. That’s who we are and that is the sense of this country and that is worth fighting for. That is worth really speaking up for."
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Union City Radio is proud to be supported by UnionPlus, which has been working hard for union families since 1986.
Union City Radio is part of The Labor Radio/Podcast Network
Listen now...UC Radio airs weekdays at 7:15a on WPFW 89.3 FM; subscribe to the podcast here. |