Jackie Jeter has been a pioneer at Transit Workers Local 689 and last night she blazed a new trail when she was elected president of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO, becoming the first woman to head the DC labor organization.
Tefere Gebre, Executive Vice-President of the AFL-CIO, praised Jeter’s election as a signal that organized labor leaders are becoming more reflective of the workers they represent. “Jackie Jeter is well known as a fearless and determined leader who keeps the interests of working people uppermost in all she does,” Gebre said. Jeter, elected unanimously at the Metro Council along with a 25-member Executive Board, said that “Our board represents the best of two worlds: battle-tested veterans and new leaders eager to take up the fight. Together, we can make a real difference for working people in our region.” The Metro Council includes nearly 200 affiliated local unions representing a broad cross-section of 150,000 area workers, from athletes to writers, government workers to the construction trades in the metro Washington area. On today's labor calendar, CWA 2108 is holding a "Verizon has Labor Pains" picket today starting at 8am in front of Verizon at 13100 Columbia Pike in Silver Spring. Then at 11am, catch a free performance of “We Were There” featuring a cast of local women leaders and activists at the AFL-CIO. For complete details, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1886, Mark Twain, a lifelong member of the International Typographical Union – which is now part of CWA -- spoke in Hartford, Connecticut, extolling the Knights of Labor’s commitment to fair treatment of all workers, regardless of race or gender. In 1990, a 32-day lockout of major league baseball players ended with an agreement to raise the minimum league salary from $68,000 to $100,000 and to study revenue-sharing between owners and players, And in 1998, a bitter six-and-a-half-year UAW strike at Caterpillar ended. The strike and settlement, which included a two-tier wage system and other concessions, deeply divided the union. Today’s labor quote is by Mark Twain “It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.”
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. |