Welcome to Union City Radio for Wednesday, August 19. This is Chris Garlock, for the Metro Washington Council.
The 1992 film “Fast Food Women” has been nominated for consideration this year by the National Film Registry, which honors “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films.” The selected films are considered “works of enduring significance to American Culture.” Go to dclabor.org to show your support for this labor film classic, written and directed by Anne Lewis. “It means a lot to me in all kinds of ways and I am proud about this nomination,” Lewis says. “But it also means that the film will be preserved. I do think “Fast Food Women” remains current in the lives of fast food workers.” For the latest local labor news and updates, go to dclabor.org; for up-to-date listings for labor activities, click on calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: The first edition of the IWW’s Little Red Song Book was published on this date in 1909. In 1983, Phelps-Dodge copper miners in Arizona were confronted by tanks, helicopters, and hundreds of state troopers and National Guardsmen brought in to walk strikebreakers through picket lines in what was to become a failed 3-year fight by the Steelworkers and other unions. And on this date in 2005, more than 4,000 mechanics, cleaners and custodians, members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association at Northwest Airlines, struck over job security, pay cuts and work rule changes. The 14-month strike failed, with most union jobs lost to replacements and outside contractors. Today’s labor quote is by Angel Rodriguez, former president of Morenci Miners Local 616, explaining why his members belonged to the union: “The union became the vehicle for Mexican Americans to run for political office and win elections to city, county and school boards and in some cases, state offices. It instilled the value and importance of being registered and voting in elections to elect their supporters to public office. Membership in the union was an empowering experience that gave the miners and their families the ability to stand up and fight…What workers could accomplish once they felt the power a union could bring them!”
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