LABOR CALENDAR
Union City Radio: Weekdays, 7:15am – 7:20am
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear
DC City Council candidate interviews (DC COPE): Wed, March 11, 10am – 4pm
Open to MWC affiliates and delegates, but you must RSVP here
National Capital Area Union Retirees Club (NCAURC): Wed, March 11, 10:30am – 12:00pm
Women’s National Democratic Club (1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW)
Can Our Immigration System Be Fixed? If So, How?: Wed, March 11, 11:30am – 1:30pm
The Whittemore House, 1526 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036
Picket Line at Marriott Waterfront Baltimore: Wed, March 11, 3pm – 5pm
Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, 700 Aliceanna Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202
UNITE HERE 7
EVENING WITH LABOR: Sat, April 4, 7pm – 11pm
Martin's Crosswinds, 7400 Greenway Center Drive, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Order tickets here and/or email [email protected]
Hotel workers win new CBA at Hilton Baltimore; union turns focus to Marriott
After union members waged an aggressive contract campaign, UNITE HERE Local 7 reports that the Hyatt Regency Baltimore and the Hilton Baltimore have agreed to go to $15.00/hour for the lowest paid classifications this year. This is the result of all non-tipped classifications going up by $1.66/hour by December 1, 2020. Other highlights include contributions to the IUOE and the UNITE HERE training and education funds and a larger share of the service charge for banquet workers. The Hilton and Hyatt workers are represented by UNITE HERE Local 7 and IUOE Local 37. Hilton workers ratified the new agreement on March 4th, 190-3. Hyatt workers ratified their new contract in October 2019. “Now we need the Marriott Waterfront to match this standard!” says Local 7’s Roxie Herbekian. Marriott Waterfront workers will picket this Thursday; see Calendar.
2020 Evening with Labor Update re Coronavirus
Plans for the 2020 Evening with Labor – scheduled for Saturday, April 4 at Martin’s Crosswinds – are proceeding. “The Metro Washington Council is closely monitoring the status of the Coronavirus outbreak and consulting with health officials on an ongoing basis with the safety of EWL attendees and the community our highest priority,” said EWL Chair George Farenthold. Updates will be posted on our website, Twitter and Facebook.
Order your Evening with Labor tickets by downloading the order form here or email [email protected] or call 202-974-8153.
House passes legislation to grant TSA officers equal workplace rights
New legislation that would grant Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) equal workplace rights passed the House last Thursday. The “Rights for Transportation Security Officers Act” (H.R. 1140) would extend full collective bargaining rights to TSOs and ensure the nation’s airport security officers have the same workplace protections as other federal workers. “This is a huge win for the hardworking women and men who risk their lives to ensure we reach our travel destinations safely,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “For years, our union and our TSA activists have worked tirelessly to get the much-needed workplace protections they deserve.” The White House has threatened to veto the legislation if it reaches the president’s desk. AFGE represents 45,000 TSA officers nationwide, and has been fighting for fair pay, labor protections, and benefits for TSOs since the agency’s creation.
Today's Labor Quote: Eugene Debs
The working class who make the sacrifices, who shed the blood, have never yet had a voice in declaring war. The ruling class has always made the war and made the peace.
On this date in 1919, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the espionage conviction of labor leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs. Debs was jailed for speaking out against World War I. Campaigning for president from his Atlanta jail cell, he won 6 percent of the vote.
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Neutron Jack, Joker and Parasite
Labor historian Joe McCartin on “Neutron Jack” Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, who died last week; Sherry Linkon on class conflict in two recent award-winning movies, Joker and Parasite. Plus music from SongRise, a DC-based women's social justice a cappella group.
Last week’s show: Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote
March 9
The Westmoreland County (Pa.) Coal Strike – known as the "Slovak strike" because some 70 percent of the 15,000 strikers were Slovakian immigrants – begins on this date and continues for nearly 16 months before ending in defeat. Sixteen miners and family members were killed during the strike - 1912
Spurred by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the U.S. Congress begins its 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation. Just one of many programs established to help Americans survive the Great Depression: The Civilian Conservation Corps, which put 2.5 million young men on the government payroll to help in national conservation and infrastructure projects - 1933
Work begins on the $8 billion, 800-mile-long Alaska Oil pipeline connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to the sea port at Valdez. Tens of thousands of people worked on the pipeline, enduring long hours, cold temperatures, and brutal conditions. At least 32 died on the job - 1974
March 10
New York City bus drivers, members of the Transport Workers Union, go on strike. After 12 days of no buses – and a large show of force by Irish-American strikers at the St. Patrick’s Day parade – Mayor Fiorello La Guardia orders arbitration - 1941
United Farm Workers leader César Chávez breaks a 24-day fast, by doctor’s order, at a mass in Delano, California’s public park (photo). Several thousand supporters are at his side, including Sen. Robert Kennedy. Chavez called it “a fast for non-violence and a call to sacrifice” - 1968
- David Prosten; photo courtesy Picture This: California Perspectives on American History
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Published by the Metropolitan Washington Council, an AFL-CIO "Union City" Central Labor Council whose 200 affiliated union locals represent 150,000 area union members.
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