Forward to a friend:
[link removed]

Area labor movement responds to coronavirus pandemic

MWC March meeting cancelled; election postponed

Nurses say CDC weakening containment protections

"Serious concerns" with government's response to coronavirus

Today's Labor Quote

Today's Labor History

[link removed] LABOR CALENDAR

Union City Radio: Weekdays, 7:15am - 7:20am
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; [link removed] click here to hear today's report

Film: "Brother Outsider" CANCELED: Sat, March 14
MWC Delegate Meeting CANCELED: Mon, March 16
Bread and Roses: "We Were There" CANCELED: Tue, March 17

Whether it's the latest news on how the labor movement is dealing with the coronavirus crisis or which union just organized a new workplace, Union City is your reliable source for labor news in the metro Washington area. Please help us build the DC area as a Union City by telling your friends and colleagues about us! Pass UC along or [link removed] sign folks up here. Thank you!

Area labor movement responds to coronavirus pandemic
The local impact of the coronavirus pandemic spread rapidly this week as the labor movement joined local authorities in canceling or postponing events and instituting measures to safeguard workers, their families and the community. As of Thursday, some international unions had shut down buildings; we'll attempt to get details and post updates on our [link removed] website and social media (follow us @dclabor on Twitter and Facebook); email mailto:[email protected] [email protected] with any information you have.

MWC March meeting cancelled; election postponed
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and in the paramount interest of protecting the Metropolitan Washington Council's affiliates and delegates, the National AFL-CIO has granted the MWC permission to cancel Monday's delegate meeting and to postpone the election that was scheduled to be held at that meeting. The AFL-CIO has directed Acting President Andrew Washington to convene a special emergency phone meeting of the MWC Executive Board next week in concert with the AFL-CIO to discuss options moving forward. Details on the date/time of that meeting will be forthcoming. "Please take all necessary precautions to protect yourselves, your families, colleagues and members as we work together to face and surmount this crisis," Washington urged. "Solidarity!"

Nurses say CDC weakening containment protections
National Nurses United held a national day of action Wednesday to protest the CDC's suggested containment measures for the coronavirus. The nurses accused the CDC of weakening containment protocols like rolling back protective equipment standards from N95 masks to regular surgical masks, not requiring virus patients to be quarantined and loosening protections for nurses taking respiratory samples from patients. "If nurses and health care workers aren't protected, that means patients and the public are not protected," said NNU executive director Bonnie Castillo. "This is a major public health crisis of unknown proportions."

"Serious concerns" with government's response to coronavirus
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 700,000 federal and D.C. government workers, earlier this week outlined workers' concerns with the government's response to the coronavirus. AFGE President Everett Kelley said that the union "has serious concerns regarding the health and safety of the federal workforce and with the administration's efforts to prevent, detect, and treat the Coronavirus." Among AFGE's chief concerns are worker safety, protective equipment, telework and hazardous duty pay. The union said that "agencies are not communicating with their workforces with enough information or to a degree that will allow them to protect themselves or the public in a timely manner to contain the spread of this virus." AFGE also urged Congress to insist that all federal government agencies formally give permission to employees who can perform their duties via telework to begin doing so immediately.
[link removed] TSA Employees' Union Calls on TSA to Provide Better Protection for Airport Security Screeners

Today's Labor Quote: Damon Silvers

Silvers, Policy Director at the AFL-CIO, in response to this week's stock market collapse and spreading Coronavirus epidemic, [link removed] wrote:

"What we don't need is the standard right-wing response to any and all problems--tax cuts for the rich. We need leadership and coordination among federal, state and local governments, between the U.S. government and the Fed and governments and central banks around the world, and with multinational bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Health Organization. We need that leadership now, because once fear becomes contagious, it may be the hardest thing to stop."

Today's Labor History

This week's [link removed] 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: [link removed] Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote

March 13
The term "rat," referring to a worker who betrays fellow workers, first appears in print in the New York Daily Sentinel. The newspaper was quoting a typesetter while reporting on replacement workers who had agreed to work for two-thirds of the going rate - 1830

A four-month UAW strike at General Motors ends with a new contract. The strikers were trying to make up for the lack of wage hikes during World War II - 1946

March 14
Henry Ford announced the new continuous motion method to assemble cars. The process decreased the time to make a car from 12½ hours to 93 minutes. Goodby, craftsmanship. Hello, drudgery - 1914

The Movie "Salt of the Earth" opens. The classic film centers on a long and difficult strike led by Mexican-American and Anglo zinc miners in New Mexico. Real miners perform in the film, in which the miners' wives - as they did in real life - take to the picket lines after the strikers are enjoined - 1954

March 15
Official formation of the Painters International Union - 1887

Supreme Court approves 8-Hour Act under threat of a national railway strike - 1917
Bituminous coal miners begin nationwide strike, demanding adoption of a pension plan - 1948

- David Prosten; photo courtesy [link removed] Picture This: California Perspectives on American History

[link removed]


<v:group xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" coordsize="278,156" coordorigin="0,0" href="[link removed]" style="width:278px;height:156px;">
<v:rect fill="t" stroked="f" style="position:absolute;width:278;height:156;">
<v:fill src="[link removed]" type="frame"/>
</v:rect>
<v:oval fill="t" strokecolor="#ffffff" strokeweight="3px" style="position:absolute;left:110;top:49;width:59;height:59">
<v:fill color="#ffffff" opacity="100%" />
</v:oval>
<v:shape coordsize="24,32" path="m,l,32,24,16,xe" fillcolor="#000000" stroked="f" style="position:absolute;left:131;top:63;width:21;height:30;" />
</v:group>



Material published in UNION CITY may be freely reproduced by any recipient; please credit Union City as the source.

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.

Story suggestions, event announcements, campaign reports, Letters to the Editor and other material are welcome, subject to editing for clarity and space; just click on the mail icon below. You can also reach us on Facebook and Twitter by clicking on those icons.

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

mailto:[email protected]

[link removed]


You are receiving this email because our records indicate that [link removed] [email protected] signed up to receive this newsletter. Click here to [link removed] edit your subscription preferences
To view our Privacy Policy: [link removed]