LABOR CALENDAR
Union City Radio: 7:15am – 7:20am daily (now including weekends!)
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report
Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, March 26, 1pm – 2pm
WPFW 89.3 FM or listen online
Guests: DC Councilmember Elissa Silverman; Damon Silvers, AFL-CIO director of policy and special counsel; Tim Sheard, author of the Lenny Moss mysteries.
Arlington Dems Labor Caucus (via Zoom!): Thu, March 26, 6:30pm – 7:30pm
“It’s no joke”: a DC fire fighter’s COVID-19 warning
”We get cats out of trees, we go on gas leaks…shootings…infectious control cases. We go to fires, we go to collapses…we're probably the only agency that is consistently on every type of incident. That's just the nature of the beast.” That’s Dabney Hudson, president of Fire Fighters Local 36, which represents nearly 1,700 DC fire fighters and first responders. These are folks who deal with crises every day, so Union City asked Dabney yesterday for advice on how to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. “One of my buddies at the international lives up near Meridian Hill Park and we were texting back and forth on Friday and he’s like ‘You wouldn't believe it. There's 200 people out here in workout clothes, drinking wine in the middle of the park.’ The social distancing thing is huge; this stuff does spread. It is no joke.” Listen to Dabney on this morning’s Union City Radio and we’ll have more of our conversation on this week’s edition of Your Rights At Work, today at 1 o’clock on WPFW 89.3FM.
Who’s Zooming who?
Zoom videoconferencing is sweeping the nation – and the labor movement -- but are you doing it right? The tech experts at Wired have put together this handy guide to help you get the most out of the videoconferencing solution, including how to share your screen and troubleshoot a bad connection.
MWC COVID-19 UPDATES
Unemployment Insurance: click here for the latest helpful information on UI, including DC Council member Elissa Silverman's Unemployment Insurance page (and tune in to Your Rights At Work at 1p today on WPFW 89.3FM, when Silverman will be a guest).
CSA: latest resource updates posted here, including a new page in Spanish and a link to Jobs with Justice DC COVID-19 Resources.
Legislative updates: click here for the latest updates, including historic $2 trillion stimulus deal and DC Mayor Bowser orders closure of non-essential businesses.
Donde conseguir ayuda durante COVID-19
En respuesta a la crisis COVID-19, CSA ha lanzado una pagina de web con información y recursos en español para los trabajadores hispanos de la region. La pagina incluye donde y como reclamar sus beneficios de salud remunerada y desempleo, sus derechos y otros recursos utiles para el trabajador y su familia durante la emergencia.
CSA response to Covid-19: Check out our brand new web page for Spanish-speaking workers in the region. The page includes information and resources useful for union workers and their families during the duration of the crisis. Please share widely!
Solidarity Center Report: COVID-19: Unions Mobilize around the WorldIn Central America, maquila workers are challenging employer attempts to use the coronavirus as a way to cut wages, layoff workers and even stop worker efforts to form unions. Across the Middle East and North Africa, unions and worker associations are mobilizing to educate workers about their rights during the COVID-19 crisis, provide them with resources to protect themselves and their families, and push for fair treatment at the workplace. Find out more about how workers and their unions are taking action around COVID-19 at the Solidarity Center.
Today's Labor Quote: Jean Ross
“We don’t want to see a health care system devoid of health care workers.”
Ross, the president of National Nurses United, was warning of the risk to our nation if nurses don’t get the protective equipment they need.
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: COVID-19: An injury to one is the concern of all
Al Neal’s “Silent streets: Life halts, but not for all workers,” and Joe McCartin on “Class and the Challenge of COVID-19.” Plus Saul Schniderman and John O’Connor remember the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.
Last week’s show: The Great Postal Strike, Watergate and “Casey Jones, the Union Scab”
San Francisco brewery workers begin a 9-month strike as local employers follow the union-busting lead of the National Brewer’s Assn. and fire their unionized workers, replacing them with scabs. Two unionized brewers refused to go along, kept producing beer, prospered wildly and induced the Association to capitulate. A contract benefit since having unionized two years earlier, certainly worth defending: free beer - 1868
Photo: Beer deliverymen in San Francisco; San Francisco History Room, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA, courtesy Found SF
- David Prosten
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.
|
