LABOR CALENDAR
Union City Radio: 7:15am daily
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report
Workers Memorial Day; follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more worker safety graphics to retweet!
VA Unemployment Insurance Q's and A's: Tue, April 28, 2pm – 3pm
Via Zoom
DC Labor FilmFest: Space Jam: Tue, April 28, 7pm – 9pm
via Zoom; FREE; register here
Introduced by journalist Steven Perlberg; post-screening Q&A with Tom Zaniello, author of Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films about Labor.
Prince William County Labor Caucus: Tue, April 28, 7pm – 8pm
Via Zoom
MWC Health Committee calls for intensified contact tracing in DC
The Metro Washington Council’s Health Committee on Monday called on the DC Department of Health to intensify contact tracing for frontline healthcare workers who have been exposed to COVID-19. “If the District of Columbia is going to ‘flatten the curve,’ we must put in place a robust process of notifying potential asymptomatic carriers of the virus,” said committee Chair Djawa Hall of 1199 SEIU UHWE. In a letter to the DC Department of Health, the MWC made specific demands for health care workers in DC to create new guidelines for hospitals, community-based health organizations, and long term care facilities, which would require them to implement in-house contact tracing epidemiology programs, create guidelines for notifying workers within 48 hours when a patient or employee tests positive for coronavirus, and reinstate furloughed workers and train them to fill critical contact tracer positions. “A timeline of 48 hours for workers to be contacted is appropriate and can be achieved through occupational medicine,” said Hall. “Additionally, other essential staff unable to perform their regular duties during this time can be trained in this area. Frontline workers cannot and should not be expected to unknowingly put their lives on the line, without being able to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their families. “
- David Stephen
MontCo/PG COPE to host legislative briefing May 8The Montgomery/Prince George’s County COPE will host a legislative briefing via Zoom next Friday, May 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon with elected officials representing federal, state, and county governments. Confirmed guest presenters will include Congressman Anthony Brown, Maryland Chairman of House Economic Matters Committee Derek E. Davis, Prince George’s County Council Member At-Large Calvin Hawkins and Montgomery County At-Large Council Member Will Jawando. To register for the call click here. “Join us as these elected officials share valuable information on issues of labor and the COVID-19 emergency and take your questions on these issues,” said Committee Chair Dyana Forester. Please complete this survey to help organizers prepare for a productive conversation.
Solidarity Center Report: Women & Their Unions Stand Strong during COVID-19 Women and their unions around the world are leading the way in spearheading calls for safety and health protection and urging that their governments ratify C190, the global treaty to end gender-based violence and harassment at work. They recognize that gendered economic challenges are worsened by COVID-19, which is hitting women and other marginalized groups especially hard. Find out about this and more union action around COVID-19 at the Solidarity Center.
Today's Labor Quote: “We Just Come to Work Here”
Mary Harris Jones was a tough organizer and her words still inspire today
And if she took a look at our working conditions, I think I know what she would say
If you’re talking about a Workers Memorial Day mourn the dead while you’re ringing the bell
Just remember Mother Jones, when it comes to the living and you know we gotta fight like hell.
Written by longshoreman Harry Stamper, sung here (with additional lyrics) by Anne Feeney
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Julia Reichert: ‘We Don’t Just Interview People Once’; Montgomery Ward busted; May Day and Mother Jones
Oscar-winning director Julia Reichert, interviewed by 9 to 5 founder Karen Nussbaum; the AFL-CIO’s Damon Silvers on how the Montgomery Ward CEO was busted for unionbusting; Saul Schniderman celebrates May Day and Mother Jones’ birthday.
Last week’s show: Sacco & Vanzetti at 100; What happened to MLK’s dream?
Coal mine collapses at Eccles, W.Va., killing 181 workers - 1914
119 die in Benwood, W.Va. coal mine disaster - 1924
Congress creates OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The AFL-CIO sets April 28 as “Workers Memorial Day” to honor the hundreds of thousands of workers killed and injured on the job every year - 1970.
First “Take Our Daughters to Work Day,” promoted by the Ms. Foundation, to boost self-esteem of girls with invitations to a parent’s workplace - 1993
- David Prosten
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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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