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Maryland Vote-By-Mail Explainer and other MWC Political Action page updates

Worker's Voice/Readers Write: Straight talk from CAP

Another chance at "Waging Change"; Sayles' baseball film next

Union Voice/Readers Write: History repeats

Today's Labor Quote

Today's Labor History

[link removed] LABOR CALENDAR

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

Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, May 21, 1pm - 2pm
WPFW 89.3 FM or [link removed] listen online

MWC Candidate Town Hall: Jordan Grossman (Ward 2): Thu, May 21, 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Via Zoom, [link removed] Registration required

Tuesday, May 26: 7p: Eight Men Out (DC LaborFest screening)
Introduced by director John Sayles!
FREE; [link removed] register here

Metro Washington Council and Community Services Agency staff are all teleworking and can be reached at the contact [link removed] numbers and email addresses here.

[link removed] Latest DC-area labor news, delivered daily: tell a friend and help build our Union City!

Maryland Vote-By-Mail Explainer and other MWC Political Action page updates
The Metro Council's Political Action Legislative Updates page has several new updates, including:
[link removed] Maryland: $876 Million In Federal Funding To Support WMATA During COVID-19 Crisis
[link removed] Washington Dc: Council Passes Additional COVID Response Legislation
[link removed] 1199SEIU Maryland Vote-By-Mail Explainer

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Worker's Voice/Readers Write: Straight talk from CAP
"I am sending to you a note to let the Council know my appreciation for ([link removed] Claimant Advocacy Program attorney) Tonya Love's help," writes Kurt Stand. "One of my fellow booksellers was unable to receive unemployment for about 10 weeks (and) had it not been for Tonya's help, she might still have been without. When fellow booksellers and I were confronted with a possible return to work in what was felt to be unsafe conditions, everyone had questions about unemployment; Tonya answered them all, a clarification deeply appreciated as people wanted/needed real information upon which to base our decisions."

Another chance at "Waging Change"; Sayles' baseball film next
Nearly 100 turned out for Tuesday night's DC LaborFest screening of "Waging Change," introduced by filmmaker Abby Ginzburg. A lively Q&A followed, with One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman (photo) and National Policy Campaign Director Nikki Cole. "We all need to support the effort to end the tipped minimum wage so that no workers are forced to live off their tips," said Jayaraman. Adding to the pandemic crisis, many such workers do not qualify for unemployment insurance because their actual wages were too low or because of their immigration status. If you missed the screening, it's playing at the [link removed] Women Make Movies Virtual Film Festival May 22-31. Director John Sayles will introduce "Eight Men Out" at next week's DC LaborFest screening on May 26; [link removed] register here.

Union Voice/Readers Write: History repeats
"'Today in Labor History' (5/20) was the same as yesterday, May 19," writes Perry Levin.
Actually we had the right history for May 20, it was on Tuesday (5/19) that we mistakenly ran the next day's history. Here's what should have run on May 19:
Explosion in Coal Creek, Tenn. kills 184 miners - 1902
Shootout in Matewan, W. Va. between striking union miners (led by Police Chief Sid Hatfield) and coal company agents. Ten died, including seven agents - 1920
The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, formed by the Congress of Industrial Organizations, formally becomes the United Steelworkers of America - 1942
31 dockworkers are killed, 350 workers and others are injured when four barges carrying 467 tons of ammunition blow up at South Amboy, New Jersey. They were loading mines that had been deemed unsafe by the Army and were being shipped to the Asian market for sale - 1950

Today's Labor Quote: Emma Goldman

Italian activists and anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, widely believed to have been framed for murder, went on trial on this date in 1921. They were eventually executed as part of a government campaign against dissidents.

Emma Goldman, who said: "Vanzetti was right when he declared that his execution was his greatest triumph, for all through history it has been the martyrs of progress that have ultimately triumphed. Where are the Caesars and Torquemadas of yesterday? Who remembers the names of the judges who condemned Giordano Bruno and John Brown? The Parsons and the Ferrers, the Saccos and Vanzettis live eternal and their spirits still march on."

Today's Labor History

This week's [link removed] Labor History Today podcast: "The Long Deep Grudge: A Story of Big Capital, Radical Labor, and Class War in the American Heartland"
Labor historian, activist and writer Toni Gilpin's rich history detailing the bitter, deep-rooted conflict between industrial behemoth International Harvester and the uniquely radical Farm Equipment Workers union. "The Long Deep Grudge" makes clear that class warfare has been, and remains, integral to the American experience, providing up-close-and-personal and long-view perspectives from both sides of the battle lines.
PLUS: David Fernandez-Barrial, Saul Schniderman and Hazel Dickens on the Matewan Massacre.
Last week's show: [link removed] "Strike for Your Life!"; labor history's lessons for the COVID-19 crisis

The "Little Wagner Act" is signed in Hawaii, guaranteeing pineapple and sugar workers the right to bargain collectively. After negotiations failed a successful 79-day strike shut down 33 of the territory's 34 plantations and brought higher wages and a 40-hour week - 1945

Nearly 100,000 unionized SBC Communications Inc. workers begin a four-day strike to protest the local phone giant's latest contract offer - 2004

- David Prosten; photo from [link removed] RaceFiles

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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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