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Union calls on Giant to extend "Recognition Pay"

Workers' stories wanted

CSA rises to COVID-19 challenge

Today's Labor Quote

Today's Labor History

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Topics: Extending "Recognition Pay" at Giant; DC excluded workers social media blitz; June 3 Workers First caravan

Arlington Dems. Labor Caucus: Thu, May 28, 6pm - 7pm
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All of Us: Voices of Essential Workers on the Front Lines: Thu, May 28, 2pm - 3pm
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Union calls on Giant to extend "Recognition Pay"
After Giant Food announced plans to cancel its 10% "recognition pay" increase after this week, United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 and UFCW Local 27, the unions representing Giant store associates, called on the company to extend the temporary pay increase until the end of this crisis. Click here to [link removed] sign the petition. "Our members have heroically served on the frontlines throughout this crisis, and with no vaccine in sight, they will have to continue to do so for quite some time," said UFCW Local 400 President Mark Federici. "Whether you call it `recognition pay' or `hero pay' or `thank you pay,' the bottom line is this: so long as these workers continue to face danger every day, they should be compensated for taking that risk." Stop & Shop, another grocery chain owned by Giant's parent company Ahold Delhaize, agreed to extend its 10% pay increase through July 4 after more than 10,000 workers and supporters signed a petition. "There is no reason Giant can't do the same," said Federici.

Workers' stories wanted
As momentum builds for the Workers First Caravan here in DC on June 3, the AFL-CIO is working to lift up the voices of individual workers. If your local has members who have compelling stories that speak to the urgency of enacting the HEROES Act, please email mailto:[email protected] [email protected] now. For example, workers who have lost their employer-based health insurance and cannot afford COBRA, have been infected with the coronavirus at the workplace, or have been laid off after their employer accepted government loans to keep workers on the payroll. Worker stories in Spanish and other languages are encouraged.

CSA rises to COVID-19 challenge
Although the pandemic has created unique challenges for the MWC's Community Services Agency, "crises like this are exactly why CSA exists," said Executive Director Sonte DuCote. "We've had to be extra creative to deliver emergency assistance," said DuCote, "like meeting up with CSA executive committee member Dan Duncan outside the locked-down AFL-CIO building to sign checks to send to landlords, utility companies and other creditors. Duncan added that "We are extremely grateful to our affiliates and their members, union allies, the Greater Washington Community Foundation and the United Way National Capital Area for providing the funds to help Metro Washington area workers, a large chunk of whom are not eligible for unemployment." Workers who need emergency assistance should contact their local union or the Community Services Agency at mailto:[email protected] [email protected].
photo: (l-r) Duncan and DuCote; photo by Chris Garlock

Today's Labor Quote: Josephine Shaw Lowell

"If the working people had all they ought to have, we should not have the paupers and criminals. It is better to save them before they go under, than to spend your life fishing them out afterward."

Josephine Shaw Lowell was a 19th century Progressive Reform leader best known for creating the New York Consumers League in 1890.

Today's Labor History

This week's [link removed] Labor History Today podcast: "Politics of the Pantry"; "We Just Come to Work Here"
"This period of time in the Thirties struck me as a period of great innovation and resilience that women organized around the need to provide certain services. And I see that happening in my community today around the pandemic." Emily Twarog, author of "Politics of the Pantry: Housewives, Food, and Consumer Protest in Twentieth Century America." Her study of how women used institutions built on patriarchy and consumer capitalism to cultivate a political voice resonates strongly today in the midst of both the COVID-19 pandemic and an election year. Joyce McCawley talked with Twarog on the Heartland Labor Forum, the labor radio show airing weekly in Kansas City on KKFI.
Plus: Ben Grosscup with a new version of "We Just Come to Work Here" and Joe Glazer on the Memorial Day Massacre.
[link removed] Last week's show: "The Long Deep Grudge: A Story of Big Capital, Radical Labor, and Class War in the American Heartland"

The Ladies Shoe Binders Society formed in New York - 1835

Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia for dancing the Turkey Trot. They were on their lunch break, but management thought the dance too racy - 1912

At least 30,000 workers in Rochester, N.Y. participate in a general strike in support of municipal workers who had been fired for forming a union - 1946

- 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.

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