LABOR CALENDAR
Union City Radio: 7:15am daily
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report
DC LaborFest screening: Brassed Off: Tue, June 9, 7pm – 9pm
via Zoom; Free; RSVP here
Introduced by Seth Cook, Principal tubist for the Washington National Opera and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, member of the DC Musicians Union and a co-owner of the Takoma Beverage Company. Click here to order dinner from TBC to enjoy during the screening!
DC Protests: Monday, Jun 8, 2020
Making Space to Breathe/Gathering to Grieve; Hosted by @GalvanizeDC and Actors Arena; 7:00 PM- 7:30 PM At Arena Stage, Corner of 6th and Maine St. SW DC
New MWC Delegate Swearing-In: Wed, June 10, 1pm – 2pm
Via Zoom; must pre-register. Must be an elected or appointed delegate to the Metro Washington Council: CLICK HERE
photo by Chris Garlock
Metro Washington Council and Community Services Agency staff are teleworking; reach them at the contact numbers and email addresses here.
In Memoriam: UFCW Local 400 Members Lost to COVID-19Chevelle Alson...Leilani Margurite “Butterfly” Jordan...James Taylor...Ricky Taylor...Kathryn Anita Mason...Maria Haskins. These local supermarket workers -- members of UFCW Local 400 -- are among the more than 110,000 Americans lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. "It is important for us to work together during this crisis to prevent further deaths," said the union in a memorial page on its website. "It is important to thank those who are doing the work to keep us safe and fed. It is important to remember those who we lost because of the coronavirus."
photo collage: Leilani Jordan
Labor support for DC protests
“In this house,” the AFL-CIO tweeted last week, “we will continue to fight for economic, social and racial justice with every fiber of our being.” On Friday, union members working for the city’s Department of Public Works painted “BLACK LIVES MATTER” in giant letters on 16th Street, and the 2-block stretch in front of The White House was renamed "Black Lives Matter Plaza."
Last weekend, tens of thousands turned out across the city to support the struggle for justice. Metro Washington Council Acting President Andrew Washington on Friday strongly urged the local labor movement "to do so as well, demonstrating that organized labor stands with our brothers and sisters." Protestors massed, sang and danced in front of the AFL-CIO building, which sported signs supporting the protests; see our Twitter feed for more photos from Saturday's protests.
“Workers First Caravan” rescheduled for June 17
The National "Workers First Caravan" Day of Action originally planned for June 3 has been rescheduled for Wednesday, June 17th. Stay tuned for details soon.
Today's Labor Quote: Gabrielle Carteris and David White
“As protests spread across the country it is not enough to condemn injustice. It’s not enough to demand change. We must recognize that racism lives in our culture and only we can change that. We must speak up in the face of injustice and fight back against the indignities our fellow citizens face every day. We must be defenders and allies. We must be better than this.”
Gabrielle Carteris is president of SAG-AFTRA and White is National Executive Director.
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Labor supports DC Black Lives Matter protests; “Debs In Canton” preview; Revisiting The Battle of Homestead; Voices of exiled Iranian workers.
Last week’s show: Minneapolis general strike; “Mongrel Firebugs and Men of Property”
The earliest recorded strike by Chinese immigrants to the U.S. occurred when stonemasons brought to San Francisco to build the three-story Parrott granite building - made from Chinese prefabricated blocks - struck for higher pay - 1852
A battle between the militia and striking miners at Dunnville, Colo. ended with six union members dead and 15 taken prisoner. Seventy-nine of the strikers were deported to Kansas two days later – 1904
Spectator mine disaster kills 168, Butte, Mont. – 1917
Some 35,000 members of the Machinists union begin what is to become a 43-day strike – the largest in airline history – against five carriers. The mechanics and other ground service workers wanted to share in the airlines’ substantial profits - 1966
New York City drawbridge tenders, in a dispute with the state over pension issues, leave a dozen bridges open, snarling traffic in what the Daily News described as "the biggest traffic snafu in the city's history" - 1971
- 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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