TODAY'S LABOR CALENDAR; click here for latest listings
Union City Radio: 7:15am daily
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report
Protest Against Southern Towers Evictions (NoVA): Wed, July 15, 12:00pm – 1:30pm
Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314
Women Against the Machine: Craft, Design and the Exploitation of Female Labor: Wed, July 15, 2pm – 3pm
Via Zoom; RSVP here
Alexandria Dems Labor Caucus: Wed, July 15, 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Zoom; Contact [email protected] for the zoom link.
Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, July 16, 1pm – 2pm
WPFW 89.3 FM or listen online
DC COPE: Thu, July 16, 2:30pm – 4:00pm
RSVP here
NoVA Labor monthly meeting: Thu, July 16, 7pm – 9pm
Via Zoom
State workers prevail in fight against service cuts
Since mid-March, AFSCME Maryland has rallied against proposals from Governor Larry Hogan to cut public services. These cuts – including eliminating 5,000 jobs, instituting 5% permanent cuts to salaries and slashing employee health care – were held off the agenda during the July 1 Maryland Board of Public Works hearing following this sustained pressure from AFSCME members. This marked a huge win for AFSCME workers in protecting the vital public services that communities depend on during this time of crisis – including unemployment insurance, food stamps and other community-based services. “Maryland residents and employees deserve more resources and not less during this time of crisis,” said AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Elissa McBride. “That’s why we’ve got to stop these dangerous, unnecessary and immoral cuts. And,” she added, “we need federal aid to states and cities to fight the pandemic, reopen safely, and provide the services our communities need.” Read more.
UMD falling short on worker safety, union says
After several University of Maryland housekeepers fell ill from working in dorms without air conditioning, officials announced three measures last Friday to accommodate employees continuing to work in buildings with deactivated HVAC systems. While the union that represents workers on campus called the university’s response a “small amount of progress.” AFSCME 1072 interim president Todd Holden said the union and the workers have grown extremely frustrated. “Even as this rolls along, the workers are still having to report and they’re still having to deal with the circumstances. The university, at any moment, has the power and the ability to make sure that they’re not placed in that environment again,” he said. “We would just expect that they do better.” Adapted from a report in The Diamondback.
AFSCME 2401 elections held
AFSCME 2401, which represents workers at DC's Department of Child & Family Services and the Department of Human Services, held its officer elections on July 1 (photo). Winning by acclamation were Wayne Enoch (President), Paula Akinleye (Vice-President) and Rogert Scott (Recording Secretary). Click here for details.
CSA posts rental assistance links
The Metro Washington Council’s Community Services Agency earlier this week posted links to info on COVID-19 rental assistance for District and Arlington County residents. “Prince Georges and Montgomery County programs are closed, and Fairfax does not have a program,” reports CSA Executive Director Sonte DuCote. More resources are available on CSA’s website.
Stars and Stripes Forever (the union version)
The DC Musicians’ Union recently posted this video of NSO member Pavel Pekarsky and his son George, both AFM Local 161-710 members, playing The Stars and Stripes Forever.
Today’s Labor Quote: Great Uprising strikers
"We will have bread or blood. We will wade up to our waists in blood before we leave."
Strikers in Pittsburgh during the 1877 Great Uprising, the nationwide railway strike that began on July 14 that year in Martinsburg, W.Va. after railroad workers were hit with their second pay cut in a year. In the following days, strike riots spread through 17 states. The next week, federal troops were called out to force an end to the strike.
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work”: the Housewives League of Detroit.
Last week’s show: 2020 Great Labor Arts Exchange contest winners!
July 15
50,000 lumberjacks strike for eight-hour day - 1917
Robert Gray, an African-American sharecropper and leader of the Share Croppers Union, is murdered in Cap Hill, Alabama - 1931
A half-million steelworkers begin what is to become a 116-day strike that shutters nearly every steel mill in the country. Management wanted to dump contract language limiting its ability to change the number of workers assigned to a task or to introduce new work rules or machinery that would result in reduced hours or fewer employees - 1959
July 16
Ten thousand workers strike Chicago's International Harvester operations - 1919
Martial law declared in strike by longshoremen in Galveston, Texas - 1920
San Francisco Longshoreman's strike spreads, becomes four-day general strike - 1934
- David Prosten
Communications
Digital Advertising Strategist, Remote / work-from-home, Concerted Action (Posted: 7/13/2020)
Organizing
Community Organizer, based in Richmond, VA, LIUNA-MAROC (Laborers' Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizing Coalition) (Posted: 7/13/2020)
Material published in UNION CITY may be freely reproduced by any recipient; please credit Union City as the source for all news items and www.unionist.com as the source for Today’s Labor History.
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. DYANA FORESTER, PRESIDENT.
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