Lawyers’ Committee voluntarily recognizes staff union
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee) yesterday voluntarily recognized the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU) as the collective bargaining representative of the 46 staff members at the organization. The staff’s union, LC United, was certified after a card-check confirmed majority support for the union. “Labor organizing has figured prominently in our nation's long struggle for racial justice,” said Lawyers’ Committee president and executive director Kristen Clarke. “We are excited to be recognized and work with management to ensure better workplace protections and conditions for our deserving and dedicated staff,” said the LC United organizing committee. LC United represents a broad unit of staff and professional employees at the organization. The parties will soon begin negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement. The voluntary recognition came after management had backed off on its original agreement to card check and demanded an election earlier this month.
DNC Labor Meeting & Watch PartyUnion members and supporters of workers and the labor movement are invited to a DNC Labor Council meeting today and a Labor for Biden Watch Party tomorrow night.Viewers will have the opportunity to hear from union members, union presidents, and Members of Congress on how we can engage other union members in this important election as well as presentations from the Biden/Harris Campaign, a panel on Unions Standing up for Frontline Workers during the Pandemic, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, Fighting for the Postal Service and more. Anyone can join these meetings; RSVP below:Wednesday, August 19-Noon to 2 pm CT (1-3p EDT): Labor Council Meeting: RSVP here The Labor Council is one of the DNC’s official constituency councils.Thursday, August 20-7:00 p.m. CT (8p EDT): Labor for Biden Convention Watch Party (UNION STRONG): RSVP hereThe Biden Campaign invites you and your members for a Labor for Biden Convention Watch Party on Thursday night.
Game workers win historic first strike (& other worker wins)
Writers for the mobile game Lovestruck will see increased transparency at work and pay increases averaging 78% after a 21-day strike conducted remotely. It was the first successful game worker strike in the history of the industry. While the writers are independent contractors and their right to strike isn’t protected under labor law, they sought help from CWA's Campaign to Organize Digital Employees to launch VOW, Voltage Organized Workers.
After a successful strike, workers at Bath Iron Works reached a tentative agreement that protects seniority and maintains current subcontracting levels, which will preserve quality jobs in Maine.
And after a yearlong campaign that had to overcome the pandemic shutdown and opposition from management, workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art won a major victory, with 89% voting to form the Philadelphia Museum of Art Union.
Read more on the AFL-CIO Now blog
2020/2021 MWC Directory updates due this Friday
The Metro Washington Council's annual Directory of Local Unions is widely read and used by area reporters and political leaders, as well as throughout the local labor community. To ensure that your local's latest information is included in the upcoming 2020/2021 edition, click here, review your local's information, and email any updates to us at [email protected]
DEADLINE FOR ALL UPDATES: COB FRIDAY, AUGUST 21.
Questions? email [email protected] or call Chris Garlock at 202-230-1133.
Today’s Labor Quote: "The Preacher and the Slave"
Workingmen of all countries, unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain
You will eat, bye and bye
When you've learned how to cook and how to fry
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
Then you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye
“The Little Red Songbook" was first published on this date in 1909. Also known as Songs of the Industrial Workers of the World, and subtitled Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent, the early editions contain many of the most well-known labor songs, such as "The Internationale,” "Solidarity Forever” and “The Preacher and the Slave,” sung here by Pete Seeger (click on video).
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: “The Flintstones” and class struggle; The Ford Hunger March
Labor History Today producers Patrick Dixon and Alan Wierdak explore the labor history and class struggle lurking not too far beneath the surface of Fred's New Job, an episode from the third season of The Flintstones that originally aired in February 1963. Empathy Media Lab host Evan Papp visits the hallowed ground in Detroit where the labor battle known as the Ford Hunger March and Massacre took place. Plus this week’s Labor History in 2: Singing a Union Tune.
Last week’s show: Remembering Gene Debs; Waging Peace
Some 2,000 United Railroads streetcar service workers and supporters parade down San Francisco’s Market Street in support of pay demands and against the company’s anti-union policies. The strike failed in late November in the face of more than 1,000 strikebreakers, some of them imported from Chicago - 1917
Founding of the Maritime Trades Dept. of the AFL-CIO, to give "workers employed in the maritime industry and its allied trades a voice in shaping national policy" - 1946
Phelps-Dodge copper miners in Morenci and Clifton Ariz. are confronted by tanks, helicopters, 426 state troopers and 325 National Guardsmen brought in to walk strikebreakers through picketlines in what was to become a failed three-year fight by the Steelworkers and other unions - 1983
photo: Women on the picket line; photo by Mari Schaefer, 1983, courtesy of Ricky Wiley, Arizona Daily Star.
Some 4,400 mechanics, cleaners and custodians, members of AMFA at Northwest Airlines, strike the carrier over job security, pay cuts and workrule changes. The 14-month strike was to fail, with most union jobs lost to replacements and outside contractors - 2005
- David Prosten
Plus dozens more DC-area union jobs; click here!
Information Tech
Data Specialist – Organizing, CWA [Headquarters] (Posted: 8/11/2020)
Communications
Member Communications and Development Specialist, FEA (Federal Education Association) (Posted: 8/17/2020)
Legal
Assistant General Counsel – Immigration Campaign, SEIU (SEIU HQ) (Posted: 8/18/2020)
Misc
Deputy Executive Director / Deputy General Counsel, FEA (Federal Education Association) (Headquarters) (Posted: 8/17/2020)
We Dream in Black National Coordinator (Bi-lingual), NDWA (National Domestic Workers Alliance) (Posted: 8/11/2020)
Manager – HRIS, Compensation and Benefits, SEIU (Posted: 8/18/2020)
Organizing
Organizer, LIUNA-MAROC (Laborers' Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizing Coalition), based in Baltimore, MD (Posted: 8/11/2020)
Organizer, LIUNA-MAROC (Laborers' Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizing Coalition), based in Maryland (Posted: 8/11/2020)
Organizing Specialist – VEA (Virginia Education Association) Organizing and Field Support, based in Northern Virginia (Posted: 8/13/2020)
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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. DYANA FORESTER, PRESIDENT.
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