LABOR CALENDAR
Union City Radio: 7:15am daily
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report
March/Rally: Commitment: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks: Fri, August 28, 7:15am – 3:15pm
Labor contingent gathers at United Unions building, 1750 New York Avenue NW, WDC; march heads out at 8:45a.
Hosted by National Action Network and NAACP.
Coalition to Repeal "Right to Work" (Canceled): Fri, August 28
We❤️Highland Post Office AND our voting rights! Sat, August 29, 9am – 10am
Highland PO, 12975 Highland Rd, Highland, MD 20777
Metro Washington Council and Community Services Agency staff are teleworking; reach them at the contact numbers and email addresses here.
Missed yesterday's Your Rights At Work radio show? Catch the podcast here; Labor joins the Commitment March (with WTU's Liz Davis and IUPAT's Brian Courtien); Unionbusting, vegan style.
COVID outbreak among DCA airport workers fuels demand for paid sick leave
After at least 70 National Airport workers were exposed to COVID at an Alexandria church in early August, workers with no sick days have had to make the choice between going without pay or showing up to work at the airport sick, reports SEIU 32BJ. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors James Walkinshaw and community supporters protested yesterday outside of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, demanding paid sick leave. “This is a public health issue,” said two dozen Virginia delegates and senators in a letter to MWAA. “A paid sick leave requirement would protect workers, workers’ families, and passengers from COVID-19.”
Following in the footsteps of Dr. King
"Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual." So said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. With jobs and freedom still just a dream for so many Americans, thousands will march again today, 57 years later, to carry on that struggle. The labor contingent is meeting at the United Unions building starting at 7:15a (see Calendar); at 8:45 they’ll march over to the Lincoln Memorial. Unions participating include AFGE, AFSCME, AFT and IUPAT.
Union Voice/Readers Write: Broken link, fixed
“I was reading your page (Senate cafeteria workers win $1 million in back pay 7/26/2016) and found a broken link referring to the 'Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)'” writes reader Lisa G. “It looks like the document no longer exists, and after browsing for a while, I was able to find the same document in PDF. Maybe you could update the link on your page to help other users.”
The page has been updated. Updates and corrections are always welcome; please email [email protected]
Today's Labor Quote: Martin Luther King Jr.
“No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until ‘justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’"
From his "I Have A Dream" at the 1963 March on Washington.
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: A travel guide to labor landmarks
Saul Schniderman takes us on a road trip to discover the markers, memorials and monuments commemorating the history and heritage of America's workers. Saul directs the Inventory of American Labor Landmarks, a project of the Labor Heritage Foundation. Plus this week’s Labor History in 2: Breaking the Glass Ceiling.
Last week’s show: “The Flintstones” and class struggle; The Ford Hunger March
August 28
The march for jobs and freedom—the Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have A Dream" speech march—is held in Washington, D.C. with 250,000 participating - 1963
August 29
Dancers at San Francisco’s Lusty Lady Club vote 57-15 to be represented by SEIU Local 790. Their first union contract, ratified eight months later, guaranteed work shifts, protection against arbitrary discipline and termination, automatic hourly wage increases, sick days, a grievance procedure, and removal of one-way mirrors from peep show booths - 1996
Northwest Airlines pilots, after years of concessions to help the airline, begin what is to become a two-week strike for higher pay - 1998
August 30
Delegates to the Minnesota AFL-CIO convention approve the launching of workdayminnesota.org. It was the first web-based daily labor news service by a state labor federation - 2000
The CEOs of large American companies made an average of $10.8 million in 2006, more than 364 times the average pay of American workers, reported the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy - 2007
Delegates from several East Coast cities meet in convention to form the National Trades' Union, uniting craft unions to oppose "the most unequal and unjustifiable distribution of the wealth of society in the hands of a few individuals." The union faded after a few years - 1834
President Franklin Roosevelt's Wealth Tax Act increases taxes on rich citizens and big business, lowers taxes for small businesses - 1935
OSHA publishes scaffold safety standard, designed to protect 2.3 million construction workers and prevent 50 deaths and 4,500 injuries annually - 1996
- David Prosten
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