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
Demand Safe Schools: Day of Action to Support Our Children: Wednesday, September 2
Multiple locations; CLICK HERE to find a nearby location.
Online Double Header Labor Music Concert: Si Kahn and Joe Jencks: Wed, September 2, 12pm – 1pm
Online; 12p Si Kahn; 12:30 Joe Jencks
Redefining the Role of Local Police and Public Safety: Wed, September 2, 5pm – 7pm
Via Zoom; Hosted by UFCW 1994
Workplace Matters: Unions and Safety During the Pandemic: Wed, September 2, 7pm – 9pm
Via Zoom; Register here
Join the leaders of the Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO and the Baltimore Museum of Industry for a conversation via Zoom about Labor's response to COVID-19 and Protecting Workers.
Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, September 3, 1pm – 2pm
WPFW 89.3 FM or listen online
Featuring San Francisco Mime Troupe's Tales of the Resistance, Episode 5, "Jade, For Hire!"
Factories on Film, Stage and Books: How American Culture Depicts the Working Class: Thu, September 3, 7pm – 9pm
Via Zoom; Free; register here
Labor Day Weekend 2020
If you're planning a Labor Day event or activity, please let us know -- email [email protected] -- and we'll help get the word out!
Labor on WAMU’s “The Big Broadcast”: Sun, September 6, 9pm – 11pm
WAMU 88.5; or listen online
2020 “Workers Rising” Labor Day Radio Special: Mon, September 7, 8am – 5pm
WPFW 89.3 FM; or listen online
Worker’s voices, on air! Topics include: Labor2020; Labor and BLM Solidarity; Labor Radio/Podcast Network; COVID’s effects on DC-area workers; Plus labor music!
Restaurant & Food Service Workers Unite for Justice Rally: Mon, September 7, 1:00pm – 4:30pm
Meridian Hill Park, 16th St NW &, W St NW, Washington, DC 20009 (Meet at Joan of Arc Statue)
Hosted by Restaurant Opportunities Center of Washington DC (ROC-DC) and Latino Economic Development Center
A caring ear for the unemployed“Unemployment is very emotional,” says Jason Suggs. “We are reaching into people’s very personal situations.” Suggs is an unemployment insurance professional in Maryland and president of AFSCME Local 3641 (Council 3). “It’s tough,” says Suggs. “Right now it’s tiring, but we’re proud to be there for them.” Like many states, reports AFSCME, Maryland was woefully unprepared for the huge flood of claims by workers who have been impacted by coronavirus-related layoffs. “These days, our office is serving more claimants than ever before,” said Suggs. “That’s increasing call volume. That’s increasing wait times. And that’s increasing frustrations.” But Suggs is proud to serve fellow Marylanders in their time of need. “The connection you make with the claimants, the ‘God bless you’s’ and the ‘thank you’s’ at the end of a call – those are the things that make this work rewarding,” Suggs said. “This will be a long road ahead, but we’re AFSCME. This is what we do.”
Union Voice/Readers Write: Sharing the census“I have responded to the Census,” writes Ann Hoffman in response to yesterday’s Action Alert. “I will be happy to post something on my building listserv, my neighborhood listserv and my Facebook and Twitter pages. Please send me some graphics.” We’re posting great census graphic on our Twitter and Facebook pages for easy sharing/reposting.
Today’s Labor Quote: Dwight David Eisenhower
“Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice.”
On this date in 1954, President Eisenhower signed legislation expanding Social Security by providing much wider coverage and including 10 million additional Americans, most of them self-employed farmers, with additional benefits.
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Cutting along the Color Line
Quincy Mills, Professor of History at the University of Maryland in College Park, talks about black barbers, the evolution of their trade, and its political meaning as a skilled form of labor.
Plus: poet Martin Espada reads his poem "Castles for the Laborers and Ballgames on the Radio," written for his friend, historian Howard Zinn. This week’s Labor History in 2: The Amistad.
Last week’s show: A travel guide to labor landmarks
September 2
White and Chinese immigrants battle in Rock Springs, Wyo. fueled by racial tensions and the practice of Union Pacific Raiload of hiring lower-paid Chinese over whites. At least 25 Chinese died and 15 more were injured. Rioters burned 75 Chinese homes - 1885
Mineowners bomb West Virginia strikers by plane, using homemade bombs filled with nails and metal fragments. The bombs missed their targets or failed to explode - 1921
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was signed by President Ford, regulating and insuring pensions and other benefits, and increasing protections for workers - 1974
September 3
African-American cotton pickers organize and strike in Lee County, Tex. against miserably low wages and other injustices, including a growers’ arrangement with local law enforcement to round up blacks on vagrancy charges, then force them to work off their fines on select plantations. Over the course of September a white mob put down the strike, killing 15 strikers in the process - 1891
Some 300 musicians working in Chicago movie houses strike to protest their impending replacement by talking movies - 1928
Twenty-five workers die, unable to escape a fire at the Imperial Poultry processing plant in Hamlet, NC. Managers had locked fire doors to prevent the theft of chicken nuggets. The plant had operated for 11 years without a single safety inspection - 1991
- David Prosten; photo courtesy Smithsonian Magazine (Tom MacCallum)
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.
Story suggestions, event announcements, campaign reports, Letters to the Editor and other material are welcome, subject to editing for clarity and space; just click on the mail icon below. You can also reach us on Facebook and Twitter by clicking on those icons.
|
