Metro Washington Council and Community Services Agency staff are teleworking; reach them at the contact numbers and email addresses here.
Missed last week's Your Rights At Work radio show? Catch the podcast here; A nerd runs for office; Marx at the Arcade
Murder of Baltimore bus driver spurs union call for action
In the wake of the tragic fatal shooting of a Baltimore bus driver – Marcus Parks, a member of ATU 1300 -- the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is demanding better protection for bus drivers, riders and the pedestrians. With transit workers assaulted in many ways every year, ATU has been calling for passage of the Transit Worker and Pedestrian Protection Act. “ATU demands that transit agencies and government officials bring the same sense of regret that they will display in the public mourning of this tragic, unnecessary death of our brother and pass this critical legislation that will help to prevent these tragedies from happening,” said ATU president John Costa. Read more here
Labor 2020: Voter Education Forum rescheduled for Oct. 14Meet the labor-backed Prince George’s County Board of Education candidates next Thursday, October 14 at 11a at the Prince George’s/Montgomery County COPE Voter Education Forum. “We’ll discuss the issues important to the labor community, and have an overview of Maryland ballot initiatives from Delegate Alonzo Washington,” says MWC Political and Legislative Director David Stephen.
Union Twitter Watch: MD State Fed hits the phones for Biden
Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO @MDDCStateFed Who's calling Ohio for @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris? Maryland and DC union members are! #1u #LaborEndorsed
State Fed phonebanks continue T/W/TH with about 30 regulars/night and “could use a whole hell of a lot more” says Political Director Chuck Cook. Sign up here
Union City Radio marks milestone
The “Union City Radio” podcast has just passed a major milestone, with over 5,000 downloads. UC Radio -- a brief audio version of the award-winning Union City electronic newsletter, featuring DC-area labor news, updates, calendar and labor history-- airs every morning at 7:15a on WPFW 89.3 FM. Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, and is part of the The Labor Radio/Podcast Network, more than 70 radio and podcast shows about workers and their issues.
Today's Labor Quote: Anna Quindlen
“It makes me angry to think that . . . female sanitation workers will spend their days doing a job most of their co-workers think they can't handle, and then they will go home and do another job most of their co-workers don't want.”
On this date in 2003, 3,300 sanitation workers working for private haulers in Chicago win a 9-day strike featuring a 28 percent wage increase over 5 years.
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Roediger on "The Sinking Middle Class"; Feurer on Mother Jones' legacy
KU historian David Roediger talks with The Heartland Labor Forum radio show about his new book, The Sinking Middle Class. The Forum also pays homage to the most iconic woman leader in labor history; labor historian Rosemary Feurer on the life and legacy of Mother Jones. On Labor History in 2: A Chain Reaction of Human Misery.
Last week’s show: “Despotism on Demand”
October 9
United Hebrew Trades is organized in New York by shirtmaker Morris Hillquit and others. Hillquit would later would become leader of the Socialist Party - 1888
Retail stock brokerage Smith Barney reaches a tentative sexual harassment settlement with a group of female employees. The suit charged, among other things, that branch managers asked female workers to remove their tops in exchange for money and one office featured a "boom boom room" where women workers were encouraged to "entertain clients." The settlement was never finalized: a U.S. District Court Judge refused to approve the deal because it failed to adequately redress the plaintiff's grievances - 1997
October 10
Six days into a cotton field strike by 18,000 Mexican and Mexican-American workers in Pixley, Calif., four strikers are killed and six wounded; eight growers were indicted and charged with murder - 1933 photo courtesy UC Calisphere
October 11
The Miners’ National Association is formed in Youngstown, Ohio, with the goal of uniting all miners, regardless of skill or ethnic background - 1873
Nearly 1,500 plantation workers strike Olaa Sugar, on Hawaii’s Big Island - 1948
- David Prosten
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