Missed yesterday's Your Rights At Work radio show? Catch the podcast here!
The best labor books of 2020, with TIM SHEARD, Hardball Press publisher and author of the Lenny Moss mysteries, and PATRICK DIXON, Managing Editor at LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History. YEMISRACH WOLDE, Ethiopian Community Center on the upcoming DC Pay Stub Clinic. Plus: Fallen Heroes: Songs for Essential Workers by The Pandemics.
How you can help win in Georgia
The American labor movement delivered key victories up and down the ballot during the recent Labor 2020 campaign. Now, says Painters DC 51 Political Director Roxana Mejia, “our path forward runs through Georgia, where we are facing two crucial runoff elections that will decide the difference between a pro-worker majority and an anti-union majority in the U.S. Senate.” Mejia, who’s on the ground in Georgia canvassing for the runoff, helped kick off the Metro Washington Council’s virtual phonebank recently, where volunteers called Georgia union members encouraging them to vote for Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in what is expected to be a very close election that hinges on turnout.
Here’s a rundown of how DC-area activists can help get out the vote in Georgia:
Metropolitan Washington Council: Virtual phonebanking, every Monday 6:00-8:00p; contact David Stephen at [email protected] for login information.
AFL-CIO: Virtual phone bank room is open 2-7p today and from 12-3 pm on Saturday. Calls may be made anytime between 9 am - 9 pm ET seven days per week.
AFSCME: Phone bank shifts scheduled daily through the election; click here for details.
Coalition of Labor Union Women: SNAPPY HOUR phone banking event today, 5-7P & 8-10P. Click here to register.
Working America: Volunteers send personalized letters or postcards to targeted working-class people in Georgia. Sign up here.
Got more ways to get involved? Let us know! Email [email protected]
Verso Books staff joins News Guild
Staff at Verso Books have joined the Washington-Baltimore News Guild (WBNG) Local 32035 and management has voluntarily recognized the union. “Thrilled to join in solidarity with the @VersoBooks staff!” tweeted the Guild. “United we are stronger!” Read more here.
IUPAT 51’s November Facebook Photo Contest winner
Glaziers local 963 member Thomas Kelly was Painters District Council 51’s November Facebook Photo Contest winner, for his selfie while finishing up curtain wall glazing at Kaiser Permanente Hospital.
UC Radio marks milestone
The Union City Radio podcast recently achieved a major milestone, reaching 10,000 downloads. Union City Radio is a daily 3-minute audio version of the award-winning Union City electronic newsletter, featuring DC-area labor news, updates, calendar and labor history with Union City Managing Editor Chris Garlock, and the podcast makes this feature available on popular podcast platforms like iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher. UC Radio is a partnership between the Metro Washington Council and 89.3 FM WPFW.
Today's Labor Quote: Congolese proverb
“A single bracelet does not jingle.”
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: America’s last general strike.
Last week’s show: Monopoly and Class Struggle: The games we play
December 11
A small group of black farmers organize the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Cooperative Union in Houston County, Texas. They had been barred from membership in the all-white Southern Farmers’ Alliance. Through intensive organizing, along with merging with another black farmers group, the renamed Colored Alliance by 1891 claimed a membership of 1.2 million - 1886
Ten days after an Illinois State mine inspector approved coal dust removal techniques at New Orient mine in West Frankfort, the mine exploded, largely because of coal dust accumulations, killing 119 workers - 1951
The U.S Department of Labor announces that the nation's unemployment rate had dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest mark in 15 years - 1968
Forty thousand workers go on general strike in London, Ontario—a city with a population of 300,000—protesting cuts in social services - 1995
December 12
A U.S. immigration sweep of six Swift meat plants results in arrests of nearly 1,300 undocumented workers - 2006
December 13
Death in San Antonio, Tex. of Samuel Gompers, president and founder of the American Federation of Labor - 1924
- David Prosten
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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.
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