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

Andrew Washington viewing: Thu, January 21, 12pm – 5pm
Thankful Baptist Church, 1401 Independence Ave SE Washington, DC 20003

AFSCME Council 20 Executive Director and 1st Vice President for the Metro Washington Council

Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, January 21, 1pm – 2pm
WPFW 89.3 FM or listen online

FILM: 9-5: The Story of a Movement: Thu, January 21, 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Register here

Baltimore Labor Council meeting: Thu, January 21, 7pm – 9pm
Email for call-in details: [email protected]

NoVA Labor monthly meeting: Thu, January 21, 7pm – 9pm

Universal Paid Family Leave: DC Council Committee on Labor & Workforce Development: Fri, January 22, 9am – 12pm

Andrew Washington service: Fri, January 22, 11am – 1pm
Live-streamed online

Coalition to Repeal Right-to-Work: Fri, January 22, 7pm – 9pm

Breaking News: Biden moves to oust top Labor Board attorney Peter Robb
The Biden administration yesterday asked for the resignation of the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel, Trump-appointee Peter Robb, according to four people familiar with the decision. The White House notified Robb of its decision by letter, which specified he had until 5 p.m. Wednesday to voluntarily resign or be fired, two people with knowledge of the correspondence said. His term is slated to last until this coming November, but unions, including the Service Employees International Union and Communications Workers of America, have been urging Biden to break with precedent by forcing him out immediately, in order to begin reorienting the agency toward protecting workers. Read more here.

Amid COVID-19 surge, union says Hogan "plays politics"
AFSCME Council 3, Maryland’s largest state employee union, on Tuesday announced a failure to reach an agreement in contract negotiations for the first time since 2006. After months of negotiating with Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration about wage increases and various non-economic proposals, Council 3 members were unable to reach an agreement, including over access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and a statewide telework policy. "The governor’s proposals are a slap in the face to front-line workers like my co-workers and me,” said Denise Henderson, AFSCME Local 3167 president. Negotiators from the state indicated a more generous wage offer for police officers was directly related to their closer political alignment with the Hogan administration, said Council 3 President Patrick Moran.
Read more here.

Celebrating Andrew Washington’s life
On January 21, from 12pm until 5pm, a viewing for Andrew Washington – AFSCME Council 20 Executive Director and 1st Vice President for the Metro Washington Council -- will be held at the Thankful Baptist Church, where family and friends will have the opportunity to pay their respects. The viewing will be a walk through in/out viewing, face mask or face covering are mandatory at all times, social distancing will be strictly enforced along with temperature checks prior to entering the church. The family “deeply encourages those who may be feeling ill or under the weather to stay home!" Expressions of sympathy, cards, love offering etc. can be mailed to AFSCME District Council 20 office, 100 M Street SE, Suite 250 Washington DC 20003 or dropped off during the day of Andrew’s viewing at the church. On January 22, the Washington family will have a private service and Celebration of Life; services will be live-streamed online www.tributeoflove.org for all starting at 11:00 am. Click here for details about Andrew's life.

AFL-CIO calls on Congress and President-elect Biden to "Put workers first!"
Saying "It’s time to transform the lives of working people through bold, structural change," the AFL-CIO is asking the Biden administration and Congress to commit to a Workers First Agenda. "Working people have been struggling far too long against unfair wages, benefit cuts and attacks on our right to form a union in our workplaces. That ends now." Click here to sign the Agenda.

Labor Quote: Randi Weingarten

“Strike for the Common Good is an engaging and incisive examination of the wave of educator strikes in 2018–19 that will be remembered as a defining moment of activism.”

Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers. Becky Kolins Givan, Associate Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University and Joseph A. McCartin, Professor of History & Director, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and Working Poor, Georgetown University, will discuss "STRIKE FOR THE COMMON GOOD: Fighting for the Future of Public Education" on Monday, January 25 at 5p; REGISTER HERE.

Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Stand! The new hit labor musical
Last week’s show: The Vancouver Island Coal Strike; Skyscraper Labor.

750,000 steel workers walk out in 30 states, largest strike in U.S. history to that time - 1946

Postal Workers begin four-day strike at the Jersey City, N.J. bulk and foreign mail center, protesting an involuntary shift change. The wildcat was led by a group of young workers who identified themselves as “The Outlaws”- 1974

600 police attack picketing longshoremen in Charleston, S.C. - 2000

- 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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