Union City Radio: 7:15a M-F; WPFW-FM 89.3

UAW strike picket (photo): Friday, September 27⋅6:00am – 2:00pm; Sat, September 28, 10am – 2pm; Sun, September 29, 10am – 2pm
GM White-Marsh transmission plant, 10301 Philadelphia road, White Marsh, MD.

Rally for SEIU 32BJ: Fri, September 27, 4:30pm – 6:00pm
1800 N Lynn Street, Arlington, VA.

Welcome the Baltimore Symphony Musicians Back Home! Fri, September 27, 7pm – 10pm; Sun, September 29, 3pm – 6pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, 1212 Cathedral St, Baltimore, MD 21201
Join the BSO musicians for the opening of their 2019-20 season and take advantage of a special ticket offer: only $20 for Orchestra seats at their Meyerhoff Symphony Hall performances with promo code WELCOME. Click here to order.

Virginia Labor Walks: Sat, September 28, 9am – 12pm
NOVA Labor Office 4536 – B John Marr Dr., Annandale, VA (w/AFA president Sara Nelson)
UA Local 110 Hall 7812 Warwick Blvd., Newport News, VA
Ironworkers Local 79 Hall, 5307 E. Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk, VA
CWA Local 2201 Hall, 5809 Lakeside Ave., Richmond, VA
SMART 100 Hall 2101 Dale Ave. SE, Roanoke, VA

Film: Midnight Family: Sat, September 28, 1:05pm – 3:00pm
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Co-presented by the DC LaborFest/DC Labor FilmFest; show your union card and get the AFI member discount (if ordering online, choose the “AFI Member (LAFF)” option).

Film: The Gasoline Thieves: Sat, September 28, 9:20pm – 11:00pm
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Co-presented by the DC LaborFest/DC Labor FilmFest; show your union card and get the AFI member discount (if ordering online, choose the “AFI Member (LAFF)” option).

Fredericksburg Solidarity Picnic: Sun, September 29, 12pm – 3pm
Loriella Park, 10910 Leavells Rd, Fredericksburg, VA 22407

Tentative agreement reached, strike averted at Kaiser
Kaiser Permanente has reached a tentative agreement with its workers on a new four-year contract, averting planned strikes across the country. The contract agreement affects 83,000 workers in seven states – including Virginia and Maryland -- as well as the District of Columbia.
Read more here. (posted 9/26; follow us on Facebook and Twitter for latest updates)

House panel passes Pro Act
By a party-line 26-21 vote after an all-day work session, the Democratic-run House Education and Labor Committee on Wednesday passed the Protect the Right to Organize (Pro) Act, the most-comprehensive pro-worker rewrite of U.S. labor law in decades. All the Democrats voted for it and all the Republicans voted against it. “What is keeping” workers from unionizing “are toothless labor laws, aggressive employer opposition to unions, and relentless political attacks that have dismantled workers’ right to organize,” Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., said.
Read more here. (posted 9/26; follow us on Facebook and Twitter for latest updates)

Solidarity Center report: Women worker rights leaders share hope for future
Dynamic women worker rights leaders from across the globe offered a vision for hope, resilience and movement toward an economy and society that works for people and the planet this week at the event, “Building Power: Women’s Leadership in the Fight for Justice, Democracy and Fair Work” in New York City. Sponsored by the Open Society Foundations (OSF), Ford Foundation, Freedom Fund, Fundación Avina, C&A Foundation, Humanity United and AFL-CIO, Solidarity Center and Global Labor Justice, the gathering of representatives from the philanthropic community and worker justice organizations served to both celebrate the achievements of women leaders and reflect on what has worked—and what needs more support—in the fight for justice, democracy and fair work for all.
Find out more at the Solidarity Center.

Today's Labor Quote: Richard Trumka

“Our woefully outdated labor laws no longer serve as an effective means for working people to have our voices heard.”
—from Trumka's testimony in support of the PRO Act this week; photo: Trumka at Tuesday's FED UP/Rise Up rally

Today's Labor History

Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. “Teachers strikes, the Me Too movement, the Black Lives Matters movement, all of those are collective actions that for years you never saw; people didn’t believe in themselves. Now they know that if they’re gonna make progress, they can’t look to anyone but themselves.” AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka talks with Labor History Today’s Joe McCartin about the current state – and the future -- of the American labor movement. Plus, Mark Potashnick on Jim Pohle, the founder of the American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers, class action law suits, and the app-based revolution in food delivery services.

Striking textile workers in Fall River, Mass. demand bread for their starving children - 1875

The International Typographical Union renews a strike against the Los Angeles Times and begins a boycott that runs intermittently from 1896 to 1908. A local anti-Times committee in 1903 persuades William Randolph Hearst to start a rival paper, the Los Angeles Examiner. Although the ITU kept up the fight into the 1920s, the Times remains nonunion to this day - 1893

International Ladies' Garment Workers Union begins strike against Triangle Shirtwaist Co. This would become the "Uprising of the 20,000," (photo) resulting in 339 of 352 struck firms—but not Triangle—signing agreements with the union. The Triangle fire that killed 246 would occur less than two years later - 1909

Twenty-nine west coast ports lock out 10,500 workers in response to what management says is a worker slowdown in the midst of negotiations on a new contract. The ports are closed for 10 days, reopen when Pres. George W. Bush invokes the Taft-Hartley Act - 2002

165 Wobblies indicted for protesting World War 1 -1917

A report by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that the average weekly take home pay of a factory worker with three dependents is now $94.87 - 1962

Labor history courtesy David Prosten

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. JACKIE JETER, 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.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that [email protected] signed up to receive this newsletter. Click here to edit your subscription preferences