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
Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, February 25, 1pm – 2pm
WPFW 89.3 FM or listen online
Guests: EPI Policy Analyst Margaret Poydock on the 2020 decline in the number of striking workers; David Paul Kuhn on his book "THE HARDHAT RIOT Nixon, New York City, and the Dawn of the White Working-Class Revolution"
Labor Committee on the Environment: Thu, February 25, 3:30pm – 4:30pm
This committee will discuss labor's agenda to address climate change and ways to get workers a seat at the table on clean energy initiatives.
Arlington Dems Labor Caucus: Thu, February 25, 6pm – 7pm
Meeting of Arlington union members and community allies.
Shenandoah Valley Labor Community Alliance: Thu, February 25, 7:30pm – 8:30pm
Meeting of union members and community allies in the Shenandoah Valley.
A Woman's Work: The NFL's Cheerleader Problem: Fri, February 26, 3:30pm – 5:00pm
This week's Labor Radio Podcast Weekly: Belabored; The Rick Smith Show; RadioLabour; Solidarity Breakfast; UnionDues; Labor Radio on KBOO; Building Bridges; Empathy Media
AFGE continues aggressive fight for hazard pay for feds
On its way out the door, the Trump administration filed a motion to dismiss AFGE’s lawsuit seeking hazard pay for federal workers who have been required to risk their health and safety by working in hazardous conditions in order to continue to perform the essential functions of the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. AFGE earlier this month opposed that motion, urging the court to deny the government’s request to dismiss the case. “The coronavirus pandemic made thousands of jobs more dangerous than they normally would be. Recognizing that federal employees are at times exposed to dangerous conditions their jobs do not normally entail, Congress provided for hazardous duty pay and/or environmental differential pay,” AFGE argued in opposition to the motion to dismiss. “As a result of these hazardous conditions and the Government’s failure to account for these conditions in Plaintiffs’ position classifications, Plaintiffs are entitled to hazardous duty pay, environmental differential pay, and additional overtime wages to compensate for their repeated and ongoing exposure to COVID-19.” Read more here.
Solidarity Center Report: Morocco Factory Workers Forced to Renounce Union or Lose Jobs
Workers in Morocco are denouncing efforts by a Peugeot Citroen factory to force union leaders to resign from the Moroccan Labor Union (UMT) or lose their jobs. Already, one union leader has been fired, according to the union. Last week, factory management forced 11 union activists to sign resignation letters after compelling them to spend three hours behind closed doors where union leaders say they were subjected to questioning and harassment that seriously injured one worker. Find out more at Solidarity Center.
Labor Quote: Edgar Daniel Nixon
Referring to Martin Luther King’s handling of his arrest in Montgomery on September 3, 1958:
“Because of your courage in face of known danger I want to commend you for your stand for the people of color all over the world, and [especially] the people in Montgomery. Your action took the fear out of the Negroes and made the white man see himself as he is.”
Union Voice/Readers Write: Wrong age for Mother Jones
"Hi folks, thank you for sending Union City," writes Gerard O'Mahony, coordinator of the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival Cork. "On February 11, you mention Mother Jones. You said that she was arrested in 1913 while leading a protest of conditions in West Virginia mines and 'She was 83 years old at the time' in 1913. Just to clarify, Mary Harris was born in late July 1837 and baptised on 1st August 1837 at the North Cathedral Church here in Cork City in the Republic of Ireland. She was 75 years of age that time in Feb 1913. You can find the date in a book by Elliott Gorn, Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America, and I have seen the baptism register. Just sending it in a spirit of solidarity to fellow union members as she is among the greatest of all union leaders."
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly. Last week’s show: Remembering John Sweeney and Anne Feeney
Labor organizer and civil rights activist Edgar Daniel Nixon dies. While working as a Pullman porter, Nixon organized the Montgomery local of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and served as its president for many years. He was a key organizer of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and co-founder of the Montgomery Improvement Association. 1987
Amalgamated Association of Street & Electric Railway Employees of America change name to Amalgamated Transit Union - 1965
- David Prosten
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