DC Labor FilmFest: 20 Years of Great Labor Films!
WORK SONGS: Available April 30 – Tickets $12

THE LUNCHROOM: Available May 4 – Tickets $5
IDA B. WELLS: A PASSION FOR JUSTICE: Available May 6 – Tickets $5

DC Labor Chorus Spring Concert (Virtual): Sat, May 8, 7:30pm – 9:30pm

FREE; register here!

Missed this week’s Your Rights At Work radio show? Catch the podcast here. This week's show: The AFL-CIO’s 30th annual Death On The Job report…DC Labor Chorus’ annual spring concert preview …Nikko Bilitza from DC Jobs with Justice reports on the Essential Workers Bill of Rights…and Gabriel Winant discusses his book The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America. PLUS: We Did Not Come This Far, by the DC Labor Chorus.

Labor news (& other cool stuff) from the Twitterverse
“Employers like Hopkins and the State of Maryland do the right thing (Johns Hopkins University, Health System to increase minimum wage to $15 an hour). We once again call on the USM to bargain with AFSCME and stop impoverishing hard working essential employees who have kept their institutions running throughout the pandemic.”
@AFSCMEMaryland

Tracing its roots back 75 years to the first bartenders union in DC, this pin is from the pre-merger days of UNITE HERE Local 25 (@DCHotelWorkers). It has the old HERE logo as well as the old logo of the Bartenders International League. (@arischwartz)

@UnionLogos

Sing out Saturday with the DC Labor Chorus

Join the D.C. Labor Chorus virtually for a joyous celebration of Spring this Saturday night (see Calendar) with some of their favorite songs. “We chose the best sing-along songs from our 23-year repertoire -- some of your old faves as well as new songs inspired by recent events. Our repertoire is diverse, with selections from the folk, gospel, protest, jazz, pop, and labor traditions.” Join on Zoom or the livestream on Facebook. Free, but donations gratefully accepted.

Today's Labor Quote: We Did Not Come This Far

We did not come this far to give up now
Like days of old behind the Freedom Plow
I have this faith deep in my heart somehow
We did not come this far to give up now

Performed by the DC Labor Chorus, written and composed by Steve Jones

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY

This week’s Labor History Today podcast: 50 years of “Strike!” Last week’s show: Mourn for the dead, fight like hell for the living!

May 7

The Knights of St. Crispin union is formed at a secret meeting in Milwaukee. It grew to 50,000 members before being crushed by employers later that year - 1867

Two die, 20 are injured in “Bloody Tuesday” as strikebreakers attempt to run San Francisco streetcars during a strike by operators. The strike was declared lost in 1908 after many more deaths, including several in scab-operated streetcar accidents - 1907

Philadelphia’s longest transit strike ends after 44 days. A key issue in the fight was the hiring and use of part-timers - 1977

May 8

The constitution of the Brotherhood of the Footboard was ratified by engineers in Detroit, Mich. Later became the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers - 1863

Jerry Wurf, who was to serve as president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) from 1964 to his death 1981, born in New York City. The union grew from about 220,000 members to more than 1 million during his presidency - 1919

About 200 construction workers in New York City attack a crowd of Viet Nam war protesters four days after the Kent State killings. More than 70 people were injured, including four police officers. Peter Brennan, head of the New York building trades, was honored at the Nixon White House two weeks later, eventually named Secretary of Labor - 1970

12,000 Steelworker-represented workers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber win an 18-day strike for improved wages and job security - 1997

May 9

United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther and his wife May die in a plane crash as they travel to oversee construction of the union’s education and training facility at Black Lake, Mich. - 1971

Legendary Western Federation of Miners leader William “Big Bill” Haywood goes on trial for murder in the bombing death of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg, who had brutally suppressed the state’s miners. Haywood ultimately was declared innocent - 1907

Japanese workers strike at Oahu, Hawaii’s Aiea Plantation, demanding the same pay as Portugese and Puerto Rican workers. Ultimately 7,000 workers and their families remained out until August, when the strike was broken - 1909

Longshoremen’s strike to gain control of hiring leads to general work stoppage, San Francisco Bay area - 1934

Hollywood studio mogul Louis B. Mayer recognizes the Screen Actors Guild. SAG leaders reportedly were bluffing when they told Mayer that 99 percent of all actors would walk out the next morning unless he dealt with the union. Some 5,000 actors attended a victory gathering the following day at Hollywood Legion Stadium; a day later, SAG membership increased 400 percent - 1937

4,000 garment workers, mostly Hispanic, strike for union recognition at the Farah Mfg. Co. in El Paso, Tex. - 1972

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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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