DC Labor FilmFest: Celebrating 20 Years of Great Labor Films!
Click here for tickets. All films available now: WORK SONGS * THE LUNCHROOM * IDA B. WELLS: A PASSION FOR JUSTICE * MISS MARX * THE CHAMBERMAID * THE WHISTLE AT EATON FALLS * NASRIN * THE NEW DEAL FOR ARTISTS

Union City Radio: 7:15am daily
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; click here to hear today's report

Ticket Sellers Protest Poor Treatment by Strathmore Music Center: Sun, May 30, 5pm – 7pm
Protesting ticket sellers and supporters protest against The Music Center at Strathmore’s poor treatment of workers and plan to replace humans with machines
Near Strathmore entrance, Rockville Pike/Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md., and on the nearby pedestrian bridge

The virtual offices of the Metro Washington Council, Community Services Agency and Claimant Advocacy Program will be closed Monday in observance of the Memorial Day holiday; Union City will return on Tuesday, June 1.
Click here for Labor411’s guide to Ethical Goods for Memorial Day 2021.

Missed this week’s Your Rights At Work radio show? Catch the podcast here. This week's show: After Wednesday’s shootings in San Jose, Nurse Consultant – and DCNA member -- Laverne Plater discusses workplace violence and mental health. Strathmore Music Center is threatening to replace ticket-sellers there with machines; Treasurers and Ticket Sellers Union, IATSE Local 868 Business Agent Anne Vantine tells us what’s at stake. DC workers notch a victory against wage theft; Elizabeth Falcon, Executive Director at DC Jobs With Justice, reports. Plus: WPFW’s Spring Pledge Drive; click here to support Your Rights At Work on Union City Radio (be sure to scroll down to Your Rights At Work) on the Jazz & Justice station in the nation’s capital.

Urban Institute staff union receives voluntary recognition
The Urban Institute has recognized their staff’s union, the Urban Institute Employees Union, which is organized with the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU). “The formation of our union is rooted in our commitment to improving the Urban Institute’s principles as a workplace and research institution,” said the UIEU organizing committee. “We are thrilled that Urban has voluntarily recognized the Urban Institute Employees Union and look forward to getting to the bargaining table to strengthen the voices of all workers at Urban and ensure that it is an inclusive and nurturing workplace for all its employees.” Follow the Urban Institute Employees Union and NPEU on Twitter for updates.

Scabby and the Fat Cat at Strathmore Sunday

It sounds like the latest hot music duo, but Scabby the Rat and the SMART Fat Cat are actually two giant inflatables being brought in to The Music Center at Strathmore this Sunday by the Treasurers and Ticket Sellers Union, IATSE Local 868, to draw attention to the music center’s plans to replace the people who sell tickets with machines leased at a price higher than what they currently pay their very human ticket sellers. “This is only the latest insult by Strathmore managers directed at workers by the largely publicly funded performing arts center,” reports Local 868; Strathmore reneged on a contract with its staff last year. The protest starts at 5p; details in the Calendar, above.

Today's Labor Quote: President Joe Biden

“Today, we mourn each treasured life taken away on the job. Those stricken by disease and fatal injuries as they keep America running deserve a dedicated day of grateful prayer and remembrance from the living. Workers Memorial Day impels us to work for a future where no one should have to risk their life for a paycheck.”

From his Proclamation on Workers Memorial Day, 2021. photo: at the VTA rail facility in San Jose, California on Wednesday.

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY

This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Shootout in Matewan; General strike in KC. Last week’s show: Passaic textile strike & LAWCHA preview

May 28

The Ladies Shoe Binders Society formed in New York - 1835

Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia for dancing the Turkey Trot. They were on their lunch break, but management thought the dance too racy - 1912

At least 30,000 workers in Rochester, N.Y. participate in a general strike in support of municipal workers who had been fired for forming a union - 1946

May 29

Animators working for Walt Disney begin what was to become a successful five-week strike for recognition of their union, the Screen Cartoonists' Guild.
The animated feature "Dumbo" was being created at the time and, according to Wikipedia, a number of strikers are caricatured in the feature as clowns who go to "hit the big boss for a raise" - 1941

A contract between the United Mine Workers and the U.S. government establishes one of the nation's first union medical and pension plans, the multi-employer UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund - 1946

The United Farm Workers of America reaches agreement with Bruce Church Inc. on a contract for 450 lettuce harvesters, ending a 17-year-long boycott. The pact raised wages, provided company-paid health benefits to workers and their families, created a seniority system to deal with seasonal layoffs and recalls, and established a pesticide monitoring system - 1996

May 30

The Ford Motor Company signs a "Technical Assistance" contract to produce cars in the Soviet Union, and Ford workers were sent to the Soviet Union to train the labor force in the use of its parts. Many American workers who made the trip, including Walter Reuther, a tool and die maker who later was to become the UAW's president. Reuther returned home with a different view of the duties and privileges of the industrial laborer - 1929

In what became known as the Memorial Day Massacre, police open fire on striking steelworkers at Republic Steel in South Chicago, killing ten and wounding more than 160 - 1937

The Ground Zero cleanup at the site of the World Trade Center is completed 3 months ahead of schedule due to the heroic efforts of more than 3,000 building tradesmen & women who had worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for the previous 8 months – 2002

May 31

Rose Will Monroe, popularly known as Rosie the Riveter, dies in Clarksville, Ind. During WWII she helped bring women into the labor force - 1997

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