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Memorial service for Ray Metz; Mon, June 21, 11am – 12pm

Grace United Methodist Church, Midland, MD

Just Transition Strategies: Workers and the Green Revolution: Mon, June 21, 11:00am – 12:30pm
Register here.

Prince William County Labor Caucus: Mon, June 21, 7pm – 8pm

Meeting of union members and allies in Prince William County

Statehood is Racial Justice Rally: Tue, June 22, 8:30am – 9:45am

East Capitol St and 2nd Street NE (map)

GMU Coalition for Worker Rights: Tue, June 22, 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Coalition of faculty, students, alumni, campus employees, and contract workers

Loudoun County Labor Caucus: Tue, June 22, 5pm – 6pm

Meeting of union members and community allies in Loudoun County

Tri-County COPE: Tue, June 22, 7pm – 9pm

Nurses demand safe staffing at Charles Regional Medical Center

Saying that the current staffing situation is overwhelming and makes nurses feel unsafe, unsupported, and undervalued, 1199SEIU nurses at University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center are demanding safe staffing ratios in their next contract. “It’s emotional and draining,” said one nurse. “We go home anxious and in tears wishing we could have done more. I love being a nurse but worry all the time I am failing my patients.”

The union is urging supporters to call Noel Cervino, President & Chief Executive Officer, at (301) 609-4265 and tell him and UMMS to put safe staffing numbers into the contract.

Dodgy Census contractor drags down standards

“I sacrificed my health and my family’s health for this job and I was there every time they needed me,” says Dunia Ortega. Now, “I’m about to lose my house.” Ortega is one of the janitors recently laid off by Alutiiq Logistics and Maintenance; some 41 contracted immigrant janitors who clean the Census Bureau offices have been laid off or seen their hours and pensions cut. The move comes not long after various entities sharing the same parent company, Alutiiq, and some of its subsidiaries settled nearly $2 million in fraudulent kickback schemes and false claims charges, while another subsidiary potentially put U.S. soldiers’ lives at risk. 32BJ SEIU Vice President Jaime Contreras said that “Federal contractors should be raising standards, yet Alutiiq is dragging them down and setting a precedent that allows federal contractors to follow a race to the bottom.”

Labor Photo: June 12 PRO Act Rally
More than 200 attended a PRO Act rally on June 12 hosted by Our Revolution in Crystal City, Arlington, reports Virginia Diamond. In the photos (clockwise from top): Aaron Brown (APWU), Jernay Wallace (Rideshare Drivers United), Brenda Jones (OPEIU 2) and Bertha McKiver (UFCW 400).

In Memoriam: Ray Metz

Former Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO Executive board member and MD/DC AFL-CIO 2003 Salute to Leadership Awards Recipient, Raymond (Ray) O. Metz, Jr. has died. “Ray dedicated most of his life in service to working families and promoting the rights of working men and women,” the state fed said in a statement. “Beginning his organized labor career with AFSCME Local 669, State Highway Employees, he served as president for nine years. In 1971, he went to AFSCME International before moving on to AFSCME Council 67 as a staff representative. In 1975, he joined the newly founded AFSCME Council 92, where he retired in 1999.” A memorial service will be held at Grace United Methodist Church, Midland, on Monday, June 21, 2021, at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Heerak Kim officiating. Click here to read his full obituary from the Cumberland Times News.

Today's Labor Quote: Barb Ingalls

“The community was overwhelmingly in favor of the strike...You would go down streets and every house would have a ‘No Scab Paper’ sign.”

Barb Ingalls was a printer at the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press; on this date in 1997, 100,000 unionists and other supporters marched in solidarity with striking Detroit News and Detroit Free Press newspaper workers.

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY

This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Why America’s most radical union shut down ports on Juneteenth. Last week’s show: Debs on capitalism; Dudzic on the Labor Party.

In England, a compassionate parliament declares that children can't be required to work more than 12 hours a day. And they must have an hours' instruction in the Christian Religion every Sunday and not be required to sleep more than two in a bed - 1802

10 miners accused of being militant "Molly Maguires" are hanged in Pennsylvania. A private corporation initiated the investigation of the 10 through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested them, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. "The state provided only the courtroom & the gallows," a judge said many years later - 1877

The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the right of unions to publish statements urging members to vote for a specific congressional candidate, ruling that such advocacy is not a violation of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act - 1948

- 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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