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Coalition to Repeal "Right to Work": Fri, August 6, 7pm – 8pm
Coalition of more than 50 organizations that support the right of workers to organize unions.

CLICK HERE to listen to this week’s Your Rights At Work show: Labor historian Joe McCartin on the life and legacy of AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka, who died yesterday. PLUS: "I've Never Been More Optimistic": A Conversation with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, on the AFL-CIO's State of the Unions podcast.

Labor legend Trumka passes away
The labor movement, the AFL-CIO and the nation lost a legend yesterday when AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka unexpectedly passed away. “Rich Trumka devoted his life to working people, from his early days as president of the United Mine Workers of America to his unparalleled leadership as the voice of America’s labor movement,” said the AFL-CIO. “He was a relentless champion of workers’ rights, workplace safety, worker-centered trade, democracy and so much more.” President Biden said Trumka was "more than the head of the AFL-CIO, he was a very close personal friend." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer mourned Trumka in an emotional speech on the Senate floor, saying the country has "lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most." Metro Washington Labor Council AFL-CIO President Dyana Forester said that “President Trumka was a national and global labor leader but he lived and worked here in Washington. He always had time for the local battles that he knew not only meant so much to metro-area workers and their families, but which always had national implications.” Read more reactions here.

Teamsters 639 drivers ratify contract at Capitol Paving
Averting a strike, Teamsters Local 639 drivers at Capitol Paving have voted unanimously to ratify their latest collective bargaining agreement with the company. “When we called a vote to hit the picket lines, we demanded that the company act as a responsible community partner by paying their workers a living wage that reflects the skill and importance of their craft,” said John Gibson, Local 639 president. “After intense negotiations and pressure, that’s exactly what they did. I’d like to congratulate all of the drivers who stuck together and demonstrated immeasurable courage during this process. They stood up for one another and came out stronger because of it.” The workers were not only able to maintain their current level of health care benefits, but also gained wage and pension increases in their new contract, according to a statement released by the Teamsters.

D.N.C. staff to join local union
Staff members at the Democratic National Committee are set to be represented by a union, the first time a national party organization will have a unionized work force, committee officials said on Tuesday. Roughly 150 employees at the committee will join the Service Employees International Union Local 500, a group that represents public-sector workers in the District of Columbia and across Maryland. Read more here.
- The New York Times, via Portside

Today's Labor Quote: Rich Trumka

"There is nothing stronger than the American labor movement. United, we cannot and we will not be turned aside."

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY

This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Keokuk before the strike. Last week's show: Indigenous Longshoremen & the I.W.W.

August 6

Workers at Verizon, the nation’s largest local telephone company, launch what is to become an 18-day strike over working conditions and union representation. 2000

August 7

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Wobblie organizer, born - 1890

Eugene Debs and three other trade unionists arrested after Pullman Strike - 1894

Actors Equity is recognized by producers after stagehands honor their picket lines, shutting down almost every professional stage production in the country. Before unionizing, it was common practice for actors to pay for their own costumes, rehearse long hours without pay, and be fired without notice - 1919

Television writers, members of both the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), end a 22 week strike

August 8

Delegates to the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly elect 35-year-old Charles James, leader of the Boot and Shoe Workers local union, as their president. He was the first African-American elected to that leadership post in St. Paul, and, many believe, the first anywhere in the nation - 1902

Cripple Creek, Colo. miners strike begins - 1903

Cesar Chavez is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton, becoming the first Mexican-American ever to receive the honor - 1994

August 9

Twenty people, including at least nine firefighters, are killed in Boston’s worst fire. It consumed 65 downtown acres and 776 buildings over 12 hours - 1872

Knights of Labor strike New York Central railroad, ultimately to be defeated by scabbing - 1890

Nine men and one woman meet in Oakland, Calif. to form what was to become the 230,000-member California School Employees Association, representing school support staff throughout the state - 1927

73,000 Bell Atlantic workers end a successful two-day strike over wages and limits on contracting out of work - 1998

- 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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