Union City Radio: 7:15a M-F; WPFW-FM 89.3

UAW strike picket: Fri, October 18, 6am – 2pm; Sat, October 19, 10am – 2pm; Sun, October 20, 10am – 2pm
GM White-Marsh transmission plant, 10301 Philadelphia Road, White Marsh, MD.

Unions and Worker Co-ops: A Tool for Solidarity: Fri, October 18, 1pm – 5pm
Community Development Clinic - University of Baltimore School of Law
Details/registration here. Part of the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy | Oct. 18-20

Virginia Labor Walks (Annandale, Dublin, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke): Sat, October 19, 9am – 12pm

Member-to-Member Canvass in Bowie for Derrick Mallard (photo): Sat, October 19, 9:30am – 1:00pm
IBEW 26 - 4371 Parliament Pl #A, Lanham, MD 20706 (map)
Click here to sign up.

CSA on the move for local affiliates
The Metro Washington Council’s Community Services Agency was on the move this week supporting two local affiliates. On Tuesday, CSA participated in the AFGE Local 32 Annual Fall Festival, which provided members with community resources. "It was great sharing information about CSA with Local 32 members, especially new members who were happy to hear about the CSA Emergency Assistance Fund and how CSA is helping low-income District residents get construction jobs and apprenticeships through the Building Futures Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Program," said Executive Director Sonte DuCote, noting that AFGE District 14 VP Eric Bunn was in attendance. Then on Wednesday, CSA co-sponsored a "When the Paycheck Stops" budgeting workshop with the Consumer Action Network and Teamsters 639. "I think it was very informative and provided great information that can be used now and in the future," said Local 639 Vice President Wayne Settles, who attended along with Local 639 staff representatives.
photos: DuCote with new AFGE Local 32 member Takeena Gipson; Budget workshop attendees; photos by Shelly Kidd, Nelson Santiago, and Sonte DuCote.

Labor hits doors as election looms
Labor will be walking for union-endorsed candidates across Virginia and in the city of Bowie tomorrow (see Calendar, above). United Mineworkers President Cecil Roberts and AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Teferi Gebre will launch NoVA Labor’s canvass/phone bank for Delegate Hala Ayala this Saturday starting at 9a. Breakfast and lunch will be provided by ATU Local 689. Meanwhile, in Bowie, the Metro Washington Council and the Maryland and DC AFL-CIO are teaming up to host a member-to-member walk for MWC-endorsed candidate Derrick Mallard, in Bowie City Council District 4. photo courtesy VA AFL-CIO

Labor mourns passing of Rep. Elijah Cummings
The Metro Washington Council on Thursday mourned the passing of Elijah Cummings, the Congressman from Maryland's 7th District. "Brother Cummings was a longtime friend of working men and women, not just in Maryland but across the country and around the world," said Metro Council president Jackie Jeter. "He will be sorely missed."

Today's Labor Quote: Louis Brandeis

The Supreme Court Justice who said in 1913:

“Labor cannot on any terms surrender the right to strike.”

Today's Labor History

Labor History Today (10/6): Sex Workers Outreach Project makes history in Minneapolis
Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. Jody Allen, Assistant Professor of History at the College of William and Mary and Director of The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation. Jody discusses William and Mary's slaveholding past and the genesis, research, and ongoing community outreach of The Lemon Project with Working History podcast host Beth English. Plus: SEIU 32BJ’s Maria Naranjo on the origins of "chingchinas" -- soda can noisemakers --during the Justice for Janitors campaigns of the mid-Eighties.
Last week's show: (10/6/19): Sex Workers Outreach Project makes history in Minneapolis

October 18
The "Shoemakers of Boston" - the first labor organization in what would later become the United States - was authorized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony - 1648

New York City agrees to pay women school teachers a rate equal to that of men - 1911

IWW Colorado Mine strike; first time all coal fields are out - 1927

58,000 Chrysler Corp. workers strike for wage increases - 1939

GM agrees to hire more women and minorities for five years as part of a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - 1983

October 19
The J.P. Stevens textile company is forced to sign its first union contract after a 17-year struggle in North Carolina and other southern states - 1980

October 20
Eugene V. Debs, U.S. labor leader and socialist, dies in Elmhurst, Ill. Among his radical ideas: an eight-hour workday, pensions, workman's compensation, sick leave and social security. He ran for president from a jail cell in 1920 and got a million votes - 1926

Hollywood came under scrutiny as the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened hearings into alleged Communist influence within the motion picture industry.

Dozens of union members were among those blacklisted following as a result of HUAC’s activities - 1947

Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan writes to PATCO President Robert Poli with this promise: if the union endorses Reagan "I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available and to adjust staff levels and work days so that they are commensurate with achieving a maximum degree of public safety." He got the endorsement. Nine months after the election, he fires the air traffic controllers for engaging in an illegal walkout over staffing levels and working conditions - 1980

Death of Merle Travis, songwriter and performer who wrote "Sixteen Tons" & "Dark as a Dungeon" - 1983

Labor history courtesy David Prosten

Material published in UNION CITY may be freely reproduced by any recipient; please credit Union City as the source for all news items and www.unionist.com as the source for Today’s Labor History.

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. JACKIE JETER, PRESIDENT.

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