WORKING IN DC (Previews)
Fri-Sun, September 3-5, 7:30pm – 9:00pm
AFL-CIO, 815 Black Lives Matter Plaza NW, Washington, DC xxxxxx
A joyful musical highlighting workers in America - based on the acclaimed literature of Studs Terkel with music by some of Broadway’s best known composers. A public celebration of the dignity of work through the lens of history, labor, justice, and the arts. Presented in collaboration with The Labor Heritage Foundation and hosted by the AFL-CIO. 
CLICK HERE to hear Working in DC director Shanara Gabrielle talk about the show on yesterday's Your Rights At Work radio show!

LABOR ON THE BIMAH SERVICES
Multiple dates/locations, beginning Friday, Sept. 3
Since 1998, Jews United for Justice (JUFJ) has worked to put “labor” back into Labor Day “by engaging our local Jewish communities in a collective conversation about our texts, our historical experiences, and the challenges facing workers today.” Services are planned this year at area congregations, many virtual and some hybrid or in-person. In addition to providing resources and working with congregations to arrange speakers, JUFJ is planning follow-up events to help members of participating congregations learn more about some of the injustices facing DMV workers today.

UNION CITY RADIO LABOR DAY SHOW ON WPFW 89.3FM
Mon, September 6, 8am – 2pm
WPFW 89.3FM; or listen online
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Elise Bryant
This year’s show features labor radio drama, music, theater and books, plus frontline reports from major strikes and a visit with hosts from the rapidly expanding Labor Radio Podcast Network. Click here for the complete line-up.

GREENBELT LABOR DAY PARADE
Monday, September 6, 8am – 12pm
Buddy Attick Lake Park, 555 Crescent Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Union members and allies are invited to join the IBEW Local26 Retired Members Club at the parade.
For more information, contact Susan Flashman [email protected].

LABOR DAY & UNION POWER (Virtual event)
Monday, September 6⋅11:00am – 12:30pm
RSVP here
Hosted by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
As area workers return to classrooms, worksites, and buildings, 1199SEIU UHWE says “We all need to come together to fight for our health and safety, and rights on the job. Like so many have done before us, when we stand together and take action, we have the power to make our jobs better.” 

NATIONAL LABOR DAY MASS (ONLINE)
Celebrated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory

Mon, September 6, 1pm – 3pm

Live on Facebook
This Labor Day the Catholic Labor Network, an association of the faithful based in Washington DC, will host its second annual livestreamed Labor Day Mass for our friends around the United States and beyond. We are pleased to report that the Mass will be celebrated by our very own Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Washington! Cardinal Gregory will be joined by Patti Devlin of LiUNA, Yanira Merino of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) and Clayton Sinyai of the Catholic Labor Network for this very special Labor Day liturgy at 1pm ET. Join us as we honor labor, reflect on Catholic Social Teaching and pray for the millions of workers who have suffered in a special way during the pandemic.

This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Marching on Washington: civil rights to voting rights. Last week's show: Sacco and Vanzetti; Midnight in Vehicle City.  

September 3
A Labor Day poll by the Gallup Organization find that 65 percent of Americans approve of unions, the public’s highest rating since 2003.  Support for unions had been rising since hitting its lowest point of 48 percent in 2009. The highest approval ratings ever were in  1953 and 1957: 75 percent. 2020

African-American cotton pickers organize and strike in Lee County, Tex. against miserably low wages and other injustices, including a growers’ arrangement with local law enforcement to round up blacks on vagrancy charges, then force them to work off their fines on select plantations.  Over the course of September a white mob put down the strike, killing 15 strikers in the process - 1891

Twenty-five workers die, unable to escape a fire at the Imperial Poultry processing plant in Hamlet, NC.  Managers had locked fire doors to prevent the theft of chicken nuggets.  The plant had operated for 11 years without a single safety inspection - 1991

September 4
Twelve thousand New York tailors strike over sweatshop conditions - 1894

What many believe was to become the longest strike in U.S. history, 600 Teamster-represented workers walk out at the Diamond Walnut processing plant in Stockton, Calif., after the company refused to restore a 30 percent pay cut they had earlier taken to help out the company.  The two sides ultimately agreed to a new contract after 14 years - 1991

September 5
20,000 to 30,000 marchers participate in New York's first Labor Day parade, demanding the eight-hour day - 1882

Palmer raids on all Wobbly halls and offices in 48 cities in U.S.  Alexander Palmer, U.S. Attorney General, was rounding up radicals and leftists - 1917

Ten thousand angry textile strikers, fighting for better wages and working conditions, besiege a factory in Fall River, Mass., where 300 strikebreakers are working. The scabs are rescued by police using tear gas and pistols on the strikers - 1934

General strike begins across U.S. maritime industry, stopping all shipping. The strikers were objecting to the government's post-war National Wage Stabilization Board order that reduced pay increases negotiated by maritime unions - 1946

September 6
One of the worst disasters in the history of U.S. anthracite mining occurred at the Avondale Mine, near Scranton, Pa., when a fire originating from a furnace at the bottom of a 237 foot shaft roared up the shaft, killing 110 miners - 1869    

Tony Boyle, former president of the United Mine Workers, is charged with murder in the 1969 deaths of former UMW rival Joseph A. Yablonski and his wife and daughter - 1973    

- David Prosten