After VA losses, “the fight moves from doors onto the shop floor”
While conceding that
“Virginia's labor movement is truly disheartened by the election of anti-labor, anti-worker gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin,” Virginia AFL-CIO president Doris Crouse-Mays said
yesterday that the Virginia state fed “remains committed to championing democracy and workers’ rights, both in the workplace and at the ballot box.” And UNITE HERE Locals 25 and 27 – whose members knocked on 200,000 doors in Virginia, part of a multi-union effort across the state – said that “a disappointing night for Democrats at the ballot box has re-doubled the Union’s commitment to fighting for Virginia workers.” “We are not going anywhere,” said Heidi Hernández, a Dale City resident and UNITE HERE Local 23 member. “I have no doubt that Virginia will face real challenges in the coming years, but union members will be on the front lines of protecting our rights, as we always are.” “Nothing can deter the power of collective action in the workplace,” said
Crouse-Mays. “
It is Virginia union members who are the backbone of our economy. It is Virginia union members who teach classrooms and care for the sick. It is Virginia union members who ensure groceries are stocked and mail gets to the door. It is Virginia union members who do the work, period." “We knocked doors in Virginia because we’re dedicated to organizing and the idea that one job should be enough for every worker,” said UNITE HERE Local 25 Political Director Sam Epps. “Now the fight moves from doors onto the shop floor.”
Epps will join American Prospect editor Harold Meyerson and hosts Chris Garlock and Ed Smith on WPFW’s Your Rights At Work radio show today at 1p to discuss labor’s efforts in Virginia. |
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Today’s labor quote: Dipak Khanal
“I was out there knocking doors because I'm committed to higher wages, benefits, affordable housing, healthcare, and childcare for people in this state. Our path to getting what we deserve is still through organizing, and I'm even more committed to that after today.”
Dipak Khanal is a Falls Church resident and member of UNITE HERE Local 25.
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This week’s Labor History Today podcast: This week's show: From the Necropolis Strike to Striketober. Last week's show: “Voices of Guinness: An Oral History of the Park Royal Brewery"
Populist humorist Will Rogers was born on this day near Oologah, Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). One of his many memorable quotes: “I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.” - 1879
Some 3,000 dairy farmers demonstrate in Neillsville, Wisc., ultimately leading to the freeing of jailed leaders of a milk strike over low prices set by large dairy plants. Tons of fresh milk were dumped on public roads, trains carrying milk were stopped, some cheese plants were bombed during the fight - 1933
After a struggle lasting more than two years, 6,000 Steelworkers members at Bridgestone/ Firestone win a settlement in which strikers displaced by scabs got their original jobs back. The fight started when management demanded that the workers accept 12-hour shifts - 1996
- David Prosten.
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