LABOR CALENDAR; click here for latest listings
Union City Radio: 7:15am M-F; WPFW-FM 89.3
Transdev bus driver picket line (ATU 689): Daily 4:00am – 5:00pm
Gates of the Cinder Bed Road Division, 7901 Cinder Bed Road, Lorton, VA
Show your support for the strike: download the sign here, post on Twitter and tag @ATULocal689.
photo: Korean Federation of Public Services and Transportation Workers' Unions (KPTU) Metro Line 9 Labour Union members, who kicked RATP Dev-Transdev out of operation of their line earlier this year, stand in solidarity with ATU Cinder Bed members fighting @TransdevNA
Continuing the Struggle: The International Labor Organization (ILO) Centenary and the Future of Global Worker Rights: Fri, November 22, 8:30am – 6:15pm
Georgetown University, 37th and O St. NW. Details/register here
ATU 689/Transdev strike update: Day 30
Friday, November 22 marks 30 days on strike for ATU Local 689 Metrobus workers employed by Transdev at WMATA's Cinder Bed Road garage. "It looks like we’ll still be here in early December, and we may very well see the strike expand across Fairfax County before Transdev comes to its senses," reports ATU's Todd Brogan. "After two days of bargaining, we have made some limited progress, including TA’ing a few non-economic, but we do not have a deal yet. We are back at the table on December 4-5." Read more here, including how to support the strike. Click here for MWC president Jackie Jeter's demo report on yesterday's Your Rights At Work on WPFW.
MWC COPE posts Labor Guide to Elected OfficialsJust in time for the 2020 campaign season, the Metro Washington Council’s COPE committees have released a new online tool for area activists. The Labor Guide to Elected Officials lists all current elected officials in the Metro Council’s jurisdiction. “This guide is a helpful tool that will make sure that affiliates can easily identify all the legislative stakeholders with the click of a mouse,” said DC COPE co-chair Herbert Harris (BLET). “Being able to see all our representatives at the same time is so helpful in shaping our perspective on who the players are and who we need to hold accountable,” added Prince George’s and Montgomery County COPE co-chair Dyana Forester (UFCW 400). Metro Council Political and Legislative Director David Stephen, who manages the Guide, noted that he’s maintaining up-to-date contact information for the officials, which is available on an as-needed basis by contacting him directly: [email protected]
Workplace Safety Conference set for Dec 3-5
Need to know more about workplace safety so you can fight effectively for better working conditions and stronger unions? Check out the National Conference on Workplace Safety and Health, coming up Dec. 3 thru 5th at Maritime Conference Center. #COSHCON19, convened by National COSH, features 3 days of bilingual programming, including 50 + workshops and panels, speakers, a film night, awards, music… and dancing! Organizers call #COSHCON19 “a great opportunity to share ideas, build skills, and take home concrete ways to build power and make our workplaces safer.” Read more here. photo by Earl Dotter
"Newsies" deadline extended to noon today; almost sold out!
The deadline to join over 150 local labor theater-lovers at the December 13 performance of "Newsies" at Arena Stage has been extended until 12 noon today. Click here for details and to order. Tickets include a special "Talkback" session with performers after the show. NOTE: There are less than 30 tickets left; first-come, first served!
In the summer of 1899, the newsboys of New York City took on two of the most powerful men in the country -- Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst -- and won. Inspired by true events, join us for a musical that will knock you off your feet!
Today's Labor Quote
“You are striking against God and nature.”
An enraged judge, scolding some of the more than twenty thousand immigrants, mostly young women in their teens and early twenties, who launched an eleven-week general strike in New York City’s shirtwaist industry on November 23, 1909.
Dubbed the Uprising of the 20,000, it was the largest strike by women in American history. The young strikers’ courage, tenacity, and solidarity forced the predominantly male leadership in the “needle trades” and the American Federation of Labor to revise their entrenched prejudices against organizing women.
Although the strikers won only a portion of their demands, the uprising sparked five years of revolt that transformed the garment industry into one of the best-organized trades in the United States.
Today's Labor History
Labor History Today (11/17): Remembering Lattimer, GINA and Newsies
Click here to check out this week's Labor History Today podcast. Paul Shackel, author of “Remembering Lattimer,” on one of the largest labor massacres in U.S. history. Lewis Maltby on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the major workplace protection measure celebrating its’ 10th anniversary. Plus a sneak preview of “Newsies,” now at Arena Stage in DC.
Last week's show: (11/10/19): Debs, Sanders, Socialism and 2020
November 22
The district president of the American Federation of Labor and two other white men are shot and killed in Bogalusa, Ala. as they attempt to assist an African-American organizer working to unionize African-American workers at the Great Southern Lumber Co. - 1919
November 23
Troops were dispatched to Cripple Creek, Colo. to control rioting by striking coal miners - 1903
Mine Workers President John L. Lewis walks away from the American Federation of Labor to lead the newly-formed Committee for Industrial Organization. The CIO and the unions created under its banner organized six million industrial workers over the following decade - 1935
History’s first recorded (on papyrus) strike, by Egyptians working on public works projects for King Ramses III in the Valley of the Kings. They were protesting having gone 20 days without pay -- portions of grain -- and put their tools down. King Ramses III died during the strike, and his son king Ramses IV decided to end this revolution by paying the salaries of the workmen and sent the food to every poor family. Read more here.
November 24
Led by Samuel Gompers, who would later found the American Federation of Labor, Cigarmakers International Union Local 144 is chartered in New York City - 1875
Some 10,000 New Orleans workers, black and white, participate in a solidarity parade of unions comprising the Central Trades and Labor Assembly. The parade was so successful it was repeated the following two years - 1883
Teachers strike in St. Paul, Minn., the first organized walkout by teachers in the country. The month-long “strike for better schools” involving some 1,100 teachers—and principals—led to a number of reforms in the way schools were administered and operated - 1946
1,550 typesetters begin what is to become a victorious 22-month strike against Chicago newspapers - 1947
George Meany becomes president of the American Federation of Labor following the death four days earlier of William Green - 1952
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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