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ATU Local 689 DC Circulator bus operators OK contract, end strike

Partnership Award honors Claimant Advocacy Program

Forester appointed to Healthcare Workforce Task Force

Labor Photo: DC Labor FilmFest Opening Night

Today's Labor Quote

Today's Labor History

 

[link removed] LABOR CALENDAR; click here for latest listings

Union City Radio: 7:15am daily

WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; [link removed] click here to hear today's report

NoVA Labor Reception for Supervisor Walter Alcorn: Fri, May 6, 11:00am - 1:30pm

Jimmy's Old Town Tavern, 697 Spring St., in Herndon.

Film: THE KILLING FLOOR (1984) DC LaborFest: Mon, May 9, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
AFI Silver Theatre,8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
Tickets: [link removed] bit.ly/DCLaborFilmFest2022

[link removed] CLICK HERE to listen to yesterday's Your Rights At Work radio show (Thursdays 1-2p on WPFW 89.3FM), NPEU VP for Organizing Hayley Brown on "Reproductive rights are workers rights," and Visiting Professor at University College London Damon Silvers on "Labor, Climate Change, and Innovation".


ATU Local 689 DC Circulator bus operators OK contract, end strike

After a unified and strong three-day strike, ATU Local 689 bus operators for the DC Circulator voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to approve a collective bargaining agreement with RATP Dev. Over 150 workers walked off the job on May 3rd after two intense months of negotiations, shutting down Circulator transportation in the city for three days. "This strike showed the power of workers fighting for our rights," said Local 689 President Raymond Jackson. "Transit agencies across the country are now on notice. Public transit contractors cannot continue to make cuts on the backs of workers and riders." The new three-year contract with RATP Dev includes health care improvements, better retirement benefits, and substantial wage increases. Starting pay is raised over 25% immediately to address the bus operator shortage. Operators at top pay will receive 18.5% increases over the course of the contract. Retirement was changed from an employer match system to a direct employer contribution to a member's 401(k). The workers successfully fought company language that would have outsourced Local 689 members' jobs as well as eliminating workers' federal rights under the Family & Medical Leave Act. photo: ATU president John Costa joins the picket line.

ICYMI: [link removed] The strike that shut down Metro for nearly a week in 1978, from The Washington Post, May 4.

Partnership Award honors Claimant Advocacy Program

The [link removed] Claimant Advocacy Program on Wednesday received this year's [link removed] Partnership Award from the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Part of the Metro Washington Labor Council, the program has been directed by Tonya Love for the past two decades. Love and her fellow CAP attorney, Lolita Martin, provide free representation to jobless DC workers in unemployment compensation appeals hearings, a caseload that spiked tremendously during the pandemic. Joining Love - who was specifically honored in the award -- at the event was CAP attorney Lolita Martin and CAP client Melinda Gray; Martin not only helped Gray, a home healthcare worker, win unemployment benefits, but when she won at the D.C. Court of Appeals, the case benefitted the many members of Legal Aid's client community who do the essential work of providing home health care services that allow elderly individuals and those with disabilities to remain in their homes and communities. "Congratulations to Tonya and Lolita," said Metro Washington Council president Dyana Forester. "We are so incredibly proud of this unique, long-standing and -- most importantly -- effective program for DC workers."

photo (l-r): Tonya Love, Melinda Gray, Lolita Martin

Forester appointed to Healthcare Workforce Task Force

Metro Washington Labor Council president Dyana Forester has been appointed to a newhttps://dchealth.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-and-dc-health-launch-new-healthcare-workforce-task-force Healthcare Workforce Task Force formed by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and DC Health. The Task Force is charged with rebuilding, strengthening, and expanding the District's healthcare workforce. "Our health care workers have been incredible throughout the pandemic. At every single stage of the pandemic, they've demonstrated the utmost professionalism and compassion. But they've been through a lot, and this task force is going to put forth fresh ideas for how to best support current and aspiring health care workers," said Mayor Bowser. "We have an opportunity, right now, to bring more residents into a high-demand field and, in doing so, to provide relief and support to our amazing frontline health care workers."


Labor Photo: DC Labor FilmFest Opening Night

The 2022 DC Labor FilmFest launched on May Day at AFI Silver with a packed screening of a remastered print of the 1979 classic "The Wobblies". Metro Washington Council president Dyana Forester and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich welcomed attendees - including an enthusiastic group of young Wobblies -- to the first in-person Labor FilmFest since the pandemic forced the 2020 and 2021 editions online. Filmfest director hosted a Q&A with "Wobblies" co-director Deborah Shaffer after the screening. The LaborFest and FilmFest continue through May with more screenings, music, books and labor history events; [link removed] click here for the schedule or download the [link removed] program guide. photo (l-r): Garlock, Shaffer, Forester & Elrich; photo by Bruce Guthrie.


Today's Labor Quote: Mother Jones

"The first thing is to raise hell. That's always the first thing to do when you're faced with an injustice and you feel powerless. That's what I do in my fight for the working class."

photo: 2022 May Day wreath placed at the Mother Jones Historic Marker in Adelphi, Maryland by the Labor Heritage Foundation's Saul Schniderman, "with thanks to Union Plus and Keith Anderko" for donating the wreath.

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY

This week's Labor History Today podcast: [link removed] We Mean to Make Things Over: A History of May Day; Last week's show: [link removed] The death of "Big Steve" Sutton.

May 6

Works Progress Administration (WPA) established at a cost of $4.8 billion -- more than $72 billion in 2011 dollars -- to provide work opportunities for millions during the Great Depression - 1935

400 black women working as tobacco stemmers walk off the job in a spontaneous revolt against poor working conditions and a $3 weekly wage at the Vaughan Co. in Richmond, Va. - 1937

May 7

The Knights of St. Crispin union is formed at a secret meeting in Milwaukee. It grew to 50,000 members before being crushed by employers later that year - 1867

Two die, 20 are injured in "Bloody Tuesday" as strikebreakers attempt to run San Francisco streetcars during a strike by operators. The strike was declared lost in 1908 after many more deaths, including several in scab-operated streetcar accidents - 1907

Philadelphia's longest transit strike ends after 44 days. A key issue in the fight was the hiring and use of part-timers - 1977
photo: In 1977, SEPTA workers carry signs at a strike rally GEORGE D. MCDOWELL / PHILADELPHIA EVENING BULLETIN COLLECTION, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

May 8

The constitution of the Brotherhood of the Footboard was ratified by engineers in Detroit, Mich. Later became the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers - 1863

Jerry Wurf, who was to serve as president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) from 1964 to his death 1981, born in New York City. The union grew from about 220,000 members to more than 1 million during his presidency - 1919

12,000 Steelworker-represented workers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber win an 18-day strike for improved wages and job security - 1997

- David Prosten

 

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