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Exhausted DC nurses demand change after another year of crises

AFGE celebrates historic increase in pay and rights for TSA Officers

Labor Quote

Today's Labor History

 

Today's Labor Calendar

[link removed] Click here for the complete calendar and details. Got something to add or update? Email us at mailto:[email protected] [email protected].

Union City Radio: 7:15am, WPFW-FM 89.3 FM

2-minute audio version of the Metro Washington Labor Council's Union City newsletter.

Your Rights at Work radio show (WPFW 89.3FM): Thu, January 5, 1pm - 2pm
WPFW 89.3 FM or [link removed] listen online.
Hosts: Chris Garlock and Ed Smith; Today's guests: open phones, call in at 202-588-0893

[link removed] Arlington Dems Labor Caucus: Thu, January 5, 6pm - 7pm
Meeting for union members and friends of labor in Arlington.

Exhausted DC nurses demand change after another year of crises

Another year filled with crises has nurses across the country exhausted and [link removed] demanding change that will provide much-needed relief. Not only does COVID-19 continue to provide challenges, nurses also faced flu and respiratory syncytial virus (known as RSV), in what is being called a "tridemic." Nurses complain about being overworked, understaffed and underappreciated. Health care workers are overwhelmed, and patients face increased risks. "What I really want, obviously, is better retention and better staffing," said Charlene Garcia, an emergency department nurse at Washington Hospital Center. "But also compensation...and above all, safety." The nurses, who are members of DC Nurses Association (DNCA), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), plan to be active and their tactics include contract negotiations, protests, solidarity with other unions and strikes, which have been on the rise in recent years. "Workers need to be active and fight," said Edward Smith, DNCA executive director. "I think we're seeing a new generation of activists demanding that `I want my rights, I want to be respected. I want to be treated with dignity.'

- DCist via the AFL-CIO Daily Brief; photo: Aja Drain / Dcist/WAMU

AFGE celebrates historic increase in pay and rights for TSA Officers

The working people who protect America's skies - who are currently among the federal government's worst-paid employees - will finally see an increase in pay this year, thanks to inclusion of increasing funding for Transportation Security Officers in the 2023 omnibus budget bill signed by President Joe Biden last week. "As a Transportation Security Officer myself, I know firsthand the frustrations of the TSOs we represent," said Hydrick Thomas, President of AFGE Council 100, which represents Transportation Security Officers. "Our members work at airports across the United States, at every hour of the day, to protect our nation. For too long, that work was taken for granted." In addition, a new determination recently issued by TSA Administrator David Pekoske expands the bargaining rights of TSOs, including key provisions of Title 5 rights enjoyed by most other federal employees. AFGE called is "a positive step forward for both workers and the agency itself."


Labor Quote: Al Zampa

A renowned Bay Area ironworker, Zampa [link removed] told SFGate that when a man fell to his death from a bridge it was said "he's gone to hell." But those who plunged and were saved by the safety net were said to have fallen only "half way to hell," hence the club's name (see Labor History, below).

Today's Labor History

This week's Labor History Today podcast: [link removed] "No Labor Dictators for Us". Last week's show: [link removed] A Working-Class Christmas Story Christmas.

Ford Motor Company raises wages from $2.40 for a 9-hour day to $5 for an 8 hour day in effort to keep the unions out - 1914

Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins. Ten of the eleven deaths on the job came when safety netting beneath the site - the first-ever use of such equipment - failed under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen. Nineteen other workers were saved by the net over the course of construction. They became members of the (informal) Halfway to Hell Club - 1933 photo courtesy Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District; [link removed] more photos here.


David Prosten

 

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Published by the Metropolitan Washington Labor Council, an AFL-CIO "Union City" Central Labor Council whose 200 affiliated union locals represent 150,000 area union members. DYANA FORESTER, PRESIDENT.

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