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ATU Local 689 reaches tentative agreement with Transdev at Cinder Bed Road after 82-day strike

Repealing VA's "Right to Work"

WILL Empower's growing movement of women leaders

Martin Luther King Holiday Ball

Today's Labor History

Today's Labor Quote

Hiring Hall: Latest DC-area union staff jobs!

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

Transdev bus driver picket line (ATU 689): Daily, 4:00am - 5:00pm
Gates of the Cinder Bed Road Division, 7901 Cinder Bed Road, Lorton, Virginia

Union City Radio: 7:15a; WPFW-FM 89.3

Baltimore CLC Leadership Conference: Jan 15 - 17, 2020
Tropicana Atlantic City, 2831 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ 08401

Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work: Thu, January 16, 1pm - 2pm
WPFW 89.3 FM or [link removed] listen online

NoVA Labor monthly meeting: Thu, January 16, 7pm - 9pm
NoVA Labor, 4536 B John Marr Drive, Annandale, VA

Gonna Take Us All MLK Holiday Ball 2020: Sun, January 19, 8:00pm - 11:59pm
Silver Spring Civic Building * One Veterans Place, Silver Spring, MD 20910
$35/ticket; $300/table; [link removed] CLICK HERE

Metro Washington Council Delegate Meeting: Tue, January 21, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
AFL-CIO, 815 16th St NW, Washington, DC xxxxxx (Presidents Room)

CSA "Bowling for Gold" Tournament: Sun, January 26
Crofton Bowling Centre, 2115 Priest Bridge Dr, Crofton, MD 21114
[link removed] Details/sign up here
photo: 2018 WTU 6 bowling team

Got local labor news? Share it with the DC labor community here! Email us at mailto:[email protected] [email protected] today.

ATU Local 689 reaches tentative agreement with Transdev at Cinder Bed Road after 82-day strike
After 82 days -- the longest transit strike in the region's history-- the Cinder Bed Road bus strike may be over. ATU Local 689 announced late Tuesday that it had reached a tentative agreement with Transdev that covers the workers at WMATA's Cinder Bed Road Facility. "Our members at Cinder Bed Road sacrificed for months to ensure that public transit careers were steady paths to the middle class," said Local 689 President and Business Agent Raymond Jackson. "With this tentative agreement it solidifies that transit companies can't cut costs at the expense of workers' ability to feed their families." The strike drew widespread support from the labor movement both locally and globally, along with allies, including elected officials. "I am very proud of our sisters and brothers at Cinder Bed Road," said ATU International President John Costa. "Their courage, solidarity, determination and resolve on the picket lines led to the agreement that should end this strike." Costa called the drivers "the heroes in halting the ill-advised march to transit privatization in the DMV." The tentative agreement includes improved healthcare and retirement plans along with substantial wage increases. Further details about the agreement will be released following a vote by the Cinder Bed drivers, expected later this week. The union said the strike will continue until members have approved the agreement.
photo: Cinder Bed strikers with Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust in December 2019

Repealing VA's "Right to Work"
Virginia was one of the first of 28 states to adopt "Right to Work" laws, back in 1947. This year, it may be the first to repeal such laws. Legislation, [link removed] HB 153, has been introduced to repeal Virginia's "Right to Work" law, and supporters are collecting signatures on an online [link removed] petition which will be delivered to members of the hearing committee of the Virginia General Assembly in advance of the January 27 AFL-CIO lobby day in support of HB 153. "Labor worked very hard to flip the General Assembly," said NoVA Labor president Virginia Diamond, "and we expect the Democrats to repeal this anti-worker law which grew out of the state's racist Jim Crow past."
photo: at last month's Coalition meeting; the next meeting is Tue, January 28, 7pm - 9pm at the Shirlington Busboys & Poets

WILL Empower's growing movement of women leaders
WILL Empower (WE) closed out the decade with "a remarkable year that grew and deepened our network of women labor leaders including apprentices, emerging and executive leaders, mentors, advisory council members, sponsors, and more," says Co-director Lane Windham. WE hosted the second [link removed] class of apprentices, launched the first [link removed] emerging leaders cohort and the first [link removed] executive leadership cohort which represents diverse and dynamic women leading in labor across the country. WE will be accepting applications for the [link removed] Apprenticeship program until April 15, 2020. Apprenticeship [link removed] Host Site applications will be accepted until March 31, 2020.
Hear Windham and Co-director Sheri Davis-Faulkner on Your Rights At Work on WPFW 89.3 FM at 1p on Thursday, January 16.

Martin Luther King Holiday Ball
Dancing, drinks, light refreshments and of course, music will "Celebrate our commitment to make real Dr. King's dream of peace, justice and equality for all" at the annual Martin Luther King Holiday Ball this Sunday (see Calendar). DJ Wah-Heed will provide dance music, and there'll also be performances by DC Labor Chorus and other guests.

Today's Labor Quote: "Solidarity Forever"

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.

Wobblie Ralph Chaplin was in Chicago on this date in 1915 for a demonstration against hunger when he completed the writing of the labor anthem "Solidarity Forever." He'd begun writing it in 1914 during a miner's strike in Huntington, WV.
Video: Labor Heritage Foundation Executive Director -- and DC Labor Chorus Director -- Elise Bryant sings "Solidarity Forever" at the Women's Fair Practices Luncheon at the 2015 AFGE Grassroots and Mobilizations Legislative Conference.

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Today's Labor History

This week's [link removed] Labor History Today podcast: UAW's Punch Press strike daily
On today's show, the Cool Things from the Meany Archives crew features The Punch Press, an auto worker strike publication. Also this week, Saul Schniderman remembers contributions to labor history by both Johnny Paycheck and Bruce Springsteen.
Last week's show: (1/5): [link removed] A very unusual strike

Wednesday, January 15
Martin Luther King, Jr. born - 1929

The CIO miners' union in the Grass Valley area of California strikes for higher wages, union recognition, and the 8 hour day. The strike was defeated when vigilantes and law enforcement officials expelled 400 miners and their families from the area - 1938

The Pentagon, to this day the largest office building in the world, is dedicated just 16 months after groundbreaking. At times of peak employment 13,000 workers labored on the project - 1943

Thursday, January 16
The United States Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act went into effect - 1883

Thousands of Palmer Raids detainees win right to meet with lawyers and attorney representation at deportation hearings. "Palmer" was Alexander Mitchell Palmer, U.S. Attorney General under Woodrow Wilson. Palmer said Communism was "eating its way into the homes of the American workman," and blamed Socialists for causing most of the country's social problems - 1920

Former UAW President Leonard Woodcock dies in Ann Arbor, Mich. at age 89. He had succeeded Walter Reuther and led the union from 1970 to 1977 - 2001

- David Prosten; photo: Aftermath of Palmer raid on the IWW (International Workers of the World) office in New York, November 15, 1919.

Hiring Hall

Communications
[link removed] Senior Editorial and Speechwriter - Communications, AFL-CIO (Posted: 1/9/2020)

Misc
[link removed] Operations and Finance Manager, SEIU (NFFWU - SEIU National Fast Food Workers Union) (Posted: 1/14/2020)
[link removed] Director of Operations, SolidaritUS Health (Posted: 1/13/2020)
[link removed] Apprenticeship Program, WILL Empower (Women Innovating Labor Leadership) (Posted: 1/9/2020)

Organizing
[link removed] Eastern Region Retiree Field Organizer, AFSCME Retirees (Posted: 1/8/2020)

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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