Today’s Labor Calendar
Click here for the complete calendar and details. Got something to add or update? Email us at [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.
Loudoun County Transit Strike Picket Line: Tue, January 31, 3:30am – 4:00pm
43031 Loudoun Center Place in Leesburg, VA (map)
Labor Reform in Mexico: Challenges as Key Deadline Approaches: Tue, January 31, 10:30am – 11:30am
Register for Webinar
Striking Keolis drivers rally at the French Embassy: Tue, January 31, 1pm – 2pm
4101 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC (map)
Join members of ATU 689 (Loudoun County transit workers) at the French Embassy on their 20th day striking against French company Keolis.
MWC Delegate's Meeting: Tue, January 31, 5pm – 7pm
Click here to register. Note: To ensure our meetings are not disrupted, pre-registration is required, and delegates will be admitted upon verification of their status.
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Loudoun County strike comes to NW DC
The two-week-old strike by Loudoun County bus drivers comes to the French Embassy today. Loudoun County transit is managed by a company named Keolis, whose parent company, SNCF Rail, is controlled by the French government. Today at one o’clock at the French Embassy in Northwest Washington (see Calendar above for details), the workers and their union, ATU Local 689, will urge the French government “to stop Keolis from further breaking labor law, bargaining in bad faith, and refusing to give its employees a fair and dignified contract,” said ATU 689. Keolis took over operation of Loudoun County’s transit service in April 2021, after lowballing their bid, says the union. Keolis then refused to recognize either the union or the union contract that was already in place, unilaterally slashed benefits and began to impose a number of cuts on the workforce. The National Labor Relations Board has found merit to at least four different Unfair Labor Practice Charges against Keolis, and on January 11, after “months of stalling and bad faith negotiations” by the company, the workers walked out. photo courtesy TTD.
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Democratic Party of Virginia staff ratify new union contract
Employees of the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA), members of UFCW Local 400, ratified a strong four-year collective bargaining agreement last week that provides for significant pay increases ranging from 10.5 percent to 33 percent, an additional holiday (Juneteenth), and continued comprehensive benefits and leave policies. This is their second contract, having bargained their first agreement shortly after they won Local 400 representation on September 15, 2020. Local 400 President Mark Federici saluted DPVA management “for walking their pro-labor talk, They are practicing with their own employees what they preach and in return, they have an outstanding team of campaign professionals to advance the party’s interests.” Read more here.
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AFSCME Council 3 higher ed locals discuss growth and solidarity
“We had a great training on Saturday with member leaders and activists from our higher education campuses that we represent!” tweeted AFSCME Council 3 yesterday. “We discussed how to grow our locals and talk to our coworkers about the importance of union solidarity.” |
Labor Quote: Ida May Fuller
‘It wasn't that I expected anything, mind you, but I knew I'd been paying for something called Social Security and I wanted to ask the people in Rutland about it.”
Fuller was the first retiree to receive an old-age monthly benefit check under the new Social Security law on this date in 1940. |
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Today’s Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: A meatpacker’s American dream. Last week’s show: Bill Lucy on MLK; Shubert Sebree on Debs.
12,000 pecan shellers in San Antonio, Tex. – mostly Latino women – walk off their jobs at 400 factories in what was to become a three-month strike against wage cuts. Strike leader Emma Tenayuca was eventually hounded out of the state – 1938
After scoring successes with representation elections conducted under the protective oversight of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, the United Farm Workers of America officially ends its historic table grape, lettuce and wine boycotts – 1978
Five months after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans school board fires every teacher in the district in what the United Teachers of New Orleans sees as an effort to break the union and privatize the school system - 2005
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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