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Hogan Administration hollowing out state agencies, union says

Labor hits the doors tomorrow in Maryland primary

DC United vs. Orlando City SC in Labor Union Night

Biden awards Trumka Presidential Medal of Freedom

OPEIU 2 tests your LGBTQIA+ knowledge

Report: Discrimination, Inequality Drive Trafficking in Agriculture

Union Voice/Readers Write: IWW actually 3 days older

Labor Quote

Today's Labor History

 

Labor Calendar: [link removed] click here for complete and latest listings

MWC MD Primary GOTV for MD Statewide and District 2 & 6: Sat, July 9, 10am - 2pm
UFCW 400: 8400 Corporate Dr #200, Landover, MD 20785 (District 2)
ATU 689: 2701 Whitney Pl, District Heights, MD 20747 (District 6)
[link removed] RSVP HERE

[link removed] 22nd Annual John N. Sturdivant Awards Brunch: Sun, July 10, 10:30am - 1:00pm
Westwood Country Club, 800 Maple Ave E, Vienna, VA 22180, USA ([link removed] map)
John Sturdivant, who died in 1997, was one of the most beloved and effective union presidents in AFGE history and a powerful champion for workers.

Jobs With Justice 35th Anniversary Celebration & Alumni Gathering: Mon, July 11, 4:30pm - 7:30pm
Friends Meeting of Washington, 2111 Decatur Pl NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA ([link removed] map)
[link removed] RSVP HERE

MWC MD Primary Phonebank (Wanika Fisher): Mon, July 11, 6pm - 8pm
[link removed] Zoom Link Sign-up here.

Labor on the Air: On yesterday's [link removed] Your Rights At Work radio show (WPFW 89.3FM Thursdays at 1p), labor historian Joe McCartin reminds us that [link removed] counting on the Supreme Court to uphold key rights was always a mistake, and journalist/podcaster Errol Schweizer on [link removed] Why Worker Organizing Is So Essential To The Food Industry. Plus original music from local folksinger Steve Jones. [link removed] CLICK HERE to listen or search for Your Rights At Work wherever you listen to podcasts![link removed]


Hogan Administration hollowing out state agencies, union says

Maryland state agencies are awash in vacancies, losing seasoned workers and struggling to perform core functions, according to union leaders, members of the General Assembly and Attorney General Brian Frosh, [link removed] reports Bruce DePuyt. At a news conference on Wednesday, AFSCME Council 3 leader Patrick Moran said there are currently more than 7,000 vacant positions across the state and he accused the governor of creating a "manufactured crisis" by under-funding agencies. "These purposeful cuts and vacancies have resulted in a lack of needed services, skyrocketing overtime to hundreds of millions of dollars, and used as cover to... privatize public services," said Moran. [link removed] Read more in Maryland Matters.

photo: AFSCME Council 3 president Patrick Moran, Rep. Anthony Brown (D), NAACP chair Willie Flowers, Sen. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore), union members and supporters speak to reporters about state employee vacancies outside the Hickey School in Baltimore County. Photo by Bruce DePuyt.

Labor hits the doors tomorrow in Maryland primary

The Metropolitan Washington Labor Council's first canvass launches tomorrow at 10a to turn out the labor vote for Tom Perez and MWC-endorsed county candidates. Local activists have two locations to choose from: 8400 Corporate Dr #200 (UFCW 400), Landover, MD 20785 or 2701 Whitney Place (ATU 689), District Heights, MD 20747.

Sign up to participate byhttps://forms.gle/MqvgwBRZtTPJd3rC7 clicking here. Show your support for labor endorsed candidates by taking photos at the polls and on doors. Use the hashtag #metrolaborvotes when you post on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Don't forget to tag your union and the Metro Council at @DCLabor. [link removed] Click here for the Maryland State AFL-CIO Endorsement List.


DC United vs. Orlando City SC in Labor Union Night

DC United will take on Orlando City SC on July 31, at this year'shttps://fevo.me/unionnightdcu Labor Union Night. Participating unions and their members will be recognized at the game and a portion of each ticket will benefit the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO. "Let's score a winning goal for workers and their families!" said CSA Executive Director Letycia Pastrana. Game time is 5p;[link removed] click here for info/tickets.


Biden awards Trumka Presidential Medal of Freedom

Yesterday afternoon, President Biden posthumously honored former AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. In awarding the medal, President Biden said: "No one did more work for American workers than he did. For Rich, his work was synonymous with the word that defined his life: dignity....His work was fierce, always trying to do the right thing for working people....Rich Trumka was the American worker." "As his union family, we know all that he won for working people. Now, the rest of the world will know, too," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler. "Thank you for everything, Rich."


OPEIU 2 tests your LGBTQIA+ knowledge

In San Francisco, in 1977, which union joined with queer activists to boycott Coors beer, which at the time was both anti-LGBTQ & anti-union? Which union was the first to pass a resolution against discrimination based on sexual orientation? And in what year did the AFL-CIO officially back marriage equality? If you know the answers to these questions, you're well on your way to scoring high in OPEIU Local 2's [link removed] LGBTQIA+ themed trivia game, which celebrates the just-concluded Pride Month. "Test your knowledge and learn something new!" urges quiz creator Chelsea Bland. You can also visit Local 2's [link removed] Facebook page where they share stories of members highlighted by the OPEIU international during Pride Month.


Report: Discrimination, Inequality Drive Trafficking in Agriculture

A new report highlights how recruitment practices for agricultural workers, particularly of seasonal, temporary and migrant workers, increase risks of trafficking for forced labor. The report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur Siobhán Mullally found that while the pandemic saw agricultural workers called "essential," worker protections didn't follow. Seasonal and migrant workers have limited legal coverage and restrictive migration policies persist despite the demand for agricultural workers. [link removed] Find out more at Solidarity Center.


Union Voice/Readers Write: IWW actually 3 days older

"Wasn't the IWW technically founded on June 27th, 1905 and not on June 30th, 1905?" asks UC reader Runal Das (June 30 Today in Labor History).

Works for us: the IWW Founding Convention took place Friday June 27 through Saturday July 8th, 1905, and the official IWW [link removed] chronology picks June 27 as the date "The `Continental Congress of the Working Class' establishes the industrial Workers of the World." By the way, the [link removed] minutes of the entire convention's proceedings make fascinating reading for those interested in seeing the contributions of the most famous labor radicals of the day, including Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene V. Debs, Daniel De Leon, Lucy Parsons and hundreds of rank-and-file leaders of the "Wobblies."


Labor Quote: Denise Henderson Johnson

"We are dealing with dangerously low staffing levels. Staff are leaving faster than we can hire and train staff to fill their jobs."

AFSCME board member Denise Henderson Johnson represents Department of Juvenile Services personnel.

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY

This week's Labor History Today podcast: [link removed] A Supreme disaster for workers; Last week's show: [link removed] Working People's Hidden Histories.

July 8

Founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W., or Wobblies) concludes in Chicago. Charles O. Sherman, a former American Federation of Labor organizer, is elected president - 1905

July 9

Five thousand demonstrators rally at the state capitol in Columbia, S.C. in support of the "Charleston Five," labor activists charged with felony rioting during a police attack on a 2000 longshoremen's picket of a non-union crew unloading a ship - 2001

July 10

14,000 federal and state troops finally succeed in putting down the strike against the Pullman Palace Car Co., which had been peaceful until July 5, when federal troops intervened in Chicago, against the repeated protests of the Governor and Chicago's mayor. Some 34 American Rail Union members were killed by troops over the course of the strike - 1894

- David Prosten

 

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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.

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