LABOR CALENDAR; click here for latest listings
Union City Radio: 7:15am M-F; WPFW 89.3FM
Transdev bus driver picket line (ATU 689): Daily 4:00am – 5:00pm
Gates of the Cinder Bed Road Division, 7901 Cinder Bed Road, Lorton, VA
Holiday schedule: Union City will return on Friday, January 3. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook and the dclabor.org website for breaking news over the holidays. Union City Radio will continue through the holiday break, weekdays at 7:15a on WPFW 89.3FM. Best wishes for happy, healthy and safe holidays!
Transit union OKs “Historic” WMATA agreement; Cinder Bed strike continues
ATU Local 689 members on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to approve a “historic” four-year labor deal with WMATA. “The deal safeguards our members from privatization, guarantees steady wage increases, and helps provide a path towards bringing the Cinder Bed Bus garage in-house while protecting the workers that work there now,” Local 689 said in a press release. The WMATA Board of Directors unanimously approved the deal on Friday. While the union said the deal will help prevent future labor disputes, “it does not immediately end the ongoing strike” at the Cinder Bed garage in Lorton, VA that’s been going on for almost 60 days. Read more here
Food & Water recognizes workers’ union
Leadership at Food & Water Action, and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Watch, have agreed to voluntarily recognize their staff’s union with the Nonprofit Professionals Employee Union (NPEU), or IFPTE Local 70, as their collective bargaining representative. “As an organization, we advocate for union power in the WATER Act and a real Green New Deal because we recognize the critical importance of protecting union labor and not leaving workers behind in our fight for a better world,” workers wrote in a memo announcing the formation of their union. “We believe that a union will allow us to truly live up to our values; will give us a tangible way to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace; and will show the rest of the world how truly invested we are in the right of workers to make a fair living on a livable planet.” Nearly 80 workers from many parts of the country will be in the union. Read more here
Register now for CSA bowling tournament
While there are some serious bowlers at the annual Bowling for Gold tournament – scheduled for Sunday, January 26, 2020 – most of the folks are there for the fun, solidarity and yes, the beer, burgers and fries. And of course, to raise money for CSA’s Emergency Assistance Fund, which assists area families in need. Teams can play at either 9a (new starting time!) or 1p; cost is $25 per person. Click here for a registration form or contact: [email protected] or 202-974-8226.
photo: 2019 SEIU 722 teams; photo by Chris Garlock
Solidarity Center Report: Union Women Rock 16 Days of Activism Against GBVH
With Solidarity Center support, more than 23 unions, worker associations and their allies in more than a dozen countries issued statements during the recent 16 Days of Action Against Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH), urging their governments ratify ILO Convention 190 to end violence and harassment against women in the world of work. “The GBVH campaign is long-term—it’s about building a movement, changing perception and public awareness around the issue," says Natalya Levytska, the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) deputy chair and Gender Committee leader. Find out more at the Solidarity Center.
Today's Labor Quote: Sam Gompers
Today's Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Working-Class Christmas
On today’s special holiday show, professor Kathy Newman argues that it was the working class that invented Christmas and many of the traditions that are associated with the holiday season. A year ago, nearly a million government workers were locked out or working without pay; we talk to Gregory Guthrie, president of National Federation of Federal Employees Local 1627, about last year’s historic government shutdown. And Saul Schneiderman – with some help from Woody Guthrie – remembers the 1913 Massacre (photo).
Last week's show: (12/15): Hidden in the Fields
AFL officers are found in contempt of court for urging a labor boycott of Buck's Stove and Range Co. in St Louis, MO where the Metal Polishers were striking for a 9-hour day - 1908
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest employer, with 1.4 million "associates," agrees to settle 63 wage and hour suits across the U.S., for a grand total of between $352 million and $640 million. It was accused of failure to pay overtime, requiring off-the-clock work, and failure to provide required meal and rest breaks - 2008
- David Prosten
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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