| Friday, June 25, 2010
CEMENT MASONS SEAL BIG CONCRETE DEAL AT NEW COAST GUARD HQ: Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ Local 891 is “One of the first labor unions" to land a  contract on the St Elizabeth's project in Southeast DC, reports Business Manager Keith Hickman. The union recently locked down a federal contract to work on the new Coast Guard headquarters at the former site of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. The several-year contract is not only one of the biggest in the local’s history, but “is about the people of DC,” says Hickman, noting that the million-square-foot project will provide work for area residents during the prolonged economic downturn. “This is great news for workers and it's a big deal,” adds Hickman.
– report by Boaz Young-El, AFL-CIO Union Summer Intern; photo courtesy OPCMIA website
STRASBOURG SET TO PITCH AT LABOR NIGHT AT THE NATS: Now there are two reasons to catch the July 9 Nationals-Giants game: tickets to the third annual Labor Night at the Nats benefit the Community Services Agency and pitching phenom Stephen Strasbourg (l) is currently scheduled to start that night. “It’s going to be a great night at the ballpark,” says CSA Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy, “and there’s still time to get tickets!” Email her at kmckirch@dclabor.org to order. photo courtesy The Washington Post
DC RESIDENT WANTS TO HELP REBUILD HIS COMMUNITY: Larae King-Day is a  construction worker, a father, a musician and a lifelong DC resident. He’s also been out of work for two long years. King-Day trained as a construction worker through the GSA Building Futures Project but has had no luck finding steady work. “I thought being a Ward 8 resident would give me preference in hiring, but it hasn’t,” says a frustrated King-Day (r). “Its grim out there for the native Washingtonian.” A glimmer of hope for King-Day is the “District Resident Employment & Trade Stimulus Amendment Act of 2010,” legislation currently before the DC City Council that would require higher standards for employing DC residents on District- subsidized projects. “DC residents should be able to get first priority,” says King-Day, “We live in this community. Why wouldn’t I want to work to rebuild my community, my school, my neighborhood, my street, my sidewalk?” King-Day will testify in support of the legislation at a hearing next Wednesday before the DC City Council.
- Essie Ablavsky, Union Summer intern; photo by Ryan McCarty
LABOR PROFILE: Union Summer Intern Jack Arlook
 Inspired by his urge to make a positive impact on people’s lives in his hometown, Washingtonian Jack Arlook is one of this year’s Union Summer interns at the Metro Washington Council. After graduating from Eckerd College in St Petersburg, FL in 2007 – where he earned a double major in Philosophy and Political Science -- Arlook (l), who comes from a union family, worked as a videographer at the Campaign For America’s Future. Much of his work there was focused on a documentary during the healthcare debate about a patient whose coverage was dropped by her insurance company after she developed lupus. Arlook wanted to participate in the Union Summer program because of its “potential for progressive change” as well as “the great networking opportunities that come with this line of work.” Arlook is looking to take the experiences gained this summer, along with his videography background, to either Chicago or New York as he pursues career opportunities in videography.
- report/photo by Boaz Young-El, Union Summer intern
WEEKEND LABOR HISTORY: More than 8,000 people attend the dedication ceremony  for The Haymarket Martyrs Monument (r) in Chicago, honoring those framed and executed for the bombing at Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886 (6/25/1893); Fair Labor Standards Act passes Congress, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week (6/25/1938); At the urging of black labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, Franklin Roosevelt issues an executive order barring discrimination in defense industries (6/25/1941); Congress passes the Smith-Connally War Labor Disputes Act over Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s veto. It allows the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened by strikes that would interfere with war production. It was hurriedly created after the third coal strike in seven weeks (6/25/1943); 21 workers are killed when a fireworks factory near Hallett, Okla. explodes (6/25/1985); Decatur, Ill. police pepper-gas workers at A.E. Staley plant gate one year into the company's two and one-half year lockout of Paperworkers Local 7837 (6/25/1994); Members of the American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, refuse to handle Pullman cars, in solidarity with Pullman strikers. Two dozen strikers were killed over the course of the strike (6/26/1894); The Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the "Wobblies," is founded at a convention in Chicago. The Wobblie motto: "An injury to one is an injury to all." (6/27/1905); Congress passes the National Labor Relations Act, creating the structure for collective bargaining in the United States (6/27/1935) ; A 26-day strike of New York City hotels by 26,000 workers – the first such walkout in 50 years – ends with a five-year contract calling for big wage and benefit gains (6/27/1985) ; A.E. Staley locks out 763 workers in Decatur, Ill. The lockout was to last two and one-half years (6/27/1993). More info & ammo for unionists is available online from Union Communication Services. photo courtesy Chicago Independent Media Center; the memorial is in the Waldheim (Forest Home) Cemetery.
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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. JOSLYN N. WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT.
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e Metro workers' union. “Effective oversight, dedicated funding and institutional accountability will restore the confidence of riders, workers and taxpayers who support the ailing system,” says ATU Local 689 President Jackie Jeter, recently appointed to a 20-member federal board responsible for studying and making recommendations to alleviate some of the challenges facing the nation’s second busiest rail system and other mass transit operations across the country. “This appointment is an honor on behalf of my members and the public that supports Metro,” noted Jeter, a former rail operator who has led ATU Local 689 since 2007. “My participation provides an opportunity to bring the perspective and expertise of frontline workers to help solve the problems plaguing Metro. There are no easy solutions, but with honest dialogue and a commitment to positive change, the world class system that Metro is destined to be is within our reach.” .jpg)
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mine coal, a practice that had been in place since 1848. In 1898, 73 percent of the state's total revenue came from this source. 25 percent of all black leased convicts died (1928); The Walsh-Healey Act took effect today. It requires companies that supply goods to the government to pay wages according to a schedule set by the Secretary of Labor (1936); Up to 40,000 New York construction workers demonstated in midtown Manhattan, protesting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s awarding of a $33 million contract to a nonunion company. Eighteen police and three demonstrators were injured. "There were some scattered incidents and some minor violence," Police Commissioner Howard Safir told the New York Post. "Generally, it was a pretty well-behaved crowd." (1998); More info & ammo for unionists is available online from 
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gest turnout in the union's history -- sent "a strong message to WHC management that we will not accept continued staffing shortages or reductions in benefits and wages," said Nurses United after the vote. The nurses are now working without a contract, the previous contract having expired at midnight on June 19. "This weekend’s vote was not a strike vote," the union said. "We do not want to go on strike, but we will if we have to. Our first choice is to resolve this at the negotiation table. A strike is our most powerful tool, and should it be necessary, we need to be ready to use it." Contract negotiations are expected to resume soon after the Fourth of July holiday. 
rce” law is largely being ignored, according to recent reports and investigations. Councilmember Michael Brown (I-At large), will hold a hearing this .jpg)
t, growing up in a household fully engaged in the battle for workers rights and solidarity. Her mother, Eula Tate, was a lobbyist for the UAW for 20 years, as well as a city council member in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and father Ronnie Tate is a familiar front-desk face at the AFL-CIO. At school, Tate majored in political theory and constitutional democracy and went on to intern at AFGE and was herself a Union Summer intern in the summer of 2006. That fall, she worked on Jim Marcinkowski’s 2006 Congressional campaign and most recently she was a development associate at Project Vote. Tate looks forward to ensuring that each of the Union Summer interns has a fulfilling and inspiring experience working with the metro area labor movement this summer, and plans to continue her career fighting for labor solidarity in Washington after the program’s conclusion later this summer. “It's exciting to be on the other side of things as a (Union Summer) site coordinator," said Tate. "I now understand the significance of the work I did when I was a Union Summer intern.” 
e, describing the strikers’ response to scabs: "One of my men said he was at the corner of Halsted and Madison Streets, and although he could see fifty stones in the air, he couldn't tell where they were coming from." The strike was settled to the workers’ satisfaction (1885); IWW strikes Weyerhauser and other Idaho lumber camps (1936); Jesus Pallares, founder of the 8,000-member coal miners union, Liga Obrera de Habla Esanola, is deported as an "undesirable alien." The union operated in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado (1936); The Boilermaker and Blacksmith unions merge to become International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers (1954); The U.S. Supreme Court rules in CWA v. Beck that, in a union security agreement, a union can collect as dues from non-members only that money necessary to perform its duties as a collective bargaining representative (1988); More info & ammo for unionists is available online from 
n. The filing came after a brief 3-week campaign initiated by the workers themselves, reports Carl Goldman, Executive Director of AFSCME Council 26, which is organizing the new unit. "To able to file for an election so quickly with a large amount of support is itself a victory," said Goldman, "We're sending a message to management that their workers want a union." The tour guides and visitor assistants, who lead tours of the U.S. Capitol and Capitol Visitor's Center, organized around a wide range of issues, including worker rights, health and safety, and security protocols. The new Capitol Visitor's Center has been the target of many worker complaints, including the handling of suspicious packages - one supervisor recently dealt with a package marked "anthrax" by simply flushing it down the toilet instead of calling the police - weather-inappropriate clothing and lost benefits. Workers have also reported attempted intimidation by CVC managers during the organizing drive. Goldman called the tour staff organizing committee "one of the best I've ever worked with... a very energetic group of folks." .jpg)
nwillingly benched. Williams, a DC resident, apprenticed with Ironworkers Local 5, which made sure that he found a job after graduating. He helped lay the foundation for the Nationals ballpark thanks to the First Source Employment Act, which established “a mandate for a certain number of DC residents to be on that job which in turn allowed me to be on that job.” Currently laid off, Williams says the District’s proposed Employment Stimulus Bill will open up opportunities for long-term employment and quality training programs for him and his fellow DC residents. Williams plans to testify in support of the legislation at a 
nd a longtime union activist, first with the United Farm Workers, and later with the Longshoremen. “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community,” Ramirez quotes Chavez, “Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” Ramirez is a student at the University of California Santa Barbara, where she’s pursuing a double major in political science with an emphasis in international relations and history of public policy, as well as a minor in labor studies. Ramirez plans on attending law school for labor law after she graduates. Following a busy junior year at UC Santa Barbara, Ramirez decided to enroll in the UC at D.C. program -- which selects 25 qualified students to work in D.C. internships over the summer – which placed her in the Union Summer program. “Working for the D.C. Labor Council is a great opportunity to further my experience as a labor activist while having the opportunity to help the workers in D.C. metro area,” says Ramirez. .jpg)
demanding that hotel owner Columbia Sussex “sign a fair contract or get out of town.” The workers have been without a contract since October 2007. The “last and final offer” imposed by management has “arbitrarily eliminated sick days, increased the burden of health care costs on employees, imposed layoffs and has prevented raises for more than three years,” said UNITE HERE Local 25 Organizer Mike Hachey. The workers rallied for over an hour in the asphyxiating humidity, the sound of their snare drums amplified through bullhorns as they waved signs reading “Boycott this hotel” and chanting “No justice, no peace!” Maintenance Mechanic Rafael Cruz told Union City that management is “intimidating us constantly- they force us to do twice the work with half the number of people.” He added, “In the 24 years that I have worked for the Hilton, never have I witnessed such greed and intimidation from our employer. We deserve to be treated with respect and dignity- not have our rights taken away. We all have families to take care of just like everyone else.” Hachey told Union City that Columbia Sussex has been hit hard by the boycott – which affects eight hotels in DC, Virginia, Chicago and California – yet they “still refuse to negotiate a fair contract.” He added, “We’re going to keep fighting until we win or they get out!” 
" The local is showing off its new headquarters at an Open House this .jpg)
t Union (MSU), a social equality advocacy group on campus. “MSU was one of the most influential student organizations on campus,” Young-El says, “We fought for diversity among the student body and invited prominent black community leaders -- including novelist Nikki Giovanni -- to come speak on campus.” Giovanni addressed her own role in civil rights activism and how it mirrored MSU and Young-El’s work at Hampden-Sidney. Young-El was raised in Prince George, Virginia and graduated from Hampden-Sidney – where he majored in philosophy and later Spanish after studying abroad in Costa Rica where he fell in love with the language -- in 2010. He looks forward to establishing networking opportunities during his Union Summer internship, as well as learning more about the “many faces” of the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO. He plans to stay in the Washington area after Union Summer and pursue further employment opportunities with the local labor movement. 