| Thursday, July 15, 2010
DAYCON THUMBS NOSE AT NLRB, WORKERS: "We're still on strike!" reports Teamsters 639 Business Agent  Doug Webber. The Teamsters met Tuesday afternoon with Daycon management and a federal mediator after the National Labor Relations Board issued a formal complaint against the local cleaning supplies company, whose workers have been on strike since April 26. The striking Teamsters had offered an unconditional return to work and hoped to resume bargaining, but "Daycon just threw the same proposal back on the table and told us to take it or leave it," said Webber. Daycon's imposition of their so-called "final" proposal prompted the strike and the NLRB last week ruled that the company acted improperly in unilaterally declaring impasse. "It's clear that Daycon has no intention of changing its position so we'll be in discussions with the IBT and looking at filing more charges as well as stepping up pressure on Daycon," said Webber.
- Chris Garlock; photo by Boaz Young-El ELECTRICIANS PAY IT FORWARD: Thirty electricians and apprentices kept things humming Saturday as they wired up a Covenant House facility in southeast Washington.  The volunteers included members of IBEW Local 26’s Minority Coalition, who recruited fellow local members of all races to help wire the housing and training facility for Covenant House, which provides services to area homeless and runaway youth. For apprentice Dartazse Jones, the work was personal: he’d been one of those youth before being accepted into the IBEW 26 apprenticeship program, where he’s in his third year of learning a trade. “Dartazse’ story is a perfect example of the success of Covenant House, the Community Services Agency and the Minority Coalition,” said Metro Council President Jos Williams. “This young man brought tears to all our eyes as he shared how much it meant for him to be able to return to Covenant House and give back to those who sustained him until he was able to get his feet on the ground.” Several times a year, Local 26, the Community Services Agency, the Minority Coalition and union contractor Dynalectric – which donates the necessary materials -- partner “to help a non-profit in the District with the electrical repairs they couldn’t otherwise afford,” said CSA Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy.
- photo: electrician Brian Humphrey installs a ceiling fan; photo by Violet Carter
LABOR PROFILE: Robert Bass, MCGEO/UFCW 1994 Shop Steward
Shop stewards are on a local union's day-to-day frontlines, and that's where UFCW 1994  shop steward Robert Bass (at far left in photo) was last Wednesday. "We've got to nip this in the bud," he said, referring to the raiding attempt by an out-of-state union on Local 1994's members. After the strong showing of support for Local 1994, the out-of-state union cancelled meetings set for this week. "As shop stewards, we serve as a buffer for the local to help confront problems and find solutions," he explains. Bass, 39, became a shop steward for the Montgomery County Government Employees Union (MCGEO) UFCW Local 1994 two years ago and enjoys the position's sense of responsibility and duty. "Often, people feel uncomfortable talking with management about their problems," Bass notes, adding that "shop stewards act as representatives on behalf of the members." In addition to his role as a representative in his unit in Montgomery County's Sheriff's Office, Bass also provides union information to his co-workers and acts as a pipeline between the leadership and the members. “It’s been a very rewarding experience,” he says.
-Joseph Daniels, Union Summer intern; photo courtesy UFCW 1994
TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY: 50,000 lumberjacks strike for eight-hour day (1917) ;  Robert Gray, an African-American sharecropper and leader of the Share Croppers Union, is murdered in Cap Hill, Alabama (1931); A half-million steelworkers begin what is to become a 116-day strike (left) that shutters nearly every steel mill in the country. Management wanted to dump contract language limiting its ability to change the number of workers assigned to a task or to introduce new work rules or machinery that would result in reduced hours or fewer employees (1959); More info & ammo for unionists is available online from Union Communication Services. photo courtesy USWA Local 1010
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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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