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Service sector workers rally to thank DC Mayor for regs improving worker and hotel safety as tourism picks up

Bodo's Bagels workers seek to unionize

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profiles: OPEIU Local 2's Maggie Tsai

What union members care about

Labor movement unites to celebrate Sweeney's life and legacy

Labor Heritage Foundation brings labor leaders together to honor AFSCME President Lee Saunders

Today's Labor History

Today's Labor Quote

Hiring Hall: DC-area union staff jobs!!

TODAY'S LABOR CALENDAR; [link removed] click here for complete and latest listings

Union City Radio: 7:15am daily
WPFW-FM 89.3 FM; [link removed] click here to hear today's report

Wednesdays with Warner for the PRO Act: Wed, May 11, 8:15am - 9:15am

Windmill Hill Park, 500 South Lee St, Alexandria

Rally for a fair contract for Red Cross unions: Wed, May 11, 11:30am - 1:00pm

17th & E Streets, across from Red Cross HQ

Join our union brothers, sisters, and siblings at the Red Cross as they fight for a fair contract.

Book: Standing Up: Tales of Struggle (DC LaborFest): Wed, May 11, 6pm - 8pm

With authors Ellen Bravo & Larry Miller; Hosted by Metro Washington Labor Council President Dyana Forester

Busboys & Poets, 14th & V, Washington, DC

FREE; [link removed] RSVP HERE

Alexandria Dems Labor Caucus: Wed, May 11, 7:30pm - 8:30pm

Meeting of Alexandria union members and friends of labor. Contact [email protected] for the link.

 

Service sector workers rally to thank DC Mayor for regs improving worker and hotel safety as tourism picks up

Essential service sector workers from 32BJ SEIU, UNITE HERE Local 23 and UNITE HERE Local 25 gathered at Franklin Square Park on Tuesday to thank Mayor Muriel Bowser for recent regulations helping keep hotels safe and sanitary as D.C.'s hospitality industry picks up and tourism approaches pre-pandemic levels. "Re-opening downtown means making sure these essential workers share in the District's economic recovery," said John Boardman, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 25, which represents hotel, restaurant, and casino workers. "32BJ's security officers and cleaners are among the over 34,000 essential workers who are ready to welcome office workers back downtown to help support surrounding eateries and businesses and inject fuel into the engine of economic activity," said Jaime Contreras, Executive Vice President of 32BJ SEIU, which represents over 20,000 property services workers in the D.C. area. "We truly appreciate the support Mayor Bowser has shown to workers, tenants, and immigrants as they struggled through the pandemic," said Bert Bayou, Vice President of UNITE HERE Local 23, which represents 7,500 airport, stadium, food service and parking garage workers in the D.C. area.


Bodo's Bagels workers seek to unionize

A majority of employees at the "Corner" Bodo's Bagels location in Charlottesville are seeking to unionize with the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400. On Wednesday afternoon, the workers will be joined by local elected officials, community leaders, and other Charlottesville union members to announce the effort at a press conference. "I'm unionizing because in the three years I've worked at Bodo's, starting pay has never been a living wage," said Malcolm Augat, a baker at Bodo's and member of the union organizing committee. "While inflation and the cost of living in Charlottesville keep going up, our wages are not keeping pace. In effect, we're making less and less each year. If this keeps up, we won't be able to afford to live in the city where we work." The union effort includes approximately 14 employees working at the Bodo's located at 1609 University Avenue in Charlottesville. The local campaign coincides with a [link removed] wave of union elections across the country led by mostly young retail workers, from Starbucks coffee shops and Amazon warehouses to smaller book stores and restaurants. [link removed] Read more here.


Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profiles: OPEIU Local 2's Maggie Tsai

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Maggie Tsai; in addition to being the APALA Campaigns & Data Manager, Tsai is a bargaining committee member and shop steward for OPEIU Local 2. Maggie Tsai on the importance of unions: "It is not just about bread-and-butter issues like wages...it goes beyond that. It goes to the progressive values we hold and incorporate into our workplace."


What union members care about

Rising costs are top of mind for many of the workers DC-area unions represent. What else matters to America's union members? [link removed] CLICK HERE to let the AFL-CIO know what issue areas are most important to you and your family this year. "Union members need to be talking to each other about the issues so we can work together to advance our shared agenda," says the AFL-CIO. [link removed] CLICK HERE to fill out the survey, "and together we can improve the lives of working people across the country!"


Labor movement unites to celebrate Sweeney's life and legacy

AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney, who led an era of transformative change in America's labor movement, passed away last year at the age of 86. Sweeney's life was defined by his devotion to family and his unrelenting commitment to the cause of workers. Last Thursday, members of the labor movement gathered with Sweeney's family at Georgetown University to honor his enduring legacy. An assembly of distinguished leaders, including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh (LIUNA) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, shared their reflections on [link removed] Sweeney's life--a life dedicated to the struggle for working people in America and around the world. In the words of Brother Sweeney: "Without the church, there would be no redemption. Without family, there would have been no love. Without the union, there would have been no food on the table." The labor movement thanks our brother for his lifetime of inspiring leadership and compassionate action. May he rest in power.

- AFL-CIO Daily Brief

Labor Heritage Foundation brings labor leaders together to honor AFSCME President Lee Saunders

Union leaders gathered last week on Wednesday evening at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., to honor one of America's fiercest champions for working people: AFSCME President Lee Saunders (pictured below, second from left). The Labor Heritage Foundation honored Saunders at its Solidarity Forever Reception and Awards Ceremony in recognition of his vigorous leadership within the labor movement. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer/Executive Vice President Fred Redmond (pictured above, second from right) spoke at the ceremony to recognize President Saunders' contributions to the movement.

- AFL-CIO Daily Brief

Labor Quote: John Sweeney

"Without the church, there would be no redemption. Without family, there would have been no love. Without the union, there would have been no food on the table."

Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009, died last year at the age of 86. Read more [link removed] here.

 

Today's Labor History

This week's Labor History Today podcast: [link removed] The Haymarket Martyrs Monument: Past, Present, Future; Last week's show: [link removed] We Mean to Make Things Over: A History of May Day.

May 11
Nationwide railway strike begins at Pullman, Ill. 260,000 railroad workers ultimately joined the strike to protest wage cuts by the Pullman Palace Car Co. - 1894

May 12

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raid the Agriprocessors, Inc. slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, arrest nearly 400 immigrant workers. Some 300 are convicted on document fraud charges. The raid was the largest ever until that date. Several employees and lower and mid-level managers were convicted on various charges, but not the owner -- although he later was jailed for bank fraud and related crimes - 2008

May 13
Thousands of yellow cab drivers in New York City go on a one day strike in protest of proposed new regulations. "City officials were stunned by the (strike's) success," the New York Times reported - 1998

- David Prosten.

 

Hiring Hall: DC-area union jobs, plus [link removed] click here for more listingshttp://www.dclabor.org/hiring-hall.html !

Administrative
[link removed] Office Assistant III, AFSCME (4/27)

Communications

[link removed] Website Administrator, NATCA, based in Washington, DC (Posted: 5/10/2022) District of Columbia
[link removed] Art and Design Administrator, NATCA, based in Washington, DC (Posted: 5/10/2022) District of Columbia

[link removed] Assistant Director of Communications - Healthcare Division, SEIU, based in Washington, DC (Posted: 5/3/2022) District of Columbia
[link removed] Strategic Communications Director, AFSCME Maryland Council 3, based in Baltimore, MD (Posted: 5/9/2022) Maryland

[link removed] Digital Communications Specialist (2 positions), AFSCME (4/13)

Info Tech
[link removed] Data Processing Specialist, AFSCME Council 67, based in Baltimore, MD (Posted: 5/6/2022) Maryland

Legal

[link removed] Paralegal, ATU, based in Silver Spring, MD (Posted: 5/4/2022) Maryland

Misc
[link removed] Summer Organizing Fellow, DC Jobs With Justice (5/10)

[link removed] Public Affairs Administrator, NATCA, based in Washington, DC (Posted: 5/10/2022) District of Columbia
[link removed] Staff Representative, OPEIU 2, based out of Silver Spring, MD (Posted: 5/10/2022) District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia

[link removed] Auditor, ATU, based in Silver Spring, MD (Posted: 5/4/2022) Maryland
[link removed] Events and Travel Coordinator, ATU, based in Silver Spring, MD (Posted: 5/4/2022) Maryland

[link removed] Contract Administration Representative, SEIU 500, based in Gaithersburg, MD (Posted: 5/9/2022) Maryland
[link removed] Labor Economist I, AFSCME (4/6)

[link removed] Labor Economist III, AFSCME (4/21)

Organizing
[link removed] Organizer, AFSCME Maryland Council 3, for covering Maryland (Posted: 5/9/2022) Maryland
[link removed] Experienced Union Organizer, UNITE HERE Local 25, Washington, DC

Political
[link removed] Government Relations Specialist, AAUP, Washington, DC

 

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. DYANA FORESTER, PRESIDENT.

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