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Labor turns out DC vote today

MetroAccess workers hit the streets

Unions represent at Poor People's Campaign march

DC security officers ratify new four-year contract

Purple Line may face delays after MTS breaks promise to workers

VA Starbucks update

Today's Labor Quote

Today's Labor History

 

Labor turns out DC vote today

Today is Primary Election Day in the District of Columbia, and organized labor will be hard at work getting out the union vote for labor-endorsed candidates to ensure that the voices of working families continue to be heard in the corridors of power. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser heads up the [link removed] list of labor-endorsed candidates on the ballot today. "I am voting for Mayor Bowser because of her strong leadership while making difficult decisions over the past two years," said Metro Washington Labor Council AFL-CIO President Dyana Forester last Thursday when she joined Mayor Bowser at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center in Brookland to cast her vote. Forester noted that Bowser has appointed labor representatives to positions on the D.C. Build Back Better Infrastructure Task Force, the D.C. Reopen Advisory Committee, and the Healthcare Workforce Task Force, required officials from D.C. Public Schools to meet with all union leaders representing D.C. Public School employees, expanded the classification of essential workers, allowing many more workers to have priority access to personal protective equipment, vaccinations, and other benefits, took action to support unions during negotiation processes, and championed legislation to protect a worker's ability to return to work while recovering from COVID-19. Last week, Mayor Bowser also announced her intention to [link removed] bring a unionized grocery story to Ward 7. "Mayor Bowser has stood by labor's side throughout the difficulties of the past two years and the COVID-19 pandemic, and we know that she will continue to support us as we move forward together," Forester added.

NOTE: Forester and MWC Political and Legislative Director Dejah Desiree Williams will be out today working the polls with rank and file members from UNITE HERE Local 25 and SEIU 32 BJ. If you would like to participate in the ongoing GOTV activities that are being sponsored by fellow affiliates and the Metro Washington Council, reach out to Dejah Desiree at [email protected] or call 202-705-2077

As you cast your vote, share moments with us throughout your day by tagging @DCLabor on Twitter with photos and videos of your day as we make our way to the polls.
- story/photo by Michael Mareno

[link removed] LABOR CALENDAR; click here for latest listings

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

VA Primary Election Day: Tue, June 21, 6am - 7pm
Vote for labor-endorsed candidates Sonia Vasquez Luna for Manassas City Council and Don Beyer for Congress in the 8th Congressional District. For more information about Sonia, business manager for LiUNA Local 572 and NoVA Labor Executive Board member, visit www.soniavasquezluna.com.

Chesapeake Bay CLUW Chapter meeting: Tue, June 21, 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Meeting at Red Lobster - Suitland, MD

Wednesdays with Warner for the PRO Act: Wed, June 22, 8:15am - 9:15am
Windmill Hill Park, 500 S. Lee St., Alexandria, VA
This is the 67th week that supporters of the right to organize have held their breakfast vigil in the park, hosted by the Coalition to Repeal Right to Work. The PRO Act would give "gig workers" the right to unionize and would abolish the Jim Crow era "right to work" laws.

[link removed] Fairfax County Dems Labor Caucus: Wed, June 22, 7pm - 8pm
Meeting for union members and friends of labor in Fairfax County.

MetroAccess workers hit the streets

"MetroAccess workers are fighting for a fair contract at Hubbard Road Garage and the Call Center!" tweeted ATU 689 last Thursday. "No more poverty wages for paratransit workers! Our members are tired after years of being overworked and underpaid by a company that called us essential workers. They can't find anyone to take these jobs, even with $4,000 signing bonuses, but they refuse to recognize reality at the bargaining table."

Unions represent at Poor People's Campaign march

Members from 1199SEIU and SEIU VA 512 were among the labor supporters who marched in solidarity on Saturday with thousands at the Poor People's Campaign Moral March on Washington and millions of working people across the country who are fighting for a better future. "Working people are the ones who keep this country moving forward," said 1199SEIU Political Director Ricarra Jones at the march. "The things we fight for -- living wages, full benefits, safe working conditions -- should not be for a privileged few. It should be the standard."

- story/photo by Michael Mareno

DC security officers ratify new four-year contract

32BJ SEIU security officers, who protect the overwhelming majority of D.C. commercial office buildings, have ratified a new agreement with the city's largest security contractors, covering around 2,000 officers. Hourly wages will increase by $4 over the four-year contract, their highest since joining 32BJ SEIU in 2008. "I can feel better about myself as a provider knowing I'll be able to pay bills and not need to skimp on expenses for my kids," said Helen Raynor, a 32BJ security officer and bargaining team committee member. "We aren't just the first line of defense for our tenants every day, we sacrificed both our safety during all of the protests and our health during the pandemic." [link removed] Read more here.

photo: 32BJ member volunteers canvass for DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, tweeting "grateful for her help to protect essential janitors and security officers from layoffs during the pandemic and support for airport workers successful fight for livable wages."

Purple Line may face delays after MTS breaks promise to workers

The long-delayed Purple Line may face even more delays after a new contractor on the project rejected a promised Project Labor Agreement (PLA). "The Purple Line could face further delays or construction quality issues because the workers who know the project best are being side-lined," warned Stephen Courtien, President of the Baltimore-DC Building Trades Council (BDCBTC), after construction contractor Maryland Transit Solutions (MTS) refused to agree to the PLA signed by the original contractors. "We will not stand by and allow Maryland Transit Solutions to turn its back on workers," said Courtien. "This is a terrible way to re-start construction of the Purple Line, and could jeopardize the project's completion." The BDCBTC last week announced plans to launch a media campaign to alert residents to the potential delays.


VA Starbucks update

"This week, please visit the Starbucks in Sterling (21021 Southbank St) to show your support for their upcoming June 28 union election," reports NoVA Labor president Ginny Diamond. "Management has been holding two-on-one meetings and threatening negative consequences if the workers vote for the union." Diamond also urges supporters to take the [link removed] SBWorkersUnited support pledge.


Today's Labor Quote: Liz Shuler

"We know that even as our vote is more crucial than ever, it is also more imperiled, with renewed voter suppression efforts and attacks on voting rights and our democracy."

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY

This week's Labor History Today podcast: [link removed] Labor history at the AFL-CIO & Labor Notes; Last week's show: [link removed] Detroit Remains: Using historical archeology to connect the past to the present.


10 miners accused of being militant "Molly Maguires" are hanged in Pennsylvania. A private corporation initiated the investigation of the 10 through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested them, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. "The state provided only the courtroom & the gallows," a judge said many years later - 1877

The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the right of unions to publish statements urging members to vote for a specific congressional candidate, ruling that such advocacy is not a violation of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act - 1948

100,000 unionists and other supporters march in solidarity with striking Detroit News and Detroit Free Press newspaper workers - 1997

- 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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