Today’s Labor Calendar
Click here for the complete calendar and details. Got something to add or update? Email us at [email protected].
Union City Radio: 7:15am, WPFW-FM 89.3 FM
2-minute audio version of the Metro Washington Labor Council's Union City newsletter.
The ULiNERS 20th Anniversary Celebration: Sat, January 21, 7:30pm – 11:00pm
VFW Post 2562, 11316 Fern Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 (NEW VENUE!) (map)
Will also livestream on the ULiNERS website. |
LISTEN NOW: On this week’s Your Rights At Work radio show (WPFW 89.3FM), ATU 689 President Raymond Jackson gives us an update on the Loudoun County transit strike against Keolis, and American Prospect Editor At Large Harold Meyerson explains The Holman Rule, which would empower Congress to fire, demote, reassign, or cut the pay of individual federal employees. Click here to listen!
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Kroger union members file class action lawsuit alleging widespread wage theft
A group of Kroger associates from the Mid-Atlantic region filed a class action lawsuit in federal court yesterday in Richmond, Virginia alleging their employer has engaged in a widespread wage theft resulting from repeated and ongoing problems with payroll. Through an online form, their union, UFCW Local 400, has received more than 1,000 reports from members describing problems ranging from missed and incomplete paychecks to improperly deducted taxes and health care premiums, among other issues. “This is wage theft, plain and simple,” said UFCW Local 400 President Mark Federici. “Despite using every available avenue to bring these problems to Kroger’s attention, the company has refused to correct its payroll system. This is simply unacceptable. It is outrageous that we should have to bring a lawsuit like this to ensure our members are paid properly and promptly.” Read more here.
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Teamsters at Keolis authorize strike
Teamster Local 639 members at Keolis in Prince William County have authorized a strike at two Virginia locations in Manassas and Woodbridge. “We have one more meeting with the company scheduled for next week,” sources tell Union City, “and that will tell the story if we walk out or not.” |
Report: Platform Workers Winning Rights in Courts, Parliament
Workers on digital platform companies who are pursuing their rights at work through courts and legislation are making significant gains, especially in Europe and Latin America, according to a new report by the International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW Network). A key finding of Taken for a Ride 2: Accelerating Towards Justice shows that major companies like Uber often are losing in their efforts to intentionally misclassify workers, with Australia as an exception. "At long last, courts and regulators are coming around, though after undermining an industry and the livelihoods of drivers worldwide,” says Jeffrey Vogt, rule of law director at the Solidarity Center. Read more at Solidarity Center.
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In Memoriam: Laurel Blaydes
We’ve just learned of the December 14, 2022 death of singer Laurel Blaydes at the age of 70 from ovarian cancer. “Laurel Blaydes possessed a singing voice that flowed through your brain straight to your heart!” said Labor Heritage Foundation Executive Director Elise Bryant. Blaydes served as Executive Director of LHF for 13 years and performed widely, including as lead vocalist for the Mountain Laurel Band, and Sassparilla with Laurel Blaydes, a swing, jump and boogie band. In 1981 she sang for an audience of hundreds of thousands at the Solidarity Day demonstration on the National Mall. “As executive director of the Labor Heritage Foundation she helped us to grow from a locally based group of union singers and musicians to a national organization of union and social justice activists from multiple disciplines,” said Bryant. “Laurel Blaydes, dear sister, rest in peace and in the power of song!”
photo: Blaydes at All Souls Episcopal Church’s Prophetic Poetry Slam; photo by Egan Millard/ENS |
Labor Quote: The U-Liners
Don't say it can't be done
The battle's just begun
Take it from Dr. King
You too can learn to sing
So drop the gun.
The ULiNERS 20th Anniversary Celebration is this Saturday, January 21, 7:30pm – 11:00pm at VFW Post 2562, 11316 Fern Street, Wheaton, MD 20902. FREE; more details can be found on the ULiNERS website, where the show will also stream live. |
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Today’s Labor History
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: Strong Winds and Widow Makers. Last week’s show: The Cambridge Movement.
January 20
Newly-elected President Joe Biden, on his first day in office after defeating Donald J. Trump, orders the firing of National Labor Relations Board general counsel Peter Robb. Robb had earlier worked as a union-busting lawyer and in the NLRB post “had spent three years attacking workers’ right to organize and engage in collective bargaining,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, in welcoming Biden’s action. 2021
January 21
Postal Workers begin four-day strike at the Jersey City, N.J. bulk and foreign mail center, protesting an involuntary shift change. The wildcat was led by a group of young workers who identified themselves as “The Outlaws”- 1974
January 22
The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, OH with the merger of the Knights of Labor Trade Assembly No. 135 and the National progressive Miners Union – 1890
photo: Three months after the UMWA was founded, UMWA District 17, encompassing most of West Virginia, held its first meeting in Wheeling.
David Prosten |
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Published by the Metropolitan Washington Labor 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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