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Editor’s Note: Our annual Great Labor Arts Exchange is coming up June 20-22 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Workshops will explore songwriting for the streets, movement music strategy, labor history through games, banner-making, racial justice and equity, bilingual labor songs, and healing through art. Participants will also have a chance to join the GLAE Pick-Up Chorus and collaborate on a live performance during the festival, plus there’s a Song and Spoken Word Contest Friday night and a free concert Saturday night. Read more in Labor Notes.
Chris
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LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS
AFM Defends Springsteen and Swift After Trump Attacks: In a forceful response to recent attacks by Donald Trump, American Federation of Musicians (AFM) International President Tino Gagliardi issued a statement standing firmly behind two of the union’s most high-profile members—Bruce Springsteen (Locals 47 and 399) and Taylor Swift (Local 257). “The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada will not remain silent,” said Gagliardi, denouncing Trump’s personal attacks on Springsteen and Swift. “They are not just brilliant musicians, they are role models and inspirations to millions.” Referencing the cultural power of works like Born in the USA and the Eras Tour, Gagliardi emphasized that musicians have the right to freedom of expression. “We stand in solidarity with all our members,” he concluded.
Kennedy Center Workers Launch Union Organizing Drive: Last week, workers at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced their intent to form a union with the UAW after waves of layoffs and President Trump’s takeover of the board in February. Read more.
VFX Workers Ratify First Three Contracts with Major U.S. Studios: Visual effects (VFX) workers for Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures and movie franchise Avatar voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first contracts as Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) members. Read more.
Center for Fiction Employees File to Join RWDSU-UFCW: A supermajority of staff members at The Center for Fiction have publicly launched their effort to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union-UFCW (RWDSU-UFCW) and are seeking voluntary recognition from management. Read more.
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Singing for Justice: The Faith Petric Story
A new documentary honoring folk legend Faith Petric screened last Monday at the New Deal Café as part of the DC Labor FilmFest. From Depression-era Idaho to civil rights marches, Petric sang truth to power for nearly a century. Read more.
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The Podium Was a Platform: Smith, Carlos, and the Power of Protest
In 1968, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists—and a global call for justice. LHF intern Mircy Coca Soriano says their Olympic protest remains one of the most iconic acts of resistance in sports and labor history. Read more here.
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Free Magazine Offer for Union Members
In These Times is offering a free 10-issue print subscription to union members in the U.S.—no strings attached. A longtime ally of the labor movement, In These Times covers worker organizing, social justice, and more from a pro-worker perspective. This limited-time offer is now available to Labor Notes supporters. No payment or credit card required—just sign up while supplies last: 👉 inthesetimes.com/union
Stay informed. Stay connected. Get your free subscription today!
| | | | Voices of Labor, from the Vatican to the Big Top: This special edition of the Labor Heritage Power Hour features the Labor Radio Podcast Weekly with stories from across the movement: Pope Leo XIII’s legacy, FAA system failures, frontline Social Security workers, Canadian union solidarity, the 4-day workweek, circus elephants, and a tribute to Wobbly poet T-Bone Slim. | | | Like this newsletter? Help us spread labor art by passing it along! | | CLICK HERE for our complete labor arts calendar; look for our Labor Arts Calendar edition on Monday | | |
May 23, 1934
Ten thousand strikers at Toledo, Ohio’s Auto-Lite plant repel police who have come to break up their strike for union recognition. The next day, two strikers are killed and 15 wounded when National Guard machine gun units open fire. Two weeks later the company recognized the union and agreed to a 5 percent raise.
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Emma Tenayuca and the Strike that Shook San Antonio
On this week’s Labor History Today: Before she turned 20, Emma Tenayuca led thousands of Mexican American pecan shellers into one of the largest strikes of the 1930s. A fearless young organizer from San Antonio, Texas, Tenayuca fought for workers’ rights, racial justice, and dignity—despite arrest, red-baiting, and death threats. Her story, largely left out of mainstream labor history, still resonates in today’s struggles for immigrant and worker justice.
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| How many Philadelphia textile workers struck on May 23, 1903? | | | | LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On May 18, 1912, in what may have been baseball’s first labor strike, the Detroit Tigers refused to play after team leader Ty Cobb was suspended: he went into the stands and beat a fan who had been heckling him. Cobb was reinstated and the Tigers went back to work after the team manager’s failed attempt to replace the players with a local college team: their pitcher gave up 24 runs. | | |
"The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too."
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