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Bill Lucy: “Change is possible”
2010 Solidarity Forever Awardee Bill Lucy – who died Wednesday -- speaking to attendees at the Labor Heritage Foundation’s 2023 MLK Gonna Take Us All Ball held January 18, 2023 in Silver Spring, MD. “As bad as times may be, they have been worse; we have made considerable changes simply by making a decision to struggle to bring about change. As difficult as it may be, change is possible.”
Read statements from AFL-CIO President Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer Redmond, AFSCME President Lee Saunders and Coalition of Black Trade Unionists President Rev. Terry Melvin here.
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National Symphony Orchestra musicians unanimously authorize strike
The Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Federation of Musicians, Local 161-710, American Federation of Musicians announced on Monday that members of the National Symphony Orchestra voted unanimously on Friday to authorize a strike against the Kennedy Center over a stalled collective bargaining agreement. Read more »
AFL-CIO Daily Brief/Washington Post
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Writers Guild of America East Launches Organizing Drive at A+E Factual Studios
More than 150 workers at A+E Factual Studios—the nonfiction television production arm of A&E Networks—are calling on management to voluntarily recognize the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) as their bargaining representative after a majority of the unit signed union authorization cards.
AFL-CIO Daily Brief
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Workers at Powerhouse Animation Studios Ratify First Union Contract
The Animation Guild (TAG), IATSE Local 839, announced on Tuesday that artists and production workers at Powerhouse Animation Studios in Austin, Texas, have ratified their first contract, marking a massive victory for TAG’s first organizing campaign in a “right to work” state.
AFL-CIO Daily Brief
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Joe Hill ISO space
Joe Hill is alive and looking for performance space next month. Folksinger Tom Kastle will be performing Joe Hill: Alive As You and Me at the American Labor museum in New Jersey on October 19th and is “hoping to set up another performance or two en route,” either just before or after that date. Kastle describes the show as 'an evening of songs, stories and solidarity', People's World called it “a remarkable 70-minute collective experience." A founding member of the Solidarity Sing Along, Kastle is an actor, musician and activist who’s spent years traveling the world, collecting and performing maritime songs and stories, and captaining sailing ships on the Great Lakes. Email him at tomkastle608@gmail.com for details on tech and cost.
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North American Labor History Conference Set for Oct 10-12 in Detroit
On hiatus since the pandemic, the North American Labor History Conference (NALHC) is coming back this year, “amid a presidential election campaign to consider questions about the relationship between work and democracy.” This year is “a crucial juncture for workers and labor organizations in the United States and throughout the world,” say organizers. “The working classes, people of color, ethnic minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ people are organizing against voting restrictions while struggling against indifference, apathy, and fear. As labor scholars, historians, activists, archivists, and union members, we meet to consider the relationship and role of workers, labor unions, and worker organizations in democratic societies.” The conference will take place at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
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Latest "Overtime" Offering from Blue Cubicle Press Is Absolutely Stunning
by John Beck
I usually find great things to say about all the publications of Blue Cubicle Press, but I may have to invent new hyperbolic superlatives for the latest chapbook (Hour #68) in the Overtime series, "Lucifers" by Lauren O'Donoghue. What a triumph! These twenty-two pages of short story pack so much into the prose you will find yourself breathless by the end. This is the first of the series that has gone back in the deep past for its’ subject - I hope it might be the start of a new trend. Jo and her co-workers work in a match factory in 19th century London (hence the title since matches were nicknamed "lucifers" and there is enough evil here to deserve the double entendre). Such factories are occupational health disasters, union hotbeds and reformer targets. Jo gets caught up in all of that and more in this Dickensian tale of a family grappling with extreme poverty, broken multi-generational bodies and lives, and endless labors at home and at work. This is telling the story of labor in a compelling fictional narrative which will complement the historical tomes of Eric Hobsbawm, Sheila Rowbothan and E. P. Thompson -- Yes, it really is that good.To order "Lucifers" or any other offering from Blue Cubicle Press, go to their website.
Got an opinion about a labor movie, book, play or other labor art? Send us your thoughts at info@laborheritage.org
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| “Labor Day” with Si Kahn & George Mann: George Mann and Si Kahn’s new Labor Day CD features 21 songs by Si, a legendary songwriter who celebrated his 80th birthday this year. A tribute to workers and their unions, the CD showcases performances by both Kahn and Mann, as well as contributions from renowned folk artists such as Peggy Seeger, Billy Bragg, John McCutcheon and Tom Chapin. The interview with Si and George originally appeared on the Heartland Labor Forum -- which airs weekly on KKFI 90.1FM Kansas City Community Radio – and includes songs from the new CD. PLUS: Hali Hammer’s favorite labor song and, on Labor History in 2:00, the 1961 murder of a Black cotton worker. | | |
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Future union leaders join the Boeing picket line. | |
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Mighty Mighty SF Symphony Chorus Sings Out On The Strike Line
Sent in by Jimmy Kelly; “During the singing I'm holding the Don’t Cut the Music Sign in a standing room only free concert and I had the best ‘seat’ outside the House!”
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Bill Lucy became a member of AFSCME Local 1675 in 1956 at the age of twenty-three and then was elected its president in 1965 at the age of thirty-two. In 1968, at the age of thirty-five, Lucy worked on the historic Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. He coined the famous slogan, “I Am A Man!” that became the rallying call for the Memphis strikers. In the tumultuous aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination during the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike, Lucy helped maintain the labor-civil rights-community coalition that sealed the workers’ eventual victory and became the model used throughout the nation.
photo: Steve Schapiro, I Am A Man, Memphis, Tennessee, 1965; prints available
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CLICK HERE for our complete labor arts calendar; look for our Labor Arts Calendar edition on Monday | |
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Between Two Worlds (Film)
Friday, September 27, 2024, 7:30 PM; Dryden Theatre, 900 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607
Based partly on French journalist Florence Aubenas’ best-selling 2011 non-fiction book, The Night Cleaner, a writer, Marianne, goes undercover as a ferryboat cabin cleaner to personalize and expose the brutality and indignities of the global financial crisis on the unemployed and low-wage workers whose survival relies on finding temporary hours in the absence of steady work. But, unlike Aubenas, Marianne hides her real identity from her co-workers. Is she aware of the risks of her deception?
The Farmer-Labor Movement: A Minnesota Story (Film)
Saturday, September 21, 2024, 5:00 PM; St. Mark AME Church, Farm-Labor Education, 530 N 5th Ave E., Duluth, MN 55805
From the early 1920s to its merger with the Democrats in 1944 to create the modern DFL, Farmer Laborites united urban and rural Minnesotans in a powerful movement for social justice. The issues they fought for remain as relevant today as they were back in the 1930s.
Joe Uehlein: Songs of Work, Hope and Freedom (Music)
Saturday, September 28, 2024, 4:30 PM; 775 Stanley Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90804
Joe Uehlein's labor-themed concerts always include a wide and deep presentation of Americana and roots-rock music, including folk, rock’n roll, bluegrass, country, soul, and more. His solo shows take on a more intimate feel, talking more about music, politics, and the human spirit.
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September 27, 1893
The International Typographical Union renews a strike against the Los Angeles Times and begins a boycott that runs intermittently from 1896 to 1908. A local anti-Times committee in 1903 persuades William Randolph Hearst to start a rival paper, the Los Angeles Examiner. The ITU kept up the fight into the 1920s; staff of the LA Times organized with The NewsGuild (CWA) in 2018.
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| The 1909 "Uprising of the 20,000" refers to what? | | | |
LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On Sept. 20 1965, the International Hod Carriers changed their name to the Laborers' International Union. | |
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"The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too."
Please CLICK HERE NOW to pledge your financial support to our 2024 program, which includes our annual Solidarity Forever Award, the Great Labor Arts Exchange, the DC Labor FilmFest and much more (check out our website for details!).
Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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