News & Updates

IN THIS ISSUE:

LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS — Equity members sign strike pledge in Broadway talks; Atlanta Symphony musicians ratify three-year contract.

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR —Power & Light (temporarily) closed; Don’t Stand Alone (LA); American Labor in Print (MA); Deadly Deception (IL); Honest Work (WI)

THIS WEEK’S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR — Donora Smog Museum; Wilma Steele on the red bandana; Ken Casey’s pick

LABOR VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Earl Dotter’s Black Lung Photo Doc

PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK — WSNA info picket

LABOR SONG OF THE WEEK — “Deportee by Colleen Kattau

LABOR ART OF THE WEEK — Power & Light coal survey

LABOR QUOTE OF THE WEEK — Carsie Blanton

TODAY’S LABOR HISTORY — Student strike; Woody Guthrie dies; MLB umpires win

LABOR HISTORY TODAY PODCAST — Wilma Steele on red bandanas

LABOR HISTORY QUIZ — Mt. Rushmore’s craftsmen

EDITOR’S NOTE: One of the other hats – or more accurately, t-shirts -- I wear is as the founder of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 200 shows raising up the voices of workers across the country and around the world, which have become critical sources of information and solidarity. Click here to check out my brief chat with LabourStart’s Eric Lee earlier this week.

- Chris

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR

Ongoing:

Power & Light: Russell Lee's Coal Survey (DC) (Temporarily Closed)

Don't Stand Alone: Black Labor Organizing in New Orleans (LA)

American Labor in Print (MA)

Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County (IL)

Jim Brozek: Honest Work (WI)

LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS

Equity Members Sign Strike Pledge Amid Broadway Negotiations: After their production agreement expired late last month, members of Actors’ Equity Association (Equity) are signing strike pledge cards as the Broadway League continues to fail to deliver a fair contract proposal. Read more.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Musicians Secure Three-Year Contract: The Atlanta Federation of Musicians, American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 148-462, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) have reached a new three-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Read more.

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PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK

WSNA info picket at Seattle Children's Hospital on September 30.

Sent in by Labor Notes’ Al Bradbury; seen a great labor picket sign? Let us know at info@laborheritage.org

LABOR VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Earl Dotter’s Black Lung Photo Documentary 1969-2025

Photojournalist Earl Dotter’s keynote address at the National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics Conference in Pipestem, West Virginia on June 4, 2025.

Thanks to Saul Schniderman for sending this in; got labor video? Let us know at info@laborheritage.org

LABOR SONG OF THE WEEK

Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) Colleen Kattau

“Dedicated to all those working tirelessly now to stop the illegal deportations and violence against our neighbors, our fellow immigrants-- many of who inhabited this land long before Europeans did.” - Colleen Kattau

LABOR ART OF THE WEEK

“Power & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey Exhibit” is closed due to the government shutdown, but you can still see 14 of the photos online here.

Photo: Women pick foreign matter out of coal as it is carried on conveyor thru tipple. Union Pacific Coal Company, Stansbury Mine, Rock Springs, Sweetwater County, Wyoming.

Donora’s Dark Air, Labor’s Bright Colors

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: A visit to the Donora Smog Museum, where a six-day inversion in 1948 trapped toxic fumes over a mill town and changed how the U.S. thinks about work, health, and accountability. Then educator and Mine Wars Museum co-founder Wilma Steele unpacks how a simple red bandana—rooted in centuries-old paisley—became a living symbol of union solidarity.

PLUS: Dropkick Murphy's frontman Ken Casey’s Favorite Labor Song, and a double helping of Labor History in 2:00, with the “Jerry Rescue” of 1851 and the 1919 Elaine Massacre.

NOTE: You can now catch the Power Hour on WPFW’s brand-new app! Just search for and download “WPFW Radio” on the App Store!

CLICK HERE to listen to the show!

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CLICK HERE for our complete labor arts calendar; look for our Labor Arts Calendar edition on Monday

LABOR HISTORY TODAY

TODAY’S LABOR HISTORY

1932

The state militia is called in after 164 high school students in Kincaid, Ill. go on strike when the school board buys coal from the scab Peabody Coal Co.

1967

Folk singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie ("This Land is Your Land", "Union Maid" and hundreds of others) dies of Huntington's disease in New York at the age of 55.

1970

Baseball umpires strike for recognition of their newly-formed Major League Umpires Association, win after one day.

LABOR QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The rich have us by the balls of late but buck up, there's a lot more of us than there are of them. Keep shining, we'll get 'em good.”

Musician Carsie Blanton, whose music the DC Labor Chorus will be singing in their December concert and who participated in the 2025 Great Labor Arts Exchange; check out her Instagram page here.

LABOR HISTORY TODAY PODCAST

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW!

Red Bandanas and Solidarity

This week on Labor History Today: From Camp Solidarity in West Virginia, Mine Wars Museum co-founder Wilma Steele unpacks the red bandana—tracing its paisley roots from Persia to Appalachia—and how a scrap of cloth became labor’s emblem of courage, memory, and solidarity.

And, on Labor History in 2:00: The Uprising of the 20,000.

NOTE: You can now catch the Power Hour on WPFW’s brand-new app! Just search for and download “WPFW Radio” on the App Store!

LABOR HISTORY QUIZ OF THE WEEK

400 craftsmen carved Mt. Rushmore; how many died during the 14-year project?

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On September 27, 1875, striking textile workers in Fall River, Massachusetts engaged in a bread riot as the workers were forced to return to their job or face shipment to the state’s poor farm. Read more here.

SUPPORT LABOR ARTS!

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Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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