Labor Arts News & Updates

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR


Fri - Sun: Fly Away Home Fest (WV)

Sat: Las Juntas: An Comar (CO)

Got a Labor event? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

THIS WEEK'S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR RADIO SHOW
Art, Archives and the American Worker: On this week's Labor Heritage Power Hour: As America approaches its 250th anniversary, whose stories get remembered? This week: Jay Youngdahl talks with labor artist Fred Lonidier, we visit the Labor Archives of Washington, plus a People's 250 story from Mary Louise Patterson, “The Mother of All Strikes” from Labor History in 2:00, a favorite labor song, and the latest labor arts news and calendar.

LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS


Dark Horse Comics Workers Unionize: The union, called Dark Horse Workers United, says it has support from a supermajority of employees across multiple departments at the company’s headquarters in Milwaukie, Oregon, just outside of Portland. Read more.

Novel Booksellers Join CWA: The Communications Workers Of America has gone public with news that workers at Novel Booksellers in Memphis, Tenn., have organized to form the Novel Booksellers Union (NBU-CWA). The booksellers won their union election with a clear supermajority in favor. Read more.

AI Fight Brewing Inside The New York Times: Unionized staff with the Tech Guild say Times management has refused to provide the union with information related to how the company has used AI, its plans for AI use in the future, and how it will affect employees’ jobs and workflow. Read more.

Meet The Donut King: The Workers Unite Film Festival is offering a special virtual screening of the acclaimed documentary The Donut King through Sunday, May 31 at 11 p.m. ET. The film tells the remarkable story of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee who escaped the Khmer Rouge, arrived in the United States in 1975, and built an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire around America's favorite pastry: the donut. Read more.

WHAT WE’RE READING

All Quiet at the Kennedy Center

LABOR VIDEO OF THE WEEK 
Charlie Chaplin and the Feeding Machine, from Modern Times, last night’s DC Labor FilmFest Closing Night screening, and 1936’s version of AI…
Got labor video? email us at info@laborheritage.org

LABOR POEM OF THE WEEK

My Uber Driver

My Uber driver, I just found out,

sings in a Mexican rock band.

`80s covers. Spanish only.

That’s why he asks me to sit in the front seat with him.

If I sit in the back, he explains,

the State Police will impound his grey Toyota

and he’ll never get to gig again.

They will keep his car for two months behind a barbed wire fence

next to a field where many dogs bark.

35,000 pesos it will cost him if he ever wants to see his vehiculo.

You see, the Regional Governor, owns the local taxi company

—100 shiny green and white cabs.

That’s why the State Police, in leather boots,

stop Uber drivers in my little town,

but only if their passengers are sitting in the back seat.

Not today, however.

I am sitting in the front.

Like his best friend.

Mitch Ditkoff, from The Book of Jobs, Poems About Work, Edited by Erin Murphy.


Got a Labor poem?  Email us: info@laborheritage.org

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LABOR SONG OF THE WEEK: Which Side Are You On? 
(Big Tech Protest Song) by Luke Nickle

Got a Labor song? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

LABOR CARTOON OF THE WEEK

This cartoon by Konopacki is provided by our friends at Funny Times, America's Funniest Newspaper. Sign up for their free cartoon-of-the-week newsletter here.

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LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK 
The Hastings Mine Explosion Marker: The Hastings Mine Explosion, which occurred on April 27, 1917, remains the deadliest mining disaster in Colorado history, claiming the lives of 121 coal miners. The disaster was triggered when mine inspector David H. Reese struck a match to relight his safety lamp, igniting a massive explosion in an already hazardous environment known for releasing large quantities of methane gas. 

Details on the LHF Labor Landmarks Map.

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They’ll Never Keep Us Down 

On this week’s Labor History Today, Buddy Dickens remembers legendary labor singer Hazel Dickens, sharing stories about her coalfield roots, her commitment to miners and working people, and the enduring power of her music. Plus: the 1946 coal strike, the first Chicago Teachers Union strike, and new People’s 250 stories on steelworkers, civil rights, and shop-floor struggles.

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

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY
1941: Animators working for Walt Disney begin what was to become a successful five-week strike for recognition of their union, the Screen Cartoonists' Guild.

1946: A contract between the United Mine Workers and the U.S. government establishes one of the nation's first union medical and pension plans, the multi-employer UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund

1996: The United Farm Workers of America reaches agreement with Bruce Church Inc. on a contract for 450 lettuce harvesters, ending a 17-year-long boycott.

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On May 23, 1934, ten thousand strikers at Toledo, Ohio’s Auto-Lite plant repelled police who had come to break up their strike for union recognition. The next day, two strikers were killed and 15 wounded when National Guard machine gun units opened fire. Two weeks later the company recognized the union and agreed to a 5 percent raise.
Find more labor history in the LHF Labor Arts & Culture Database.

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