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Editor's Note: It was wonderful to see so many of you at last Saturday’s fabulous DC Labor Chorus holiday concert; thanks for being there! In other LHF news, I’m excited to report that we’ve raised nearly $2,000 in our $10K matching grant challenge. LHF supporter Phil Straus will match all contributions to the Labor Heritage Foundation – up to $10,000 total – effectively doubling contributions.
As the year draws to a close, please consider making a contribution now to ensure that LHF receives this much-needed financial boost. Click here to give, and here to see LHF’s expanded labor art calendar, news and databases, including a comprehensive labor film database. Contributions are tax-deductible. Thank you! Chris
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Two Years Into Strike, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Workers Move Closer to Victory
In America’s longest-running strike, CWA members from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are finally getting their day in court. Last month, a federal judge began hearing testimony to consider granting the federal labor board’s (NLRB) request for a 10(j) injunction. If granted, this could compel the newspaper to pay for workers’ health care expenses until a new contract or health care arrangement is reached.
- CWA Newsletter
photo: CWA strikers hold their picket line against the scab Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; photo by Pam Panchak, Pittsburgh Union Progress, member of TNG-CWA Local 38061.
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LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS
Strand Bookstore Workers Reach Tentative Agreement, End Strike: Workers at the Strand bookstore in New York city, members of UAW Local 2179, tentatively agreed on a new contract and ended a strike. Members will vote whether or not to approve the contract later this week.
Wrongfully Terminated Dancers Reach Settlement with Dallas Black Dance Theatre: After months of a coordinated public pressure campaign, members of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) who were wrongfully fired by the Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) have won a settlement agreement.
Noguchi Museum Staff Petition for a Union Election: Staff at The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, New York, have submitted a petition with the NLRB for a union election to join UAW Local 2110.
AFL-CIO Daily Brief
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The Kaos of class struggle on Netflix
by Michael K
Class struggle is a major theme in the Netflix hit series Kaos, a clever and entertaining re-imagining of Greek mythology for modern times. The Olympian gods, demi-gods, and mortals represent familiar strata in a quasi-feudal hierarchy, echoing social dynamics of wealth, privilege, and resistance that still ring uncomfortably true today. Read more here.
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Incredible Finds, Inc.: A reading from Incredible Finds, Inc., a new play about an exploited factory worker who leads her colleagues in a strike against their company’s brutal and dehumanizing practices; followed by a discussion with playwright Casey J. Adler, actors Regina Fernandez and Amir Levy, and director Dana Schwartz. There’s a free reading of the play at 1p on Sunday, December 15 at the Beverly Hills Library.
In our second segment we tour the American Labor Museum’s Faces From An American Dream exhibit of photographs by Martin Desht with Education Director Evelyn Hershey, who reads Philip Levine’s poem What Work Is.
In our final segment, singer/songwriter Si Kahn, with Were You There, the latest installment of our Story Behind the Song series.
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Solidarity Forever - The Mountain Goats (Jordan Lake Sessions)
One of the 13 versions of the classic labor anthem under consideration in Power At Work’s 2025 Labor Grammys; nominees will be announced Sunday.
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Holiday spirit on the Unite Here Local 2 picket lines in San Francisco. “All we want for Christmas is a fair contract!” | |
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“A Strike Song (VirginLV)" - A parody of Shaboozey’s song “A Bar Song (Tipsy)"
(Las Vegas, NV) Nearly four weeks into the strike at Virgin Las Vegas, Culinary Union on Monday released “A Strike Song (VirginLV),” a parody song of Shaboozey’s record-breaking hit, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” and called on the artist to cancel his Virgin Hotels Las Vegas concert on Wednesday, December 11th during the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Inspired by the record-breaking song that has been the longest-running No.1 hit of the decade, a Virgin Las Vegas striker and Culinary Union member recorded a parody version which has become a rallying cry for the hundreds of hospitality workers who are on strike to win a new union contract.
Thanks to Al Bradbury at Labor Notes for sending this in; send your labor arts tips to us at info@labnorheritage.org
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Everybody's always talking shit. How about we do something? And do something big, you know? Something that'll wake Kentucky the fuck up.
The character Maria Trujillo, in the play “Incredible Finds, Inc.” played by Regina Fernandez in the reading on this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour.
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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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WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR
Durham Labor Choir Concert
Friday, December 13, 2024, 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM; SEEDS, 706 Gilbert Ave, Durham, NC
New labor chorus performance includes Chappell Roan rewrites, intergenerational singing, solidarity.
Songs For Social Justice 2024
Saturday, December 14, 2024, 6:45 PM until 8:30 PM
Sponsored by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee - FLOC; Celebrate another year of cutting edge union organization!
Incredible Finds, Inc.
Sunday, December 15, 2024, 1:00 PM until 4:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada) (UTC-08:00)
Beverly Hills Library Auditorium, 444 N Rexford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Maria, an exploited factory worker, convinces her colleagues to go on strike, in a battle against their company's dehumanizing strategies. Her efforts are undercut by a rat in the union, who happens to be her childhood best friend.
UPCOMING: LHF'S MLK GONNA TAKE US ALL BALL: click on the image below for details
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December 13, 1924
Death in San Antonio, Tex. of Samuel Gompers, president and founder of the American Federation of Labor.
A statue of Gompers stands on Market Street in San Antonio. Photo courtesy Kay Richter
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Ybor City, Crucible of the Latina South: Producer Patrick Dixon talks with historian Sarah McNamara about her book Ybor City, Crucible of the Latina South, which tells the story of immigrant and U.S.-born Latinas and Latinos who organized strikes, marched against fascism, and criticized U.S. foreign policy.
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| How many times did socialist Daniel De Leon run for New York governor? | | | |
LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: All of these are from the Preamble to the 1886 AFL Constitution: A struggle is going on in all the nations of the civilized world, between the oppressors and the oppressed of all countries. A struggle between the capitalist and the laborer, which grows in intensity from year to year, and will work disastrous results to the toiling millions, if they are not combined for mutual protection and benefit. | |
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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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