TRANSIT WORKERS
FIGHT PINCH
AT THE PUMP
Hundreds of Metro DC residents lined the block around the G and 13th Metro Center station entrance Wednesday afternoon hoping to receive one of 689 free $10 SmarTrip cards from transit workers and their union, ATU Local 689. "The turnout was tremendous," Local 689 President Jackie Jeter told UNION CITY adding that people began lining up at 7A. "It just goes to show that there are so many people in need right now. We're all feeling the pinch at the pump, rising food costs and the shrinking dollar. Everyone can use a little relief." The giveaway launched a Local 689 campaign to get drivers to switch to the transit system that will include radio and print ads and another possible SmarTrip card handout in the coming weeks.
- report/photo by Andy Richards

EXPLOITATION IN
FIRESTONE TIRES
Dozens of activists held a high-energy rally outside the downtown DC offices of Firestone's public relations company Wednesday afternoon to counter Public Strategies' distortion of Firestone's labor abuses at its Liberian rubber plantation. Activists chanted "Public Strategies, you are liars. There's exploitation in your tires," and "Hey Firestone, do us a favor. Stop exploiting Liberian labor" and delivered a letter to Public Strategies management. "We asked for a response by August 1 and told them we would be back if we didn't hear from them," said Tim Newman of the Stop Firestone Coalition. Workers at the plantation are currently in negotiations with Firestone. Though "Firestone has made some changes since the election of a new workers' union last year, a lot more still needs to be done on the plantation," reported Voice of America reporter James Butty Wednesday. Click here to read Butty's full story.
- report/photo by Andy Richards

Metro Washington (DC) Council AFL-CIO

ACTIVISTS
MARCH ON
ZIMBABWE
EMBASSY
Dozens of activists rallied outside the Embassy of Zimbabwe in near 100-degree heat Monday afternoon to demand justice for the Zimbabwean people following the corrupt presidential runoff elections in June. Protesters chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Mugabe has got to go" and read and delivered a "People's Indictment" to Embassy officials that charged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his administration, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank with crimes against humanity. "The people of Zimbabwe, including workers, have lived a total nightmare," said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka at the rally, adding "The AFL-CIO and the US labor movement are here to say to Mugabe that we will not rest until democracy, freedom, and justice are won." Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) President and AFSCME International Secretary-Treasurer Bill Lucy said that "There is no difference between the human rights violations of Ian Smith [former leader of the Zimbabwean white minority government] and Robert Mugabe. The nations of Africa should reject the runoff elections." TransAfrica Forum - who organized the event with CBTU - is calling on the Zimbabwean government and international community for a transitional government and new constitution, economic justice, including support for workers' rights, a debt audit, and repatriations of stolen assets, people-driven social investment, and the development of a national "truth and reconciliation" process to begin national healing. Click here for more and to get involved in the fight for justice in Zimbabwe.
- report/photo by Andy Richards

FILMFEST STICKERS AT
FREE FRIDAY SCREENING
Be the first to get the brand-new 2008 DC Labor FilmFest stickers at this Friday's free noontime screening of eDump! The short documentary reveals hi-tech's dirty little secret: millions of tons a year of electronic waste, or e-waste, which ends up in places like China, India and Nigeria where the poor eke out a dangerous living melting down components as they breath in poisonous fumes. Director Michael Zhao's camera reveals what happens to our discarded laptops and celphones and the staggering, horrific cost in health and environmental damage. Linda Andros, of the United Steelworkers Stop Toxic Imports campaign will introduce the film.

NO DEMOCRACY
FOR DC SOLDIERS
Despite serving their country in the military, DC veterans have no vote in Congress, says a new DC voting rights newspaper ad campaign launched last week. “DC’s soldiers make sacrifices for their country each and every day - a right to representation in Congress shouldn't be one of them,” says DC Vote Executive Director Illir Zherka. The newspaper ad (left) was featured in local and national publications and is part DC Vote’s grassroots media campaign to draw attention to the issue. “We owe it to DC's soldiers and veterans to keep the fight for DC voting rights alive.” Click here for tips on writing a letter-to-the-editor.

DC JOBS WITH
JUSTICE CORNER
Building Alliances Across Cultures: DC Jobs with Justice will host the first in a series of dialogues to build cross-cultural alliances in DC Saturday, August 9 from 1-4P. “For many years Latinos, African Americans and people of African descent have lived in the same communities, residing in the same apartment buildings, working the same types of jobs and sharing the same struggle,” says DC Jobs with Justice Organizer Ruth Castel-Branco. “Yet too often language, nationality and ethnicity are used to divide and prevent these communities from coming together to fight common challenges and win positive change.” The ongoing series will examine the root causes of division between communities and share tools that can be used to build cross-cultural unity. For more info, contact Castel-Branco, rcastel@dclabor.org; 202-974-8281.

LABOR HISTORY (7/23-7/27)
Anarchist Alexander Berkman shoots and stabs but fails to kill steel magnate Henry Clay Frick in an effort to avenge the Homestead massacre 18 days earlier, in which nine strikers were killed. Berkman also tried to use what was, in effect, a suicide bomb, but it didn’t detonate (7/23/1892); The U.S. minimum wage increases to $6.55 per hour today. The original minimum, set in 1938 by the Fair Labor Standards Act, was 25 cents per hour (7/24/2008); New York garment workers win closed shop and firing of scabs after 7-month strike (7/25/1890); The Teamsters and Service Employees unions break from the AFL-CIO during the federation’s 50th convention to begin the Change to Win coalition, ultimately comprised of seven unions. They say they want more emphasis on organizing and less on electoral politics (7/25/2005); In Chicago, 30 workers killed by federal troops, more than 100 wounded at the “Battle of the Viaduct” during the Great Railroad Strike (7/26/1877); President Grover Cleveland appoints a United States Strike Committee to investigate the causes of the Pullman strike and the subsequent strike by the American Railway Union. Later that year the commission issues its report, absolving the strikers and blaming Pullman and the railroads for the conflict (7/26/1894); Battle of Mucklow, WV in coal strike (7/26/1912); President Truman issues Executive Order 9981, directing equality of opportunity in armed forces (7/26/1948); The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) took effect today. It requires employers to offer reasonable accommodations to qualified disabled employees and bans discrimination against such workers (7/26/1992); William Sylvis, founder of the National Labor Union, died (7/27/1869); More info & ammo for unionists is available online from Union Communication Services.