Monday, February 25, 2013

Today in Labor History

February 25  --  SOURCE: Union Communications Services, Inc.

Amalgamated Association of Street & Electric Railway Employees of America change name to Amalgamated Transit Union - 1965

The Order of Railroad Telegraphers change name to Transportation-Communication Employees Union - 1965

A crowd estimated to be 100,000 strong rallied at the Wisconsin state Capitol in protest of what was ultimately was to become a successful push by the state’s Republican majority to cripple public employee bargaining rights - 20112013.02.25history-plain-cloth

(Cut From Plain Cloth: The 2011 Wisconsin Workers ProtestThe 2011 worker uprising in Wisconsin made history: hundreds of thousands of enraged workers and supporters converged on the state capital of Madison to protest the gutting of public employee collective bargaining. This moving and beautifully-executed new book marks the event for the piece of history it is, documenting the stories of demonstrators ranging from dedicated and overworked teachers to an unsettled Vietnam vet who finally felt welcomed back to his country, from high school students supporting those teachers to a 79-year-old German immigrant with a history of speaking truth to power.)

Summing up these serious safety issues, Hansen has this to say: "The situation is life-threatening, and management is not listening to the workers' concerns. What upsets our folks is that TriMet has plenty of money to hire excess numbers of highly-paid managers, but no money to keep up with basic maintenance of the system. Management is willing to bleed the operations budget dry in order to expand a light rail system that its workers know is falling apart." ~De
 

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