Today in Labor History

August 30  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Delegates from several East Coast cities meet in convention to form the National Trades' Union, uniting craft unions to oppose "the most unequal and unjustifiable distribution of the wealth of society in the hands of a few individuals."  The union faded after a few years - 1834

President Franklin Roosevelt's Wealth Tax Act increases taxes on rich citizens and big business, lowers taxes for small businesses - 1935

OSHA publishes scaffold safety standard, designed to protect 2.3 million construction workers and prevent 50 deaths and 4,500 injuries annually - 1996

Overworked and overwhelmed? Consider these 7 questions

Overworked and overwhelmed? Consider these 7 questions

Today in Labor History

August 29  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Seventy-five workers die when the lower St. Lawrence River’s Quebec Bridge collapses while under construction.  A flawed design was found to be the cause.  Thirteen more workers were killed nine years later when the reconstructed bridge’s central span was being raised and fell into the river because of a problem with hoisting devices - 1907

Dancers at San Francisco’s Lusty Lady Club vote 57-15 to be represented by SEIU Local 790. Their first union contract, ratified eight months later, guaranteed work shifts, protection against arbitrary discipline and termination, automatic hourly wage increases, sick days, a grievance procedure, and removal of one-way mirrors from peep show booths - 1996

Northwest Airlines pilots, after years of concessions to help the airline, begin what is to become a 2-week strike for higher pay - 1998

Delegates to the  Minnesota AFL-CIO convention approve the launching of workdayminnesota.org, now in its fourteenth year.  It was the first web-based daily labor news service by a state labor federation - 2000

August 28

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom—the Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have A Dream" speech march—is held in Washington, D.C., with 250,000 participating.  The AFL-CIO did not endorse the march, but several affiliated unions did – 1963
(Martin Luther King, Jr., and the March on Washington: Written for 5 to 8 year-olds, this is a very nice introduction to Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, that watershed event in the fight for civil rights. It uses the March as a point of reference as it talks about segregation in America and the battle for equal rights.)

Today in media history: Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech

Today in media history: Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech

Today in Labor History

August 27  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Some 14,000 Chicago teachers who have gone without pay for several months finally collect about $1,400 each - 1934

President Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize all the nation's railroads to prevent a general strike.  The railroads were not returned to their owners until two years later - 1950

"The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression."
In memory, W.E.B Dubois (Feb. 23, 1868 – Aug. 27, 1963), sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author and editor. Photo: Du Bois with Mary McLeod Bethune and Horace Mann Bond, undated from U. Mass-Amherst. See more: http://bit.ly/SHaCSr

New local news editors named at the LA Times - LA Observed

New local news editors named at the LA Times - LA Observed

Advice Goddess Blog

Advice Goddess Blog - "TV Producer In Beverly Hills For Pre-Emmys Event Arrested For Being Tall, Bald And Black"

Tuesday Morning in the Blogosphere

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of the Cartoon The Jetsons, prediction of 

how newspapers would be read in the future were exactly on the mark

Stick a Fork in Your Newspaper - Bloomberg View

Ad revenue forecast to set record next year - Crain's

UH student paper shifts to weekly print publication - Chron

The Fall and Rise of Investigative Journalism - Huffington Post

Rupert Murdoch runs News Corp along 'feudal' lines - The Guardian

The Financial Times' mobile-led weekend evolution - Editors Weblog

Jonesboro Police Chief resigns after attacking reporter online - Romenesko

Declining circulation is a term that haunts editors and publishers - Grubstreet

LITTLE: Newspapers are still here, still making money - Grand Haven Tribune

Newspapers appear to be deemphasizing single copy sales - Talking New Media

Turner rumored to be offering buyouts to 550 employees

Turner rumored to be offering buyouts to 550 employees

Today in Labor History

August 26  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Fannie Sellins and Joseph Starzeleski are murdered by coal company guards on a picket line in Brackenridge, Pa. Sellins was a United Mine Workers of America organizer and Starzeleski was a miner - 1919

After three-quarters of the states had ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, women win their long struggle for the vote - 1920

With America in the depths of the Great Depression, the Comptroller of the Currency announces a temporary halt on foreclosures of first mortgages - 1932

In what some may consider one of the many management decisions that was to help cripple the American auto industry over the following decades, Ford Motor Co. produces its first Edsel. Ford dropped the project two years later after losing approximately $350 million - 1957

The Women’s Strike for Equality is staged in cities across the U.S., marking the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, under which women won the right to vote.  A key focus of the strike—in fact, more accurately a series of marches and demonstrations—was equality in the workplace.  An estimated 20,000 women participated, some carrying signs with the iconic slogan, “Don’t Iron While the Strike is Hot.”  Another sign: “Hardhats for Soft Broads” - 1970

More than 1,300 bus drivers on Oahu, Hawaii, begin what is to become a 5-week strike - 2003

Today the Jackie Robinson West All Stars have made history

Well the fellows came up short in the championship game but they are still Americans little league champions! Give these young men a thumbs up ladies and gentlemen, Americans 2014 little league world series Champion’s! - Haywood Galbreath

"Today the Jackie Robinson West All Stars have made history as only the third team ever from Illinois to reach the championship game of the Little League World Series and the City of Chicago could not be prouder of them. Their positive attitude and success on the field has rallied people from every neighborhood to support these kids and they continue to demonstrate why they are the pride of Chicago. What a comeback. What a win!" - Mayor Emanuel

American journalist released in Syria; British officials ID man believed to be Foley’s killer

American journalist released in Syria; British officials ID man believed to be Foley’s killer

Today in Labor History

August 25 - Union Communications Services, Inc.

Birth of Allan Pinkerton, whose strike-breaking detectives ("Pinks") gave us the word "fink" - 1819

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded at a meeting in New York City.  A. Philip Randolph became the union's first organizer - 1925

Post by GreenYatra.

No brotherly love for rival papers in Philadelphia

No brotherly love for rival papers in Philadelphia

Bookie - Dem Nuh Bad (Raw) Social Issues Riddim - August 2014

Bookie - Dem Nuh Bad (Raw) Social Issues Riddim
Produced by Young Vibez Productions

WEBSITE: http://krishgenius.com | BBM: 7976AE28
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/Krish_Genius
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/KRISHGENIUS
FACEBOOK: http://on.fb.me/gxH2nC

Today in Labor History

August 24  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

The Gatling Gun Co.—manufacturers of an early machine gun—writes to B&O Railroad Co. President John W. Garrett during a strike, urging their product be purchased to deal with the "recent riotous disturbances around the country." Says the company: "Four or five men only are required to operate (a gun), and one Gatling... can clear a street or block and keep it clear" - 1877

National Association of Letter Carriers formed - 1889

United Farm Workers Union begins lettuce strike - 1970

Jack Ryan, said the company is profitable, but he declined to provide numbers

The end of newspapers as we know them

Clay Shirky has some some truths: "Maybe 25 year olds will start demanding news from yesterday, delivered in an unshareable format once a day. Perhaps advertisers will decide 'Click to buy' is for wimps. Mobile phones: could be a fad. After all, anything could happen with print. Hard to tell, really."

The other significant point is that journalists are being kept deliberately in the dark about the fortunes of their employers. When asked to estimate their own circulation, they overestimate it by an order of magnitude. It's the sharp between the newsroom and the business side: "

Cory Doctorow

Today in Labor History

August 23  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

The U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations is formed by Congress, during a period of great labor and social unrest. After three years, and hearing witnesses ranging from Wobblies to capitalists, it issued an 11-volume report frequently critical of capitalism. The New York Herald characterized the Commission's president, Frank P. Walsh, as "a Mother Jones in trousers" - 1912

Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, accused of murder and tried unfairly, were executed on this day. The case became an international cause and sparked demonstrations and strikes throughout the world - 1927

Seven merchant seamen crewing the SS Baton Rouge Victory lost their lives when the ship was sunk by Viet Cong action en route to Saigon - 1966

Farm Workers Organizing Committee (to later become United Farm Workers of America) granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1966
(The Fight in the Fields: No man in this century has had more of an impact on the lives of Hispanic Americans, and especially farmworkers, than the legendary Cesar Chavez. Born to migrant workers in 1927, he attended 65 elementary schools before finishing 7th grade, the end of his formal education. Through hard work, charisma and uncommon bravery he moved on to become founder and leader of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) and to win a degree of justice for tens of thousands of workers... and to set a moral example for the nation.)

Friday Morning in the Blogosphere

The Teamster truck parked across the street from the Los Angeles Times

The end of the printed newspaper - Medium

Beyond the Printed Page - Editor and Publisher

Newspapers are, pretty much, dead - Boing Boing

Extra! Extra! North Shore gets new newspapers - Crain's

LA Times asking readers about a smaller format paper - LAObserved

Newspapers might be changing, but they make money - Times-Leader

Mobile devices are conquering the time of our readers - Editors Weblog

Despite what you've heard, newspapers are still going strong - Penn Live

Newspapers To Sink Or Swim In The Sea of Changing Media - WUWM

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Alums send treats to former colleagues - Romenesko

Today in media history: In 1762, Ann Franklin becomes one the first women newspaper publishers

Today in media history: In 1762, Ann Franklin becomes one the first women newspaper publishers

Daily News and LANG hire county reporter from Register - LA Observed

Daily News and LANG hire county reporter from Register - LA Observed

Today in Labor History

August 22  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Five flight attendants form the Air Line Stewardesses Association, the first labor union representing flight attendants. They werereacting to an industry in which women were forced to retire at the age of 32, remain single, and adhere to strict weight, height and appearance requirements. The association later became the Association of Flight Attendants, now a division of the Communications Workers of America - 1945
(From First Contact to First Contract: A Union Organizer’s Handbook is a no-nonsense tool from veteran labor organizer and educator Bill Barry. He looks to his own vast experience to document and help organizers through all the stages of a unionization campaign, from how to get it off the ground to how to bring it home with a signed contract and a strong bargaining unit.)

Int’l Broom & Whisk Makers Union disbands - 1963

Joyce Miller, a vice president of the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers, becomes first female member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council - 1980

The Kerr-McGee Corp. agrees to pay the estate of the late Karen Silkwood $1.38 million, settling a 10-year-old nuclear contamination lawsuit.  She was a union activist who died in 1974 under suspicious circumstances on her way to talk to a reporter about safety concerns at her plutonium fuel plant in Oklahoma - 1986

Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1988

The journalists you meet on West Florissant Avenue

The journalists you meet on West Florissant Avenue

Union wins decertify vote at the Los Angeles Times

Ronnie Pineda, President of Teamsters Local 140-N at the Los Angeles Times.

Today Tribune Publishing lost in it's attempt to decertify the union representing the men and women working in the press room at the Los Angeles Times by a vote of 44 Yes to 36 No's.

Back in the Los Angeles Times heydays, with three production facilities, there were over 800 pressmen and press women, that number has dwindled down to 88 today.

Should we all pretend poverty doesn't exist?

5 things you should know about poverty in Southern California

Ms. Jenna Chandler from the Orange County Register wrote an interesting article regarding poverty in our area, which is worth reading. The information shared should be of concern for everyone regarding poverty, which makes me ask Should we all look the other way and pretend their is no problem?

Click here for complete article

Today in Labor History

August 21  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Slave revolt led by Nat Turner begins in Southampton County, Va. - 1831

Turner started with several trusted fellow slaves, but the insurgency ultimately numbered more than 70 enslaved and free blacks, some of whom were mounted on horseback. On August 13, 1831, an atmospheric disturbance made the Sun appear bluish-green. Turner took this as the final signal, and began the rebellion a week later on August 21. The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing all the white people they encountered.

Because the rebels did not want to alert anyone, they discarded their muskets and used knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt instruments instead of firearms. (The latter also would have been more difficult for them to collect.) Historian Stephen B. Oates states that Turner called on his group to "kill all the white people." A contemporary newspaper noted, "Turner declared that 'indiscriminate slaughter was not their intention after they attained a foothold, and was resorted to in the first instance to strike terror and alarm.'" The group spared a few homes "because Turner believed the poor white inhabitants 'thought no better of themselves than they did of negroes.'"

The rebels spared almost no one whom they encountered. A small child who hid in a fireplace was among the few survivors. The slaves killed approximately sixty white men, women and children^[12] before Turner and his brigade of insurgents were defeated. A white militia with twice the manpower of the rebels and reinforced by three companies of artillery eventually defeated the insurrection.

The Rebecca Vaughan House is the last remaining intact building in Southampton County at which owners and their families were killed in the Nat Turner Insurrection.

Today in media history: Journalists introduced to TV in 1928

Today in media history: Journalists introduced to TV in 1928

Sowing Seeds For Life open today in La Verne, CA. from 1pm to 5pm

Mary and Tajha both work full time jobs, yet find the time to volunteer

As the food crisis intensifies across America many families have been able to bridge the gap by visiting local food banks, such as Sowing Seeds For Life. Depending on weather conditions and the cars snaking down Arrow Highway we will distribute food to anywhere from 550 to 650 families today. The only requirement for receiving food, you must reside in Los Angeles County.

Sowing Seeds For Life

1350 Arrow Highway

La Verne, CA. 91750

(909) 392-5777

Open the 1st and 3rd Wednesday every month from 1pm to 5pm

The second Friday of each month for seniors and veterans

The last Saturday each month from 1pm to 3pm, open to anyone in need 

James Foley’s mother: ‘We have never been prouder of our son Jim’

James Foley’s mother: ‘We have never been prouder of our son Jim’

Today in Labor History

August 20  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

The Great Fire of 1910, a wildfire that consumed about 3 million acres in Washington, Idaho and Montana—an area about the size of Connecticut—claimed the lives of 78 firefighters over two days.  It is believed to be the largest, although not deadliest, fire in U.S. history - 1910

Deranged relief postal service carrier Patrick “Crazy Pat” Henry Sherrill shoots and kills 14 coworkers, and wounds another six, before killing himself at an Edmond, Okla., postal facility.  Supervisors had ignored warning signs of Sherrill’s instability, investigators later found; the shootings came a day after he had been reprimanded for poor work.  The incident inspired the objectionable term “going postal” - 1986

No outrage against attempted murder of police officers

By LAPPL Board of Directors

Over the last 72 hours, there have been a number of attempted murders of police officers in Los Angeles County, yet there has been no community or media outrage. Two prime examples include an LAPD SWAT officer who was severely injured during a shootout with a suspected gunman following a pursuit in South Los Angeles. In another case, a sheriff’s deputy is facing a long recovery after undergoing surgery for life-changing injuries he suffered in an unprovoked attempted murder by an “unarmed” man already on probation for assaulting a peace officer.

Witnesses said the deputy was escorting a male suspect in a mall when the suspect unexpectedly turned on the deputy and hit him several times, knocking the deputy to the ground, and continuing his assault.

Crickets chirp as we wait for the LA Times Editorial Board to chime in with some suggestions on police tactics following these incidents.

City residents, law enforcement, community members and editorial writers should be alarmed when those whose job it is to fight crime on a daily basis are being targeted for murder. Why do otherwise reasoned individuals—despite evidence before them to the contrary—become reflexively critical of police? Why do these individuals jump to the twisted conclusion that police officers’ lives are any less endangered when encountering “unarmed” suspects than when they’re staring down the barrel of a gun? Why do these same individuals assume all officer-involved shootings—while always tragic—are always “bad” shootings? These individuals are cherry-picking the facts and doing a disservice to the communities they serve.

The disconnect between reality and the world in which newspaper editorial boards live in cannot not be more starkly contrasted than the LA Times editorial which pontificated about the Ezell Ford shooting with the following: “It is hard to believe that police cannot refine their encounters with unarmed citizens to avoid the use of deadly force.” In other words, according to the Times, “unarmed” residents pose no threat to officers.

The reality is that when somebody attacks a police officer, they should expect the reaction to their attack will be swift, sure and met with enough force to end the assault. As LAPPL President Tyler Izen told the Times, “While waiting for the facts to be determined, I feel the need to restate the obvious. When a person attempts to take an officer’s gun from them, no matter their physical or mental condition, we should expect an officer to respond accordingly to save their life—and that likely includes the use of deadly force.”

We also note with dismay that while compelled to devote numerous pages of coverage to the unfolding situation in Ferguson, Missouri, the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board cannot be stirred to write even a murmur of protest over the violence directed against police officers there. Apparently, throwing Molotov cocktail bottles, rocks, and other debris at police officers is just not worthy of their commentary. Yet, you can be sure that if a police officer were the perpetrator of equivalent violence, entire forests would be decimated to print the hand-wringing editorials from the Los Angeles Times.

If a suspect takes or attempts to take an officer’s gun by force, he has sent a clear message that he intends to murder that officer and possibly others, and must be stopped for the safety of all. Whether that aggressive suspect is under the influence of a controlled substance, alcohol, or has a mental illness, the target of his attack will be in immediate danger nonetheless. When anyone grabs for the officer’s gun, they become an armed suspect, and in most cases, predetermined the tragic outcome of events.

Public safety requires a strong two-way partnership. We need to make it clear that Los Angeles is a city in which violence against the community or its police officers is never tolerated. The dedicated men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department, who serve to protect our communities, deserve all the tools and support the community can possibly provide. The LAPPL asks the public and our community leaders to continue to support our officers and make sure that criminals do not deter them from making Los Angeles the safest big city in America.

h/t Jasmyne Cannick

Where to buy gas masks for your reporting staff in Ferguson

Where to buy gas masks for your reporting staff in Ferguson

Los Angeles police union issues statement

Los Angeles Police Protective League President Tyler Izen issued the following statement regarding the Ezell Ford incident:

“Increasingly, in the immediate aftermath of any police shooting, unvetted statements by persons claiming to be witnesses are given prominent play. While a factual investigation unfolds at a deliberate and slower pace, an inaccurate narrative can be created before the actual facts are determined. The Ezell Ford incident on August 11, 2014, in Newton Area is no exception, as we have read and viewed some inaccurate reports of what occurred.”

“It is critically important, both for the LAPD and the community to establish what actually happened. The LAPPL reminds everyone that it is necessary for a thorough and transparent investigation to take place so the final conclusion is trustworthy and can withstand critical scrutiny—and that will take time. This thorough and complete investigation is being conducted by Force Investigation Division. The Inspector General and the district attorney monitor the investigation and ensure that it is complete and unbiased. The preliminary facts, according to LAPD officials, are that two LAPD officers assigned to the Gang Enforcement Detail in Newton Area stopped Ezell Ford at about 8:10 p.m. as he walked on a sidewalk near 65th Street and Broadway in South Los Angeles. A violent struggle ensued, and Ford grabbed one of the officers and tried to remove the officer’s handgun from its holster, prompting a deadly use of force.”

“It goes without saying that no officer ever comes to work with the intention of taking a human life. However, when forced to make split-second, life-or-death decisions under stressful situations, officers rely on their training and what the law allows when using deadly force.”

“LAPD officers’ use of force is concise, consistent with prevailing law, and based on best police practices. Officers are permitted to use force that is objectively reasonable to defend themselves or others, to effect an arrest or detention, and/or to prevent escape or overcome resistance. Officers are taught to evaluate a suspect’s behavior, the severity of the crime a suspect is committing or about to commit, and whether it is reasonable to conclude that the suspect’s behavior might cause serious injury to an officer or another person.”

“If a suspect’s behavior is likely to cause serious bodily injury or death, an officer can, by law and under LAPD policy, use deadly force. In using deadly force, officers can fire their weapons only to stop deadly threats to keep themselves and the public safe, and can continue to fire until the threat has ended.”

“The objectively reasonable standard was established by the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case of Graham v. Connor. The court ruled an officer’s response must be evaluated by whether it was ‘objectively reasonable’ in light of what the officer knew at the time force was used. The ‘objective’ factor means the decision to use force is judged by what a reasonable officer, knowing the same facts, would have done. Importantly, the court then wrote the ‘20/20 vision of hindsight’ should not drive the determination. Further, “the calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments—in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving—about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation.”

“Reaching a final conclusion about what happened in the Newton incident is simply a rush to judgment. All of the facts are simply not known with certainty. Interviews with the involved officers, witnesses, and examination of the physical evidence will determine what happened. A judgment as to whether the action was proper and in policy, based on those gathered facts, will be made without 20/20 hindsight as mandated by the Supreme Court. An investigation into the use of deadly force is the most exhaustive type of examination the LAPD performs.”

h/t Jasmyne Cannick

Reporter in Ferguson thinks he found rubber bullets

Susie Cagle

This is the Huffington Post "reporter" in Ferguson. He does not appear to be joking. This is why I don't get offended when people complain about journalists being kind of terrible -- they're right. [Photo via Reclaim Uc, who knew I needed a laugh.]

Cartoonist Dan Rosandich shared this gem on Facebook today, which are not rubber bullets as the reporter assumed. Happy Boots, do you know what is pictured above?

Digital First puts 51 newspaper buildings on the market

Digital First puts 51 newspaper buildings on the market

Today in Labor History

August 19  --   Union Communications Services, Inc.

First edition of IWW Little Red Song Book published - 1909

Some 2,000 United Railroads streetcar service workers and supporters parade down San Francisco’s Market Street in support of pay demands and against the company’s anti-union policies. The strike failed in late November in the face of more than 1,000 strikebreakers, some of them imported from Chicago - 1917

Founding of the Maritime Trades Dept. of the AFL-CIO, to give "workers employed in the maritime industry and its allied trades a voice in shaping national policy" - 1946

Phelps-Dodge copper miners in Morenci and Clifton, Ariz., are confronted by tanks, helicopters, 426 state troopers and 325 National Guardsmen brought in to walk strikebreakers through picket lines in what was to become a failed 3-year fight by the Steelworkers and other unions - 1983

Some 4,400 mechanics, cleaners and custodians, members of AMFA at Northwest Airlines, strike the carrier over job security, pay cuts and work rule changes. The 14-month strike was to fail, with most union jobs lost to replacements and outside contractors - 2005

Monday Night in the Blogosphere

Los Angeles skyline as seen from the Teamster Hall parking area

Advocate Buys Parish Weeklies - My New Orleans

What could social journalism do for Ferguson? - Jeff Jarvis

Do Print Spinoffs Spell Death of U.S. Newspapers? - TheWrap

Carl Icahn Discloses Stake in Gannett, Supports the Split - Zacks

Guild battling bosses over byline quota at Pioneer Press - Robert Feder

American Media's financial story needs a new rewrite - The Deal Pipeline

Why beggars are a problem for Vienna's street paper - The Local Austria

New Haven Independent staff takes its first vacation in nine years - Romenesko

Do you remember when newspapers thought it was important? - Chicago Reader

Gannett cribs from Advance Publications playbook for struggling newspapers - CJR

Getty photographer arrested, released in Ferguson

Getty photographer arrested, released in Ferguson

At-will employment

At will employment is generally described as follows: "any hiring is presumed to be 'at will'; that is, the employer is free to discharge individuals 'for good cause, or bad cause, or no cause at all,' and the employee is equally free to quit, strike, or otherwise cease work." In an October 2000 decision largely reaffirming employers' rights under the at-will doctrine, the Supreme Court of California explained:

“

[A]n employer may terminate its employees at will, for any or no reason ... the employer may act peremptorily, arbitrarily, or inconsistently, without providing specific protections such as prior warning, fair procedures, objective evaluation, or preferential reassignment ... The mere existence of an employment relationship affords no expectation, protectable by law, that employment will continue, or will end only on certain conditions, unless the parties have actually adopted such terms.

”

At-will employment disclaimers are a staple of employee handbooks in the United States. It is common for employers to define what at-will employment means, explain that an employee’s at-will status cannot be changed except in a writing signed by the company president (or chief executive), and require that an employee sign an acknowledgment of his or her at-will status

Ferguson Food Pantry needs boxed meals & non-perishables

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
33 N Clay Ave
Ferguson, MO 63135
Ph: 314-521-0138

In recent years, the St. Stephen’s Food Pantry, like many, has had to stretch to meet the growing demand in our area.  We currently distribute 160-170 bags per month to needy people in our areas.

In order to do so, the Food Pantry relies on support from a number of area organizations. We appreciate the aid provided by the local Scout troops, by the St. Louis Food Bank, and by a number of our neighboring congregations in Ferguson.

Without ongoing donations of food and money from individuals and organizations, we would not be open today. Furthermore, we are always looking for volunteers to help with shopping or distribution of our food.

Today in Labor History

August 18  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Radio station WEVD, named for Eugene V. Debs, goes on the air in New York City, operated by The Forward Association as a memorial to the labor and socialist leader - 1927
(The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene V. Debs: Eugene V. Debs was a labor activist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who captured the heart and soul of the nation’s working people. He was brilliant, sincere, compassionate and scrupulously honest. A founder of one of the nation’s first industrial unions, the American Railway Union, he went on to help launch the Industrial Workers of the World -- the Wobblies. A man of firm beliefs and dedication, he ran for President of the United States five times under the banner of the Socialist Party, in 1912 earning 6 percent of the popular vote.  Many union activists and labor scholars see Debs as the definitive labor leader.)

Founding of the American Federation of Government Employees, following a decision by the National Federation of Federal Employees (later to become part of the Int’l Association of Machinists) to leave the AFL - 1932

Protesters in Ferguson have been chanting, "Who do you protect?

Protesters in Ferguson have been chanting, "Who do you protect? Who do you serve?" It seems like an entirely legitimate question.

Woodstock CBS coverage 8-18-1969

Santana - Soul Sacrifice 1969 "Woodstock" Live Video HQ

Today in media history: The 1969 Woodstock music festival

Today in media history: The 1969 Woodstock music festival

Here's what Beutner will be paid as LA Times publisher - LA Observed

Here's what Beutner will be paid as LA Times publisher - LA Observed

By Kevin Roderick

The website Footnoted noticed a late-Friday SEC filing by the newly formed company Tribune Publishing that details the compensation package for new Los Angeles Times publisher Austin Beutner. While being paid $675,000 a year base salary plus an annual bonus with the target of the same amount, Beutner will also start to build up a little ownership stake — a head start in case he ever wants to buy the Times. The employment agreement is for three years and provides that Beutner gets a year's base salary (and more) as severance if he is terminated or leaves for good case — "which may include a change in control."

Michael Cascadden Art Display this Saturday

Notes from Ferguson: ‘Don’t feel intimidated by the national/international press’

Notes from Ferguson: ‘Don’t feel intimidated by the national/international press’

Today in Labor History

August 17  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

IWW War Trials in Chicago, 95 go to prison for up to 20 years - 1918

Bakery & Confectionery Workers Int’l Union of America merges with Tobacco Workers Int’l Union to become Bakery, Confectionery & Tobacco Workers - 1978

Year-long Hormel meatpackers' strike begins in Austin, Minn. - 1985

August 16

George Meany, plumber, founding AFL-CIO president, born in City Island, Bronx. In his official biography, George Meany and His Times, he said he had "never walked a picket line in his life." He also said he took part in only one strike (against the United States Government to get higher pay for plumbers on welfare jobs). Yet he also firmly said that "You only make progress by fighting for progress." Meany served as secretary-treasurer of the AFL from 1940 to 1952, succeeded as president of the AFL, and then continued as president of the AFL-CIO following the historic merger in 1955 until retiring in 1979 - 1894

Homer Martin, early United Auto Workers leader, born in Marion, Ill. - 1902

Congress passes the National Apprenticeship Act, establishing a national advisory committee to research and draft regulations establishing minimum standards for apprenticeship programs. It was later amended to permit the Labor Department to issue regulations protecting the health, safety and general welfare of apprentices, and to encourage the use of contracts in their hiring and employment - 1937

National Agricultural Workers Union merges into Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen - 1960

Int’l Union of Wood, Wire & Metal Lathers merges with United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners - 1979