Monday, January 30, 2017

Today in Labor History

January 30 - Union Communications Services, Inc.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is born in Hyde Park, N.Y. He was elected president of the United States four times starting in 1932. His New Deal programs helped America survive the Great Depression. His legislative achievements included the creation of the National Labor Relations Act, which allows workers to organize unions, bargain collectively, and strike - 1882

Saturday, January 28, 2017

John Gaglio Rest in Peace

Former Los Angeles Times press operator John Gaglio passed away on January 21st, 2017 and will be missed by family and friends.

I worked under Mr. Gaglio as his fly-boy and an apprentice in the 1970's, he retired some thirty years ago and had to be in his 90's? He was a fun man to work for, and would occasionally allow me to operate the newspaper printing press as he napped.

His daughter Joanne would appreciate if you can get the word out regarding her father's passing.

Below is the information regarding services for Mr. Gaglio

Saint Joseph Church
550 North Glendora Avenue
La Puente, CA. 91744
(626) 336-2001

10:00 A.M. Viewing
10:30 A.M. Rosary
11:00 A.M. Funeral Mass

Burial at Queen of Heaven Cemetery 
2161 Fullerton Road
Rowland Heights, CA. 91748
(626) 964-1291

Reception at Pacific Palms
One Industry Hills Parkway
City of Industry, CA 91744 
(626) 810-4455

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Today in Labor History


January 26  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

In what could be considered the first workers’ compensation agreement in America, pirate Henry Morgan pledges his underlings 600 pieces of eight or six slaves to compensate for a lost arm or leg. Also part of the pirate’s code, reports Roger Newell: shares of the booty were equal regardless of race or sex, and shipboard decisions were made collectively - 1695

Samuel Gompers, first AFL president, born in London, England. He emigrated to the U.S. as a youth - 1850

The Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America is chartered by the American Federation of Labor to organize "every wage earner from the man who takes the bullock at the house until it goes into the hands of the consumer." - 1897

Workers win a two-day sit-down strike at the Brooklyn electric plant that powers the city's entire subway system - 1937

A handful of American companies announce nearly 60,000 layoffs today, as the recession that began during the George W. Bush presidency charges full-tilt toward what became known as the Great Recession - 2009

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Afghanistan’s first female fixed-wing pilot said to be ‘hopeful’ of asylum request in U.S.



By 

Aviatrix’s attorney calls Afghan government’s threatening reaction a vicious attack.
When Afghan Air Force Capt. Niloofar Rahmani arrived in the U.S. in Dec. 2015 to begin a year-long military training exchange program with the U.S. Air Force to build upon her fixed-wing flying skills, she knew something was off right away.
Her military salary ceased after she arrived in America for her 12-month flight school.
Her pay was simply canceled — with no warning and no official acknowledgement by the Afghan Ministry of Defence, or anyone else in the Afghan government, her attorney, Kimberly Motley, said in an hour-long telephone interview on Thursday, Jan. 12.
It’s been roughly a month since her client officially asked the American government for political asylum following death threats by the Taliban and protests by so-called “activists” in the country’s capital, Kabul, over recent weeks, as reported by media in Afghanistan.
Then came the slap in the face: Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, a spokesman for the Afghan Defence Ministry, said “she lied by saying she was threatened, just to win the asylum case,” according to The New York Times.

Press Release: Tribune Media President and CEO Peter Liguori to Step Down


Jan 25, 2017
CHICAGOJan. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/-- Tribune Media Company (NYSE: TRCO) today announced that Peter Liguori, the company's president and chief executive officer since January 2013, has decided to step down following the company's 2016 fourth quarter and full-year earnings release, expected to occur during the first week of March.  Mr. Liguori will also resign from the company's board of directors at that time.  Tribune Media's board of directors will conduct a search working with Korn Ferry to identify a new CEO. 
"Following the successful completion of several financial, strategic and creative initiatives, culminating in the pending sale of Gracenote, Tribune Media is well advanced in its transformation to a more focused broadcast and cable networks company," said Liguori.  "I believe that now is the ideal time for a new leader to steer today's Tribune.  As curious and excited as I am about pursuing new opportunities, I am equally grateful for the achievements, commitment and integrity of this company's management team and its dedicated employees."
Bruce Karsh, chairman of Tribune Media's board of directors added, "We greatly appreciate Peter's leadership in the transformation of Tribune Media over the last four years, including the efforts to monetize non-core assets and simplify the company.  It became clear to Peter and the board that in this last year of his contract it was time to find a new CEO to run the more broadcast-centric company."
During the last four years, Liguori led the restructuring and transformation of Tribune Media.  In 2013, the company acquired Local TV for $2.7 billion, which added 19 local television stations, bringing the total Tribune Media local television station portfolio to 42.  In 2014, the company spun off its newspaper publishing division to its shareholders.  During this period, Liguori led the company's strategic investments in WGN America and grew its brand and distribution to nearly 80 million households.    
In February 2016, Tribune Media announced a process to review its strategic and financial alternatives, resulting in the sale of certain real estate assets for more than $500 million and the pending sale of the company's Gracenote metadata business to Nielsen for approximately $560 million.
The board of directors has chosen one of the company's current directors, Peter M. Kern, to serve as the interim chief executive officer during the search process.  Mr. Kern has more than 25 years of experience as an executive, investor and M&A advisor in the media industry.
Tribune Media Company (NYSE: TRCO) is home to a diverse portfolio of television and digital properties driven by quality news, entertainment and sports programming. Tribune Media is comprised of Tribune Broadcasting's 42 owned or operated local television stations reaching more than 50 million households, national entertainment network WGN America, whose reach is approaching 80 million households, Tribune Studios, and a variety of digital applications and websites commanding 60 million monthly unique visitors online, including ScreenerTV.com and Covers.com.  Tribune Media also includes Chicago's WGN-AM and the national multicast networks Antenna TV and THIS TV. Additionally, the Company owns and manages a significant number of real estate properties across the U.S. and holds other strategic investments in media. For more information please visit www.tribunemedia.com.

SOURCE Tribune Media

Today in Labor History

January 25

Sojourner Truth addresses first Black Women’s Rights convention - 1851

The Sheet Metal Workers Int'l Association (SMWIA) is founded in Toledo, Ohio, as the Tin, Sheet Iron and Cornice Workers’ Int’l Association - 1888

Two hundred miners are killed in a horrific explosion at the Harwick mine in Cheswick, Pa., Allegheny County. Many of the dead lie entombed in the sealed mine to this day - 1904
(The novel Sixteen Tons carries the reader down into the dark and dangerous coal mines of the early 1900s, as Italian immigrant Antonio Vacca and his sons encounter cave-ins and fires deep below the earth’s surface. Above ground, miners battle gun thugs and corrupt sheriffs at Virden, Matewan and Ludlow in an epic struggle to form a union and make the mines a safer place to work. Historian Kevin Corley’s depiction of miners’ lives is based on his own interviews with mining families.)

The Supreme Court upholds “Yellow Dog” employment contracts, which forbid membership in labor unions. Yellow Dog contracts remained legal until 1932 - 1915

Some 16,000 textile workers strike in Passaic, N.J. – 1926

The federal minimum wage rate rises to 75 cents an hour - 1950

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Today in Labor History


January 24  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Krueger’s Cream Ale, the first canned beer, goes on sale in Richmond, Va.  Pabst was the second brewer in the same year to sell beer in cans, which came with opening instructions and the suggestion: "cool before serving" - 1935


January 23
Some 10,000 clothing workers strike in Rochester, N.Y., for the 8-hour day, a 10-percent wage increase, union recognition, and extra pay for overtime and holidays. Daily parades were held throughout the clothing district and there was at least one instance of mounted police charging the crowd of strikers and arresting 25 picketers. Six people were wounded over the course of the strike and one worker, 18-year-old Ida Breiman, was shot to death by a sweatshop contractor. The strike was called off in April after manufacturers agreed not to discriminate against workers for joining a union – 1913

In Allegany County, MD, workers with the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal era public works program employing unmarried men aged 18-25, are snowbound at Fifteen Mile Creek Camp S-53 when they receive a distress call about a woman in labor who needs to get to a hospital.  20 courageous CCC volunteers dig through miles of snow drifts until the woman is successfully able to be transported - 1936

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Today in Labor History

January 18  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

U.S. Supreme Court rules in Moyer v. Peabody that a governor and officers of a state National Guard may imprison anyone—in the case at hand, striking miners in Colorado—without probable cause “in a time of insurrection” and deny the person the right of appeal - 1909
 
"Take This Job and Shove It," by Johnny Paycheck, is listed by Billboard magazine as the most popular song in the U.S. - 1978

(Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class is a remarkable account of how working-class America hit the rocks in the political and economic upheavals of the 1970s.)

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Northridge Earthquake Raw Footage (01-17-1994)

Credit: U.S. Geological Survey Department of the Interior/USGS (Silent, Color)
Video Producer: Don Becker , U.S. Geological Survey
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquake...

Raw silent video footage of the damage from the Northridge, CA earthquake that occurred on 1/17/94. At 4:30 on the morning of January 17, 1994, some 10 million people in the Los Angeles region of southern California were awakened by the shaking of an earthquake. The earthquake, named for its epicenter in the town of Northridge, was a magnitude 6.7 (M = 6.7) shock that proved to be the most costly earthquake in United States history. The shaking heavily damaged communities throughout the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley, and their surrounding mountains north and west of Los Angeles, causing estimated losses of 20 billion dollars. Fifty-seven people died, more than 9,000 were injured, and more than 20,000 were displaced from their homes by the effects of the quake. Although moderate in size, the earthquake had immense impact on people and structures because it was centered directly beneath a heavily populated and built-up urban region. Thousands of buildings were significantly damaged, and more than 1,600 were later "red-tagged" as unsafe to enter. Another 7,300 buildings were restricted to limited entry ("yellow-tagged"), and many thousands of other structures incurred at least minor damage. The 10-20 seconds of strong shaking collapsed buildings, brought down freeway interchanges, and ruptured gas lines that exploded into fires. Fortuitously, the early morning timing of the earthquake spared many lives that otherwise might have been lost in collapsed parking buildings and on failed freeway structures.


Teamster Nation: Moving on ...

Teamster Nation: Moving on ...: FYI: This is the last post at http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/ . The Teamster Nation Blog will continue at Teamster.org/news moving forwa...

Today in Labor History

January 17  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.


Radical labor organizer and anarchist Lucy Parsons leads hunger march in Chicago; IWW songwriter Ralph Chaplin wrote "Solidarity Forever" for the march - 1915
 
President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 10988, guaranteeing federal workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively - 1962

Monday, January 16, 2017

Selma Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr.


“SELMA” is the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic struggle to secure voting rights for all people – a dangerous and terrifying campaign that culminated with the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and led to President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.


Today in Labor History

January 16  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

The United States Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act went into effect - 1883

Thousands of Palmer Raids detainees win right to meet with lawyers and attorney representation at deportation hearings. "Palmer" was Alexander Mitchell Palmer, U.S. attorney general under Woodrow Wilson. Palmer believed Communism was "eating its way into the homes of the American workman," and Socialists were causing most of the country's social problems - 1920

Former UAW President Leonard Woodcock dies in Ann Arbor, Mich., at age 89. He had succeeded Walter Reuther and led the union from 1970 to 1977 - 2001


Sunday, January 15, 2017

Randy Kantor Rest in Peace



Former Los Angeles Times pressman Randy Kantor (60) passed away last week after a long battle with cancer. Randy had many tales, which he loved sharing with his colleagues, that would cause much laughter. No information available for services at this time.

Below are a few of the many comments regarding Randy

Rick Hansen Wow, shocked at this news. Always brought laughter to his stories. RIP Randy.

Owen Brennan Randy worked first at the downtown plant. I met him when he was fresh off the boat from New Yawk. He was my Jewish encyclopedia. Rest in Peace Rabbi.

Michael Klop Wow😢 ... l remember how Tony Samorodny called him "Randy The Wrecker" ... and I always called him "Murray" ... and he usually called me "Klopstein" ðŸ¤ 

Randy was truly a zany character and l'll remember those nights we all worked together ... for the rest of my days ...💔


A Fond Farewell My Friend



Thursday, January 12, 2017

Today in Labor History

January 12  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

Novelist Jack London is born. His classic definition of a scab—someone who would cross a picket line and take a striker's job: "After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a cork-screw soul, a water-logged brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles" - 1876
 
Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson orders police to raid an open-air mass meeting of shipyard workers in an attempt to prevent a general strike. Workers were brutally beaten. The strike began the following month, with 60,000 workers walking out in solidarity with some 25,000 metal tradesmen - 1919
 
President Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board to mediate labor disputes during World War II. Despite the fact that 12 million of the nation’s workers were women—to rise to 18 million by war’s end—the panel consisted entirely of men - 1942

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Los Angeles Times Retirees Breakfast

On Tuesday January 31st 2017 at 9:00 A.M. the retirees from the Los Angeles Times will gather together for reminiscing about the good old days while working at the newspaper. The group is made up of mostly pressmen, but everyone is welcome to join us.

This is a buffet, that is very well presented, but you can have coffee only if you prefer.

Marie Callendars Restaurant
3117 East Garvey,
West Covina, CA. 91791

626-339-5491




Today in Labor History

January 11
The IWW-organized “Bread & Roses” textile strike of 32,000 women and children begins in Lawrence, Mass. It lasted 10 weeks and ended in victory. The first millworkers to walk out were Polish women, who, upon collecting their pay, exclaimed that they had been cheated and promptly abandoned their looms - 1912
(Notice in the Minneapolis Labor Review) “Minneapolis Ice Wagon Drivers’ Union will hold an exceptionally interesting meeting Sunday, at 16 South 5th St.  A Jazz Band, dancing, boxing and good speaking are among the attractions.” - 1918

Nearly two weeks into a sit-down strike at GM’s Fisher Body Plant No. 2 in Flint, Mich., workers battle police when they try to prevent the strikers from receiving food deliveries from thousands of supporters on the outside.  Sixteen strikers and spectators and 11 police were injured.  Most of the strikers were hit by buckshot fired by police riot guns; the police were injured principally by thrown nuts, bolts, door hinges and other auto parts. The incident became known as the “Battle of the Running Bulls” - 1936

National Hockey League owners end a player lockout that had gone for three months and ten days.  A key issue was owner insistence on a salary cap, which they won - 1995

Ford Motor Co. announces it will eliminate 35,000 jobs while discontinuing four models and closing five plants - 2002

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Why Warren Buffett Really Likes Newspapers!

Published on Dec 18, 2016

The brazilian reporter, Alberto Dines interviews Warren Buffett for the 15th Anniversary of "Observatorio da Imprensa" talking about the challenges Printed Media faces in the Digital Era.


Judge OKs $32 million settlement for Tribune employees

Hundreds Of Writers, Editors And Other Employees Will Recapture Money For Their Employee Stock Ownership Plan

By Jim Romenesko  October 26, 2011

CHICAGO - Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted preliminary approval of a $32 million settlement in the class action case of Dan Neil, et al. v. Samuel Zell, et al. The defendants in this case are GreatBanc Trust Company, Samuel Zell and EGI-TRB, LLC. Tribune Company was dropped from the case after its bankruptcy filing, but they are a party to the settlement. The Tribune Company includes the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, other major newspaper and media outlets. The final hearing on the settlement is on January 30, 2012.

Full article on Poynter

Tribune Co shareholders' legal woes over 2007 buyout near end

A New York federal judge has shot down an effort by creditors of the former Tribune Co to claw back $8 billion from shareholders who sold stock in the publisher's 2007 buyout, bringing a long-running legal battle sparked by its bankruptcy closer to an end.
The ruling stems from the tangled litigation following real estate mogul Sam Zell's leveraged buyout of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times publisher, which creditors blame for its 2008 bankruptcy.
In an attempt to recover money raised from the buyout, Tribune creditors have spent years pursuing unusual claims in court, such as trying to hold passive shareholders accountable for the failed deal.

In a ruling published on Monday, Judge Richard Sullivan dismissed such claims and absolved individual shareholders from complying with creditors' demands that they hand over the money from the sale of their stock in the buyout.

Today in Labor History

January 10  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

In what is described as the worst industrial disaster in state history, the Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Mass., collapses, trapping 900 workers, mostly Irish women. More than 100 die, scores more injured in the collapse and ensuing fire. Too much machinery had been crammed into the building - 1860
 
Wobbly organizer and singer Joe Hill allegedly kills two men during a grocery store hold-up in Utah. He ultimately is executed by firing squad (His last word was “Fire!”) for the crime despite much speculation that he was framed - 1914
 
Former AFL-CIO President George Meany dies at age 85. The one-time plumber led the labor federation from the time of the AFL and CIO merger in 1955 until shortly before his death - 1980
 
The Supreme Court lets stand implementation of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) despite the lack of an Environmental Impact Statement - 2004



January 09

A Mediation Commission appointed by President Woodrow Wilson finds that "industry’s failure to deal with unions" is the prime reason for labor strife in war industries - 1918
 
Eighty thousand Chicago construction workers strike - 1922
 
Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union leads Missouri Highway sit-down of 1,700 families. They had been evicted from their homes so landowners wouldn't have to share government crop subsidy payments with them - 1939
 
Former Hawaii Territorial Gov. Ingram Steinbeck opposes statehood for Hawaii, saying left wing unions have an "economic stranglehold" on the islands. Hawaii was to be granted statehood five years later - 1954
 
The administration of George W. Bush declares federal airport security screeners will not be allowed to unionize so as not to "complicate" the war on terrorism. The decision was challenged and eventually overturned after Bush left office - 2003