MUST READ
60 Years After the March on Washington, Let’s Recommit to the Fight for Justice
Word in Black
By Fred Redmond
Aug. 23, 2023
Sixty years ago this month, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered perhaps his most famous speech to a quarter of a million people. He told the crowd that he dreamt of a day where “this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed,” where his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” And it was a call to action “to make real the promises of democracy” and “to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”
CIVIL, HUMAN, AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
‘Tell ’em about the dream, Martin!’: Memories from the crowd at MLK’s March on Washington
USA Today
By Grace Hauck and Marc Ramirez
Aug. 23, 2023
It's 1963, and 15-year-old Clayola Brown just heard the news on the car radio in Philadelphia: There was going to be a march on Washington. She recalls the deep, heavy baritone of civil rights activist and march organizer A. Philip Randolph, describing the inequities of Jim Crow America and the promise of freedom and economic justice. "It was like a calling," said Brown, now 75 years old. "I just knew I wanted to be there."
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Unions’ warning to Wall Street
Financial Times
By Ethan Wu
Aug. 23, 2023
Behind today’s surge in labour action is a combination of a tight labour market raising employee leverage and the pandemic’s stark reminder that working conditions matter, said Candace Archer, policy director at the AFL-CIO union federation. She adds that inflation is better attributed to high corporate profits and supply-side disruptions than wage growth.
JOINING TOGETHER
‘Hot labor summer’: Actors, union leaders rally in downtown Chicago as SAG-AFTRA strike continues
Chicago Sun-Times
By Ellery Jones
Aug. 22, 2023
Several hundred actors, union members and their supporters rallied in Grant Park on Tuesday in support of the joint screenwriters and actors strike that’s now in its second month. Local members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists chanted “Hot labor summer!” and “Labor united cannot be defeated!” near Buckingham Fountain and listened to speeches from local union leaders. The crowd also heard supportive speeches from politicians U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Illinois state Sen. Lakesia Collins and Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd). “This is a labor revolution,” SAG-AFTRA Chicago local president Charles Gardner said during the rally. “And those aren’t just my words — the media is catching it, and they’re calling it a labor revolution. How powerful is that?”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Staff
Aug. 22, 2023
Hundreds of striking Atlanta actors, writers joined by other labor unions as fight for pay increases continue,
Martin Sheen, Kerry Washington, Ron Perlman at Solidarity Rally: Don’t Let Studios “Gaslight Us”
The Hollywood Reporter
By Lesley Goldberg
Aug. 22, 2023
Thousands of union members braved a beating sun on Tuesday outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, as SAG-AFTRA brought out speakers including Kerry Washington, Martin Sheen and Ron Perlman as well as such labor leaders as Lindsay Dougherty, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and Joely Fisher as part of its National Day of Solidarity rally. Burbank police officers, who closed off residential streets in the area, estimated Tuesday’s crowd to be between 1,500-2,000, but organizers SAG-AFTRA expected as many as 5,000 to attend the event, which served as a rallying cry for the Writers Guild of America and the performers union during their ongoing strikes as well as a show of solidarity with those — including the Teamsters and IATSE — whose contracts are up in 2024.
Labor union turns up heat in battle over sale of U.S. Steel
The Spokesman-Review
By Joe Deaux
Aug. 23, 2023
In a scathing letter sent by United Steelworkers to its members at United States Steel, the president of the labor group said the company doesn’t prioritize its union workforce and accused it of betrayal. In the letter seen by Bloomberg, USW President Tom Conway said workers cannot rely on management to put their interests first. That’s why the contract we negotiated with US Steel contains strong protections that apply in this very circumstance,” he wrote. The union plays a pivotal part in any transaction involving the sale of U.S. Steel mills or assets where the steelworkers are employed, and the USW has been vocal about its exclusive support of C
IN THE STATES
Union promotes shipbuilding project that would bring jobs to Lordstown
WFMJ
By Kyle Anderson
Aug. 22, 2023
“The Bartlett Maritime Plan is the innovative, actionable solution the U.S. Navy needs to address its ongoing shipbuilding backlog, capacity, and capability,” said James Hart, president of the Metal Trades Department at the AFL-CIO.