2012: DC Labor's Year In Review (May/June)

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)As Union City looks forward to reporting on a New Year of solidarity in 2013, we’re taking a moment to dip into the Union City archive and remembering some of the highlights of the past year...

May 3: Civista Nurses to Strike Over Staffing Issues: Nurses at Civista Hospital in La Plata, MD are planning a 1-day strike May 8-9 over staffing and wage issues...

May 3: Hotel Workers Cheer In New Contract (right): The mood was festive yesterday as hotel workers, members of Unite Here Local 25, overwhelmingly (99.5 percent) ratified what Unite Here Local 6 President Jim Donovan called "the best contract in Local 25's history"...

May 11: Workers at Jefferson Hotel Resist "Aggressive" Management, Vote to Join IUOE 99: Stationary engineers at the historic Jefferson Hotel in downtown DC voted unamimously on Wednesday, May 9 to join the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 99...

May 15: Building Futures Opens with Inspiration: Mary Battle -- not only the first woman Business Manager of Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 891, but the first female Business Manager in any trade in the metro Washington area -- welcomed new Building Futures students to their hall this week...

May 21: New Contract, Bonus for MontCo Workers: UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO – representing 7,000 Montgomery County government workers – won approval of the Montgomery County Council for a new agreement last Monday, which includes a $2,000 one-time bonus for employees...

June 1: Festive Parade Challenges Walmart Push Into DC (left): It was an unusual parade, to say the least. The main float featured a bed in which Walmart developers waving handfuls of cash cavorted with DC Councilmembers...

June 5: UFCW 400 Helps Evergreen Supermarket Workers Win Back Wages: After working for as long as six weeks without being paid, workers at Evergreen Supermarket in Hillcrest Heights, MD finally received their back wages after enlisting the help of UFCW Local 400 and threatening to walk out...

June 6: Workers Win in Council Votes on Furloughs, Annual Leave, Healthcare and Immigration: It was a busy day in the Wilson Building yesterday, as the DC City Council debated issues from the repayment of city worker furlough days to the “Secure Communities” immigration program...

June 15: More Foreign Ag Service Workers Join Union: More workers at the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) have voted to join AFSCME Council 26...

June 22: Mock Funeral & Double Demos Mark Year Without Contract at Verizon: Dressed in black, wearing veils, carrying a flower-laden coffin and led by “Preacher” Carl Brogden, members of CWA Local 2108 led a funeral cortege outside Verizon’s Silver Spring facility Friday morning to mourn the 1-year anniversary of the expiration of their contract...

June 25: "Save Our Post Office" Hunger Strike Launched (right): Ten postal service workers launched a 4-day hunger strike Monday morning at the U.S. Capitol, where they called on Congress to “Stop Starving the Postal Service"...