Delegate Meeting Highlights

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Highlights of Monday night's Metro Council delegate meeting included a brief talk by St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Philip Dine, author of "State of the Unions: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy and Regain Political Influence." Dine told Council delegates that he wrote his book because "Nobody talks about what's going on with labor any more; I argue that it's no coincidence that the time of greatest expansion was the time of greatest strength for organized labor." Also appearing at Monday's meeting were Gene Bruskin of the UFCW's Justice at Smithfield campaign - who promoted Thursday's kickoff event of a two-month campaign asking DC consumers to be Smithfield-free this summer – Beth Levie of the AFL-CIO – who discussed the June 21 Atlantic City demo to support the struggle of exploited casino workers to win a union - and Patrick Young of the United Steelworkers of America Union, who reported on the upcoming July 9 action in DC to "Make trade issues a bigger issue in upcoming elections." An extensive discussion also took place on the recent effective actions against the Noise Bill in DC and in support of Montgomery County workers, who "successfully protected civil rights and negotiated contracts and drew the ire of a handful of politicians whose efforts to undermine working people's rights failed," according to Metro Council Political Coordinator Rick Powell. The Council does not meet during July and August; the next meeting will be September 15 at 6:30P at the AFL-CIO.