STANDING STRONG IN DREAM CITY

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Last year, DC activists organized demonstrations, concerts, fundraisers, walkouts, speakouts, sit-ins, hoop-ins, know-your-rights teach-ins, workshops, parties, outreach days and breakfast meeting invasions. And they voted, too. For the fourth consecutive year, DC Jobs with Justice has produced a comprehensive report on organizing victories in the District. Standing Strong in Dream City: A Report on Organizing for Local Justice in 2010 summarizes major labor campaigns in the DC area during 2010, including striking ironworkers’ Justice at Wings campaign and the nurses’ struggle for high-quality care and good working conditions at the Washington Hospital Center. The report also spotlights less visible campaigns led by high school students, tenant associations and parents who depend on subsidized childcare. "This report is about claiming and documenting our victories," said Andrew Willis Garcés, one of the report's authors. "We also want to create opportunities to raise awareness of social movements in the District, particularly since the attention is often on national rather than local campaigns, and support learning among local activists about effective campaigns." Click here to read the report on DC JwJ’s website. – photo: February 2010 Justice at Wings campaign vigil for striking ironworkers in Foggy Bottom; photo by Adam Wright