Social Feeds
"Dr. King understood the union difference—the way that a voice on the job and a seat at the table empowers workers of all races. It means a bigger paycheck at the end of the week. It means better health benefits, so you can afford to see a doctor when you’re sick. It means security in retirement when your working days are done. It means the basic dignity and respect you deserve."
www.theroot.com/dr-king-understood-the-power-of-unions-1841046468
Dr. King Understood the Power of Unions
www.theroot.com
On what would have been his 91st birthday, we celebrate the towering legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—his moral force as a faith leader, his devotion to nonviolent resistance and, of course, the sacrifices he made to end legalized segregation in the South.The 'Time to Care' Report published by Oxfam in January 2020 states
that "economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires (only 2,153 people), had more wealth than 4.6 billion people. This great divide is based on a flawed and sexist economic system that values the wealth of the privileged few, mostly men, more than the billions of hours of the most essential work –the unpaid and underpaid work done primarily by women and girls around the world."
www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/time-care/
The impetus for establishing an International Women’s Day can be traced back to New York City in February 1908, when thousands of women who were garment workers went on strike and marched through the city to protest against their working conditions. These women were in less organized workplaces than their male counterparts, were in the lower echelons of the garment industry, and were working at low wages and experiencing sexual harassment.
In honor of the anniversary of those strikes, which were ongoing for more than a year, a National Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time in the U.S. on Feb. 28, 1909, spearheaded by the Socialist Party of America.THE ORIGINS OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: On March 8, 1857, garment workers in NYC marched and picketed, demanding improved working conditions, a ten-hour day, and equal rights for women. Their ranks were broken up by the police. Fifty-one years later, March 8, 1908, their sisters in the needle trades in New York marched again, honoring the 1857 march, demanding the vote, and an end to sweatshops and child labor. The police were present on this occasion too.
In 1910 at the Second International, a worldwide socialist party congress, German socialist CLARA ZETKIN (pictured here) proposed that March 8th be proclaimed International Women's Day, to commemorate the US demonstrations and honor working women the world over. Zetkin, a renowned revolutionary theoretician who argued with Lenin on women's rights, was considered a grave threat to the European governments of her time; the Kaiser called her “the most dangerous sorceress in the empire."
The Asia Floor Wage Alliance is an Asian labour-led global labour and social alliance across garment producing countries and consumer regions for addressing poverty level wages, gender discrimination, and freedom of association in global garment production networks.
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