Join CWA to Celebrate Juneteenth

Join CWA on Saturday, June 19, at 1:30 pm for a virtual event to celebrate Juneteenth. This year's event will highlight Juneteenth's significance for the labor movement and the ongoing work CWAers have been engaged in over the past year to build an anti-racist union. We will be joined by CWA activists, artists, and special guests. This event will also center the need to protect our voting rights and reform our democracy by passing the For the People Act.

Tune in at www.facebook.com/events/1095300170956162/

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Juneteeth is Now a National Holiday

Yesterday President Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, the day after the House voted overwhelmingly to enshrine June 19 as the national day to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.

"Today’s historic signing by President Biden making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a recognition of Black power and a reflection of America’s ongoing journey to tell our nation’s story," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and AFL-CIO Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Director Clayola Brown in a statement. "As we honor the sacred Juneteenth holiday that celebrates Black resilience and joy, America’s labor movement will continue to use our voice to lift up and learn from the Black experience. We must be a voice for all who live and work in the United States and to say out loud the names of those who were taken from us by racist violence."

"Though explicit slavery has been abolished for more than 150 years, the exploitation of Black labor continues to this day through a systemically racist economy designed to promote wage disparity in the workplace and the chronic unemployment, underemployment and economic exploitation of Black people. America’s labor movement must remain at the tip of the spear to uproot systemic racism in all forms if we seek to fully uphold our nation’s promise of dignity for Black people."

The law went into effect immediately, making today the first federal Juneteenth holiday in American history. Read more here, and click here for a roundup of dozens of Juneteenth events taking place around NYC this weekend.

From: NYC Central Labor Council weekly roundup