Leslie Byrne and Rex Simmons Show Solidarity With Union Workers

UPDATE: AS OF 11 PM A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UFCW AND GIANT AND SAFEWAY APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN REACHED. THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME OUT AND SHOWED THEIR SUPPORT FOR WORKERS.

Saturday afternoon, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) was joined in a show of solidarity by Leslie Byrne, candidate for the 11th Congressional District, and Rex Simmons, former candidate for Delegate in the 40th District, in front of the Giant at Old Keene Mill Road in Springfield. Workers are in negotiation with both Giant and Safeway for a just wage increase and better health and pension benefits. Shown with Rex and Leslie is Erica Oliver Terry, a shop steward from the Giant in Alexandria.

Leslie and Rex helped hand out pamphlets to customers, asking them to show that the community supports the workers at Giant in their quest for a decent wage and better health and pension benefits for their families.



Other union members also joined to show solidarity with their brothers and sisters in UFCW. Pictured here are Dan Duncan, President of the Northern Virginia Central Labor Council and Executive Director of the Maritime Trades Department, AFL-CIO; Rex Simmons; John Niemiec, President of the Fairfax Professional Firefighters Union, Local 2068; Joyce Putnam, OPIEU; Erica Oliver Terry; Gerard Myatt, Teamsters; and Mark Federici, UFCW.




This is basically the same line up, except instead of Dan, yours truly is in the picture. I took the one with Dan, he took all the others. I'll have more photos from Joyce Putnam and will do an update.

When Great Minds Think Alike

First of all, the great mind belongs to Jim Wallis, not me. Wallis, the founder of Sojourners, is a political activist and an Evangelical minister (he’s a Plymouth Brethren). He posted this piece on the Sojourner Website on July 18. He has long been one of my favorite authors, political activists, and religious leaders. He has, in fact, been a huge influence on my own political and religious thought.

What strikes me is that both he and I made the exact same connection between these two New York Times articles. Since these NYT articles appeared on two different days, that connection wasn’t necessarily obvious to a casual reader. I also have to add that I think his post was better written than mine. It was more concise and more focused.

And the fact that he also picked up on it gives me validation that we may be on to something here. Just a thought.