Happy International Workers Day #MayDay

Billy Bragg

We've been experiencing what we refer to as 'Andy Warhol Weather' here today: fifteen minutes of rain, fifteen minutes of sun, fifteen minutes of hail etc etc. As a result, I couldn't take my guitar amp out onto the rubble mound this week for the #ClapForNHS #ClapForCarers #ClapForKeyWorkers so I set up in the old garage in case the rain came again.

As it's technically already May 1st - International Workers Day - in some parts of the world, I thought I'd play the riff from There is Power in a Union this week as a salute to all those who are working to keep us healthy, safe, fed and connected. Give them their PPE!

Remember to observe spatial distancing and social solidarity

Filmed 30th April 2020 by Juliet Wills up her ladder

(Source: There is Power in a Union riff - Billy Bragg – YouTube)

(Source: Billy Bragg -There Is Power In A Union – YouTube)

See Also International Workers' Day - Wikipedia

Sudbury's Leo Gerard Speaks on West Virginia Coal Mining Disaster

West Virginia Coal Miners Murdered

Perhaps not in the legal sense, but this speaks of moral responsibility:

Massey Energy's sprawling Upper Big Branch mine has a history of violations involving the ventilation of combustible methane gas.

Last year, the mine faced 458 safety violation citations, and 50 of those were classified as "unwarrantable failures to comply," according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

At the time of Monday's explosion, the mine was facing more than $150,000 US in fines for pending safety violation charges.

In 2006, Massey Energy was fined $1.5 million for 25 violations that inspectors concluded contributed to the deaths of two miners who were trapped in a fire in another West Virginia mine owned by the company.

Click here for full CBC News report

"Work" is a communist plot - Rush Limbaugh

LIMBAUGH: I've been mentioning this since I started this show. "Workers" is a communist word. "Workers" is a socialist, a Karl Marx word. Workers of the world unite, workers -- we don't have workers; we have citizens, we have employees. We have associates. When I worked at the Kansas City Royals, the team was owned by Ewing Kauffman, who also owned Marion Labs. He never called one person a worker or an employee. Everybody was an associate, from the custodial staff on up. Workers? All this little leftist lingo trickling into our lexicon.

Source: The Limbaugh Wire for 09/29/2009

So remember next time you see somebody working stop them and ask them what they are doing.

"Working. Are you a communist. Stop that right now and start associating."

May Day – Time To Organize

If ever there was a time for workers to organize it is now.

As a proud former member of USW Local 6500 I present these videos in honour of International Workers Day.

Happy International Workers Day

Happy May Day

Solidarity Forever

Folk Music Heroes on Television This Week

Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger fought the battle for the rights of common people and workers with music.



Tuesday at night at 9:00 PM on Vision TV, Bound for Glory, the biography of Woody Guthrie, will be shown. It will be broadcast on Channel 61 on Rogers Cable in Ottawa.

Bound for Glory is a New York Times Critics Pick.

You can read more about Woody Guthrie on the Woody Guthrie Foundation website.



Wednesday PBS features the documentary, American Masters: Pete Seeger: The Power of Song. I was unable to determine the time or channel it will be shown on in Ottawa even though it was featured in the Ottawa Citizen’s TV Times, but I found it listed on several PBS stations at 9:00 PM.

Mark Klempner reviewed the documentary for the Huffington Post.

You can read more about Pete Seeger on the Pete Seeger Appreciation Page website.



My daddy was a miner
And I'm a miner's son
And I'll stick with the union
Till every battle's won