Rockin' The House Of Labor
Tuesday, December 14, 2010(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
“Labor’s house is shakin’ tonight, baby!” shouted Street Dogs lead singer Mike
McColgan (second from left) last night as the AFL-CIO headquarters reverberated
to the punk rock band’s working-class anthems. Hundreds – including Metro
Council delegates who had just attended the December meeting –
enthusiastically jammed the Gompers Room for the concert, which benefited the
Capital Area Food Bank. The transition from reports on local labor struggles –
including the latest on negotiations at the Washington Hospital Center – to
raucous songs about battling injustice was seamless and invigorating. “Our
fists are in the air and we’re ready to fight until the end of time,”
McColgan pledged, and the band – joined onstage by legendary guitarist Wayne Kramer (second from right)
-- brought the house down with a foot-stompin’ fist-waving performance of
Billy Bragg’s “There is Power in the Union” followed by Bob Marley’s
“Redemption Song.” The concert was hosted by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz
Shuler, who promised that it was “the first of more to come” as the AFL-CIO
reaches out to young activists and workers. - report/photo by
Chris Garlock; if you follow us on Twitter you got this report last night!
Click
here to follow us. Plus; watch for draft
minutes of the December Council meeting to be posted online later this
week.