Minneapolis, MN – After months of negotiations with the Metropolitan Council, 2200 Twin Cities bus drivers, dispatchers, maintenance and clerical workers went on strike at 2:00 a.m., March 4. The transit workers, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, last struck in 1995.

The following is a speech delivered by Phyllis Walker, the President of AFSCME Local 3800, at a Dec. 10 forum organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The program focused on the lessons of the clerical workers’ strike at the University of Minnesota, and featured talks by strike leaders. Many in the audience had participated in strike. The speeches were followed by a wide-ranging discussion on the strike, the state of the labor movement and the need for socialism.

Madison, WI – The Colombia Action Network gathered here March 8 to develop the campaign to boycott Coca-Cola, in defense of Colombian trade unionists. Luis Adolfo Cardona, the Colombian trade unionist who escaped kidnapping, torture and murder by Coca-Cola’s death squads, gave a talk about the grave human rights situation for Colombia’s workers.

Fight Back! received the following report from the Colombia Action Network (Chicago). We urge our readers to support the international campaign to boycott Coca-Cola, and to back the effort to end U.S. support to Colombia's death squad government. An international day of protest against killer Coke will take place April 15.

Minneapolis, MN – “After striking for 15 days, we came away with a stronger, fighting union and we won some real gains for clerical workers at the University of Minnesota,” said Phyllis Walker, President of AFSCME Local 3800, the clerical workers union at the U of M. Clerical workers at the University of Minnesota went on strike from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4, 2003 against huge health care cuts, a proposed wage freeze and to win key job security provisions. This was the first strike at the University of Minnesota in 60 years.

On Monday, March 15, Coca-Cola union workers in Colombia began a hunger strike in front of the Coke bottling plants in Barrancabermeja, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellín and Valledupar. Juan Carlos Galvis, vice-president of the union in Barrancabermeja, has said, “If we lose the fight against Coca-Cola, we will first lose our union, next our jobs and then our lives.” William Mendoza, president of the union in Barrancabermeja, said, “This is the final battle and we're giving it all we've got. We need all supporters of human and labor rights in the U.S. to do the same!”

Minneapolis, MN – At the beginning of October, clerical workers at the University of Minnesota said no to a wage freeze and skyrocketing health care costs, and voted to go on strike. The clerical workers’ union, AFSCME Local 3800, is leading a fightback to stop the university administrators from balancing the budget on the backs of the lowest paid workers and students.

Madison, WI – “I watched as they put a bullet into his head,” said Luis Adolfo Cardona, a former worker at a Colombian Coca-Cola bottling plant. He was speaking of Isidro Segundo Gil, a lead union negotiator at the plant. “I knew I would be next,” Cardona continued. Later that day, Dec. 5, 1996, Cardona was kidnapped and was likely headed for the same fate as his friend until he escaped.

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, delivered the following speech in Detroit Sept. 12 to hundreds of labor activists attending a conference organized by the publication Labor Notes. AFSCME Local 3800 represents nearly 1800 University of Minnesota clerical workers, 93% of whom are women. As we go to press, Local 3800 has announced its intent to strike against a concessionary contract proposal.

Minneapolis, MN – A sharp battle is under way between University of Minnesota workers and a university administration that's pushing an agenda of layoffs, benefit cuts and a wage freeze.