Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

Labor

By Loretta VanPelt

Minneapolis, MN – Hundreds gathered outside the Davis Center, the headquarters of the Minneapolis Public Schools, June 2, rallying to end the contract with Minneapolis Police Department. It was announced last Friday that the school board drafted a resolution to do so.

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By All Workers Militant Front (PAME)

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the influential Greek labor organization, the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME), that was sent to AFSCME Local 3800.

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By World Federation of Trade Unions

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions.

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By staff

Protest organized by Minnesota Workers United demands justice for George Floyd.

Minneapolis, MN – Around 500 rank-and-file union members and officials from dozens of unions came together at Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s house in Southwest Minneapolis, May 31, to demand justice for George Floyd and an end to racist policing. The protesters were resolved not to let racist tropes about outside agitators stop them from doing what is right.

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By staff

Los Angeles, CA – As more than 130 workers at the Farmer John plant in Vernon have contracted the coronavirus, May 25, the union representing 1300 plant employees is calling for an immediate closure to ensure workers are safe and to keep all workers on the payroll with their full pay and benefits.

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By staff

Outbreak puts workers and public at risk

Tampa, FL – At least 36 employees at a UPS hub in Tucson, Arizona have tested positive for COVID-19. The news comes as many states, including Arizona, are beginning to reopen more commercial business. Three of the 36 employees are currently being treated in intensive care. Because of the lack of proper testing at the facility, the number of total cases could be much higher.

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By staff

MCFI places these signs outside agency buildings while attacking workers

Milwaukee, WI – Around this time every year, open-enrollment for health insurance benefits begins at the Milwaukee Center For Independence (MCFI), a social services agency in Milwaukee. Workers at the agency meet a range of needs such as mental health services, day-programming for people with disabilities, and job-training for people who want to enter the workforce.

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By Tom Burke

March on the DNC meets with city of Milwaukee

Milwaukee, WI—The Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention met with officials from the city of Milwaukee on May 21 to discuss the coalition’s permit and plan to protest. The goals of the coalition are to defeat President Trump and to advance a progressive people’s agenda, thus building stronger movements to challenge the Democratic Party. Lawyers for the Wisconsin ACLU arranged the meeting and led the discussions.

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By staff

NLRB backs EPIC charter workers, mandates mail-in vote to join CTU

Chicago, IL – Educators at EPIC Academy College Prep who are seeking to join the Chicago Teachers Union celebrated the afternoon of May 18, when the NLRB – the National Labor Relations Board – blocked their employer’s reckless demand that they hold an in-person union election at the school. Such an election would have forced workers to risk their own health and the health of their loved ones during the shelter-in-place order.

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By Masao Suzuki

Part of effort to place the burden of the economic crisis on workers

California Gov. Newsom calls for 10% state worker pay cuts

San José, CA – On May 14, Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom laid out his plan to deal with a projected $54 billion budget deficit for the state of California. Included in the plan was to save almost $3 billion by cutting state workers’ pay by 10%.

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By Gabriella Killpack

UPS Teamsters plan call-in to demand hazard pay

Salt Lake City, UT – UPS Teamsters are working extremely long hours in hazardous conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, putting themselves and their families at risk with no hazard pay. UPS was late to provide sufficient personal protective equipment for workers and only did so after workers demanded it. Still, many areas lack the appropriate PPE to stay safe at work. The Teamsters union has not put hazard pay on the negotiating table for UPS Teamsters; workers are organizing on the shop floor to win their demand. UPS recently announced their quarterly profits at almost $1 billion.

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By Richard Berg

Charles Dickens.

Chicago, IL – I have lived into my sixties without giving really serious thought to 19th century English literature. My Catholic school teachers like Sister Irene and Sister Bridget continuously tried, but 45 years ago I was living the life of Eric Forman from That 70s Show. Younger and hipper lay teachers successfully introduced me to African American authors like Claude Brown, Richard Wright, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin. As a result, at the time I consumed Charles Dickens’ literature largely through a series of second-rate movies, cartoons and uneven theatrical performances that typically undermined the author’s work.

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By Tom Burke

Georgia politicians, activists demand action for poultry workers

Gainesville, GA – COVID-19 virus is spreading quickly among poultry workers and their families in Georgia. In Hall County, northeast of Atlanta, there is a hotspot with over 2000 cases and 29 deaths as of May 12. With roughly 16,500 workers employed by 14 chicken plants across Georgia, and most immigrant families living with two or three generations in one house, the situation is code red. There needs to be an emergency response from the government and the corporations.

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By World Federation of Trade Unions

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following May 13 statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions.

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By staff

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St. Paul, MN – As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise across Minnesota, members of the Minnesota Nurses Association have announced that they will march on May 20 from Allina Health United Hospital to the Minnesota State Capitol to demand that management of United Hospital and other hospitals provide proper PPE, training, and safety, as well as transparency to keep nurses and other healthcare workers safe. They will also be delivering a petition with over 10,000 signatures to the Minnesota Department of Health demanding a Pandemic Bill of Rights to keep Minnesotans safe. Social distancing guidelines will be followed during the march.

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By Matty Burns

They steal pain just to make more - the monstrous among us

Appleton, WI – There’s a fear in polite American culture to engage in conflict. Strong words are discouraged, anger is derided, and extremism is posed as the singular problem; this unites all the various gasbags who turn our culture into such a toxic environment, where concepts like truth and justice have little hope to survive.

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By staff

COVID – 19 outbreaks at Brown County meat packing plants show hypocrisy

Green Bay, WI – While Wisconsin business owners and their political allies claimed local COVID-19 cases were on the decline and pressed to repeal Governor Ever’s Safer at Home order, manufacturing plants in Brown County were experiencing a huge outbreak of the deadly viral disease amongst the workers. Cases at three meatpacking plants – JBS Packerland, American Foods Group, and Salm Partners – have accounted for over half of the county’s cases, even as the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union fought for and won vital hazard pay, safer working conditions, and personal protection equipment (PPE) for its members, following concerns raised by the immigrant advocacy group Voces de la Frontera.

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By Thomas Leng

Sign from May 7 Chicago Right to Recovery Protest

Chicago, IL – Close to 400,000 students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) are in their seventh week of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this haze of attempting to teach the children of Chicago one thing is becoming crystal clear: disparity. According to NBC Chicago 52% of coronavirus deaths are of African American people and 25% are Latinos. Working-class African American and Latino neighborhoods on the South and West Sides are being hit much harder than predominantly white neighborhoods downtown and on the North Side.

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By Fight Back! Editors

The U.S.-backed regime of Philippines President Duterte has launched a wave of repression against the militant and powerful trade union grouping, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)/May First Movement. We urge members of unions, community groups, student and other progressive organizations to stand with our brothers and sisters in the Philippines by demanding an end to this repression.

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By Alicia Spietz

Madison May Day caravan supports community safety and workers’ rights

Madison, WI – On a sunny May 1 afternoon which marked both May Day and A Day Without Immigrants, a caravan comprised of about 20 different vehicles made its way to the Capitol Square in a careful procession in support of a timely cause.

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