Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

Labor

By Tom Burke

GM strikers on the picket line.

Wyoming, MI – On day 20 of their strike, workers waved “UAW on strike!” signs as they walked back and forth, October 5. Six groups of determined United Auto Workers of Local 167 stood outside and blocked entrances at the enormous General Motors (GM) plant in Wyoming, a working-class Michigan town. A total of 46,000 union strikers are out 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across the United States. GM is losing millions of dollars while negotiations with the UAW continue.

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By staff

Chicago, IL – Unions are on the march in defense of their members across the country, with the autoworker strike against GM and strike authorization votes by teachers and other city employees in Chicago. Unions are also defending their members when they leave work and find their lives in danger from the very people paid to protect them: the police.

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By staff

Chicago, IL – The Chicago Teachers Union released totals of the September 24-26 strike authorization vote, on September 26. The CTU Rules and Election Committee reported that as of 9:30 p.m., the union passed the 75% threshold of members voting “yes.” 94% of teachers, clinicians, PSRPs, nurses and librarians voted to authorize a strike to win the schools Chicago’s students deserve.

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By staff

UAW members on the picket line at GM.

Lansing, Michigan – The United Auto Workers (UAW) called a strike on Sunday, September 15. Fight Back! interviewed Jean “Johnny Bravo” Duchemin, an alternate committee member in UAW Local 1753 in Lansing, Michigan about the GM strike.

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By staff

Demand fairness and respect

U of MN AFSCME members confront the Board of Regents.

Minneapolis, MN – University of Minnesota AFSCME members confronted soon-to-be-inaugurated University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel at the September 13 Board of Regents meeting in the McNamara Alumni Center.

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By staff

Macon, GA – Workers at the Kumho Tire factory in Macon, Georgia, voted to join the United Steelworkers (USW) union, September 7, nearly two years after the initial vote was marred by the company’s numerous violations of workers’ rights.

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By staff

Gabriella Killpack chants "No más Trump!" at Caracas rally

Caracas, Venezuela – August 31 marked the last day of the Meeting of International Workers in Solidarity with the Venezuelan People and Its Government. In the morning, hundreds of trade unionists assembled to hear closing remarks and review a final declaration. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) joined with other delegations came from 25 countries, and all parts of Venezuela, and proudly shouted out their approval. The audience was lively and often broke out in chants.

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By Chris Mahin

September 5, 1882

First Labor Day parade in NYC.

The huge procession began with 400 members of Bricklayers Union No. 6, all dressed in white aprons. They were followed by a band and then the members of the Manufacturing Jewelers union. The jewelers marched four abreast, wearing derby hats and dark suits with buttonhole bouquets. They all carried canes resting on their shoulders (similar to the way infantry officers carry swords when on parade.)

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By staff

Jared Hamil and Gabriella Killpack with Francisco Torreal

Caracas, Venezuela – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization's trade union delegation arrived in Caracas, Venezuela for the “1st International Meeting of Workers in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, its Government and Its People,” starting on August 29.

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By staff

Washington, DC – Five instances of company discipline and unjust terminations of International Association of Machinists (IAM) members at Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner manufacturing facility in North Charleston, South Carolina have been found to be acts of unlawful retaliation against employees for their support of the union, a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) informed the IAM, on August 19.

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By staff

Teamsters demand full time work at the U of M.

Minneapolis, MN – While the University of Minnesota top officials gathered for the opening of newly renovated Pioneer Hall, August 21, about 50 members of Teamsters Local 320 and other campus unions held an informational picket line to demand the year-round, full-time employment for workers in M Dining. The U of M has curtailed summer work opportunities for Teamsters and is trampling on seniority rights.

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By Fight Back! Editors

As the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) find itself locked in tough contract negotiations and faces the possibility of a strike, corporate and right-wing media like the Chicago Tribune, Breitbart and others have launched a bizarre attack that seems like it is straight out of the 1950s red scare. Rather than addressing the real problems impacting teachers and students in Chicago schools, these reactionary pundits have decided the rant and rave about – of all things – a delegation of teachers that traveled to Venezuela earlier this summer.

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By Sean Orr

Migdelys Campos, a representative of a worker council that now runs a pharmaceut

Chicago, IL – Venezuela is a country where the dreams of the conscious workers of the world are being made real. It is a nation of 30 million people where, every day, the working class is becoming more conscious of its historic role in building socialism and taking steps to achieve it in the not so distant future. And in the face of an imperialist offensive that threatens them with starvation, where the threat of military invasion hangs over their heads like a storm cloud, they continue their struggle undeterred.

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By staff

Workers at Milwaukee VA stand up to union busting.

Milwaukee, WI – Fifty Veterans Affairs workers and supporters rallied outside the Zablocki VA hospital August 12 to protest union-busting, attacks on high-quality public veteran healthcare, and bad faith bargaining by the VA administration.

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By staff

Pittsburgh, PA – Workers at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh voted overwhelmingly to join the United Steelworkers (USW) union, August 14, after launching their organizing campaign in June. They are seeking a collective bargaining agreement that would cover employees across 19 branches and the library support center.

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By Marisol Márquez

UFCW picket line.

Los Angeles, CA – Over 40 supporters picketed outside of Ralphs grocery store on Sunset Boulevard, July 31. The store’s United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike authorization in June.

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By Sean Orr

Tom Burke, FRSO Organization Secretary speaking to trade unionists in Venezuela

Caracas, Venezuela – On July 26, the delegation from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) participated in a gathering of trade unionists from around the world with the leaders of the Central of Bolivarian Socialist Workers (CBST), the largest labor federation in Venezuela.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Jazmine Salas speaks at Chicago protest demands resignation of Puerto Rico’s gov

Chicago, IL – About 400 people rallied marched in neighborhood of Humboldt Park, July 21, calling for the resignation of Puerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rossello. Jazmine Salas emceed the demonstration, which was called by the Chicago Boricua Resistance. Chanting “Ricky renuncia!” (Ricky resign), the crowd added their voices to the hundreds of thousands who are protesting on the island.

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By Fabiana Casas

CTU Organizer Richard Berg, Javier Castillo, Special Education Teacher Sarah Cha

Caracas, Venezuela – A delegation of members from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) arrived in Caracas, Venezuela last week. Their goals were to learn what they could from Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, exchange views on effective education and to show solidarity with the students, teachers and social movements of Venezuela.

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By staff

Chicago, IL – Dozens of U.S. workers die every year due to heat, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). UPS trucks can feel as hot as ovens and UPS warehouses are almost unbearable in the summer. One memory burned into the minds of Chicago-area UPS workers is that of Stephen Michael, who died in a UPS warehouse in 2011 after his request to go home was denied, when he reported not feeling well during a day with a 109-degree heat index.

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