Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

Labor

By staff

Cherrene Horazuk, president of the Minnesota’s AFSCME Local 3800.

Minneapolis, MN – Trade unions and their supporters are mobilizing for the Feb. 24 Working People's Day of Action. A major outpouring for workers’ rights is expected in cities across the U.S.

Read more...

By staff

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

Read more...

By staff

St Paul, MN – The Saint Paul Federation of Teachers (SPFT) says that educators will strike beginning Feb. 13, if no settlement is reached in ongoing contract talks with the Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS).

Read more...

By staff

St. Paul, MN — By an overwhelming majority, members of the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers (SPFT) voted to authorize a strike Jan. 31. Approximately two-thirds of members voted at the InterContinental Hotel in downtown Saint Paul. Of the votes, 82.0% of school and community service professionals, 89.5% of educational assistants, and 85.1% of teachers and licensed staff voted yes to authorize a strike.

Read more...

By staff

Locked out Mayo workers stand up to corporate greed.

Albert Lea, MN — On Dec. 20, Mayo Albert Lea Hospital blocked 79 SEIU Healthcare MN hospital workers from returning to work after they went out on a one-day strike the day before. The members went on strike because they have been without a contract for over a year.

Read more...

By staff

Enter a descriptive sentence about the photo here.

Albert Lea, MN – Members and supporters of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota on the picket line Dec. 19, in a one-day Unfair Labor Practice strike at Mayo Clinic’s Albert Lea Hospital. Mayo refused to bargain with the union in good faith.

#AlbertLeaMN #strike #Strikes #mayo #SEIUHealthCareMN

By staff

Dec. 11, press conference of  Milwaukee Area Labor Council

Milwaukee, WI – On Dec. 11, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, led by its Young Workers Committee, held a press conference along with allies in response to a construction worker displaying a Ku Klux Klan sticker in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

Read more...

By Kas Schwerdtfeger

Kas Schwerdtfeger.

Milwaukee, WI — As the critical month of December rolled in, the United Parcel Service mandated nationally new work rules for package delivery drivers, increasing the workweek to 70 hours for the duration of the holiday, or peak, season.

Read more...

By staff

University of Minnesota Teamsters demand raises and respect.

Minneapolis, MN – About 400 Teamsters and their supporters rallied at the University of Minnesota administration building, Morrill Hall, on the afternoon of Nov. 17, to demand a decent contract. Members of Teamsters Local 320 overwhelmingly passed a strike authorization vote Nov. 2, and today’s protest was billed as a “pre-strike informational picket.”

Read more...

By Ali Fuhrman

U.S. trade unionists participate

Mass march of Greek workers in Athens.

Athens, Greece – On Nov. 9, more than 170,000 workers in 64 cities across Greece took to the streets to fight government austerity measures, nuclear armament, and court rulings that make labor strikes in the country illegal. 18 U.S. trade unionists attending a week-long seminar with the World Federation of Trade Unions joined the demonstrations at Syntagma Square in the city center of Athens.

Read more...

By staff

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following the text of a speech delivered by is Richard Blake, delivered to the third World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) World Working Youth Congress, which took place in Rome, Italy, Nov. 2-3.

Read more...

By Corey Uhl

Enter a descriptive sentence about the photo here.

New York, NY – New Yorkers across the state face a vote on Nov. 7 on whether or not to have a Constitutional Convention, a process which occurs every 20 years. The last time a vote occurred for a so-called “Con Con” was in 1997. In the current political climate, unions and workers fear that all protections that were won in past Constitutional Conventions, most of which were gained during the New Deal, could be peeled away due to the intervention of lobbyists and financing from corporate influences.

Read more...

By staff

Young Florida Teamster addresses congress

Richard Blake addressing World Working Youth Congress in Rome.

Rome, Italy – The third World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) World Working Youth Congress opened here, Nov. 2. Delegates from Italy, Vietnam, Brazil, Denmark, Mexico and many other countries exchanged experiences on organizing young workers to fight for their rights and building class-struggle trade unionism.

Read more...

By staff

Minneapolis, MN – Members of the University of Minnesota Teamsters Local 320 overwhelmingly passed a strike authorization vote, with 85% voting to approve, Nov. 2. The vote was tallied at the Teamster Hall this afternoon, with many Teamsters observing the count.

Read more...

By staff

Teamsters, AFSCME demand raises and respect

![Teamsters, AFSCME members at Oct. 31protest demand raises and respect.](https://i.snap.as/MleGUIrF.jpg “Teamsters, AFSCME members at Oct. 31protest demand raises and respect. Teamsters, AFSCME members at Oct. 31protest demand raises and respect.

(Fight Back! News / Staff)”)

Minneapolis, MN — About 40 members of AFSCME Local 3800, Teamsters Local 320, and their supporters rallied in front of the admiration building, Morril Hall, Oct. 31 and then marched into the office of University of Minnesota’s President Kahler. Protesting workers then delivered petitions signed by thousands of employees and supporters that read in part, “The university is a wealthy institution with plenty of money, that is in the midst of a $4 billion fundraising campaign. We reject the notion of two universities, one for the haves and the other for the have-nots. We want raises and respect for all university workers.”

Read more...

By staff

Minnesota union leader  Brad Sigal in San Juan brings money and medicine.

San Juan, Puerto Rico — On Oct. 20, one month after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the secretary of AFSCME Local 3800, Brad Sigal, was in San Juan to bring a donation of money and medicines to the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR, the union's initials in Spanish).

Read more...

By staff

Boston, MA – UNITE HERE Local 26 members on Northeastern University’s campus ratified a five-year agreement, Oct. 10, just hours before they were scheduled to begin a strike.

Read more...

By staff

Will strike Oct. 11 if no resolution

Boston, MA – Northeastern University dining hall workers voted 316 yes to 2 no on Oct. 4 to authorize a strike. They additionally announced that if no resolution is reached by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10, they will strike. Picket lines would begin in the early morning hours of Oct. 11.

Read more...

By staff

Hoffa leadership prepares to sell-short

Jacksonville, FL – United Parcel Service (UPS) has less than one year before its contract with over 250,000 Teamsters expires. UPS Teamsters have reason to be in a fighting mood. In 2013, when Teamster President Hoffa encouraged the union’s membership to vote to accept a concessionary contract, it barely passed the 50% threshold needed for approval. Regional supplements in 18 locations were voted down. The “Vote No” movement that grew out of these fights united Teamster activists from around the country who wanted to see better leadership.

Read more...

By staff

Boston, MA – On Wednesday evening, Sept. 20, dining hall workers at Northeastern University announced that they are prepared to call a strike if their demands are not met. The workers are members of UNITE HERE Local 26, the same union that represents food service workers at Harvard University, who engaged in a successful 22-day strike last fall.

Read more...