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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Minneapolis, MN – While Minnesota’s elite assembled for a University of Minnesota fundraising gala, Sept. 23, where the price of admission was a half-million dollars, about 200 campus workers and their backers crashed the party.

Minneapolis, MN – About 100 members of Teamsters Local 320, AFSCME Local 3800, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and others rallied Sept. 8 on the University of Minnesota campus at the McNamara building to demand decent contracts for the university workers’ unions.

Milwaukee, WI – On Sept. 5, Milwaukee's labor unions’ energetic efforts promoting the annual Labor Day and Laborfest celebrations resulted in what was considered by most to be a largest turnout than in recent years.

Grand Rapids, MI — Union bus drivers gathered 40 people at the West Michigan Labor Fest, Sept. 4, to confront Mayor Rosalyn Bliss of Grand Rapids about her role in union busting. Mayor Bliss was set to speak at the nearby kickoff of the Labor Day bridge walk. That is, until a group of ATU Local 836 bus drivers and their supporters emerged from the crowd of walkers and confronted Bliss. They chanted, “Union busting is disgusting!” Bliss quickly moved back into the waiting walkers.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following August 25 statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions.