Class Struggle

These Union Members Are Going To War With The Largest Private Development Project In U.S. History

July 16, 2018 Juan Cruz Ferre, Inthesetimes.com Resist! Class Struggle, Labor, Unions

It’s 6:00 a.m. in a gelid winter morning. A crowd of sturdy bodies, mostly construction workers, packs a corner in Midtown Manhattan. The chants of, “Open shop, broken shop!” can be heard blocks away amidst the cacophony of New York City traffic. The January 11 weekly rally—one of many continuing to the present—was held in the shadow of a structural behemoth standing at 1,296 feet and scheduled to open in 2019. Hudson Yards is the largest private development project in U.S. history. But while billions of dollars are poured into it every year, the main developer, Related, is trying to reduce costs by hiring non-union labor. Workers of all trades are standing up together to keep the jobs union. The months-long rallies started in November and endured through the harsh winter, every Thursday morning.

#RedforMed: 1,800 Vermont Nurses Are On Strike Demanding Their Hospital Put Patients Over Profits

July 14, 2018 Rachel Johnson, Inthesetimes.com Resist! Class Struggle, Nurses, Strikes, Vermont

Ranked 47th for pay in the nation. High turnover, stagnant wages, and chronic staffing shortages—sound familiar? You’d be forgiven for thinking these figures refer to the working conditions of West Virginia teachers, or those in any of the red states that erupted in strikes during this spring’s teacher rebellion. But, in fact, these figures describe the daily realities confronting nurses in none other than the widely-hailed progressive state of Vermont. On Thursday, 1,800 nurses and 300 health professionals at the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) began a two-day strike to demand more for themselves and their patients. At the center of the strike are issues related to safe staffing, competitive pay and calls for a hospital-wide $15 minimum wage.

How To Level The Playing Field For Workers — Even With Unions Hurting

July 13, 2018 By Bob Lord, Otherwords.org Create! Class Struggle, New Economy, Unions, Workers

The Supreme Court’s decision in Janus vs. AFSCME dealt organized labor, already on its heels, a crushing blow. Public employees who choose not to join unions now cannot be required to pay so-called “fair share” fees to compensate unions for the cost of representing them in wage and benefit negotiations. With only 6.5 percent of private sector workers unionized, teachers, firefighters, and other public employee unions have been the bulwark of organized labor in recent years. Over a third of government workers are unionized, but that will likely head south in the wake of Janus. Absent a union, an individual employee negotiating against a large employer is powerless. If the employer and worker don’t agree to terms, the employer loses one worker out of many, while the employee’s children go hungry. Guess who wins?

Ignore What The Gini Coefficient Says: Real Inequality Is Growing And People Are Suffering As A Result

July 10, 2018 Staff, Taxresearch.org.uk Educate! Class Struggle, Inequality, New Economy, Poverty

The right-wing love to say inequality does not matter. They also love to say that the Gini coefficient that measures inequality is improving. They trumpet as a result that in their opinion all is right in the world because people are now getting no worse off. But, as many familiar with such data know, it is not revealing of the truth. Inequality is seriously understated because its measurement is based on survey data and the wealthy don’t do surveys any more than they pay taxes. And the wealthy also hide their income and assets more effectively than do the rest of society precisely because they have so much of it that tucking it out of sight is much easier.

“No More Racist Bosses”: Why Workers At A Suburban Target Store Are Protesting

July 9, 2018 Bruce Vail, Inthesetimes.com Resist! Baltimore, Class Struggle, Protests, Racism, Workers

A small group of workers at retailer Target Corporation is demanding accountability from local store managers in the Baltimore area, highlighting issues of discrimination and fair scheduling that affect retail workers nationwide. The workers at the Target outlet in suburban Cockeysville staged a demonstration this week, gathering support from the local labor rights community to demand that some managers be fired for allegedly racist and sexist behavior, and that the company address fair scheduling issues. Led by Target employees Erica Feldenzer and Sarah Shifflet, the group issued its demands July 3 as it gathered just inside the entrance to the store, and then led a walkout and picket that attracted unusual police attention.

The Upside Of Janus: Court’s Ruling On Dues Check-Offs Could Help Democratize Unions

July 7, 2018 By Jon Jeter, Mintpressnews.com Strategize! Class Struggle, Labor Movement, Supreme Court, Unions

Ricky Maclin bellowed at the secretary in a stairwell at Republic Windows and Doors, trying to get her attention. She was one of the few black temps in the secretarial pool; he was vice-president of the union local, the lone black on its executive board. The two of them got along like the proverbial house afire, and on more than one occasion Shorty had even shared with Ricky the contents of a memo that she’d come across, or a conversation she’d overheard, when the plant’s management was dragging its feet or flat-out lying to the union about some issue or another. But on this late November morning in 2008, as the pair walked past each other on the stairs, Ricky’s greeting went unacknowledged; the diminutive secretary clearly had things on her mind.

Billionaires Devised A Plan To Kill Unions By Sending Worker Stand-Ins To Spread Propaganda

July 7, 2018 By Leo Gerard, Alternet.org Educate! Class Struggle, Ruling Class, Supreme Court, Unions

Hundred millionaire Bruce Rauner just couldn’t wait to tell Illinois state workers that the U.S. Supreme Court had given them what he considered a gift. Within hours of the court’s ruling in the Janus case last week, Rauner, the Republican governor of Illinois, emailed state workers to tell them the decision meant they no longer needed to pay either dues or fair share fees to their labor union but the union would still be required to represent them. What a deal! Free service! And it was brought to them by Rauner! The governor had filed the lawsuit that led to the Janus decision. When a court tossed him as plaintiff, the right-wing foundations whose billionaire donors paid for the lawsuit drummed up replacement plaintiffs including Mark Janus. He’s an Illinois child support worker who refused to join the union and pay dues and who didn’t even want to pay the smaller fair share fee of $45 a month charged to non-members to cover the union’s costs of bargaining for them.

Nicaragua: The Art Of Demonstrating

July 5, 2018 By Alex Anfruns, Investigaction.net Educate! Class Struggle, Latin America, Nicaragua, Terrorism

It was a pension reform project that started the fire. To avoid privatizing social security as recommended by the IMF, the government wanted to increase contributions for both workers and employers. Faced with a public outcry, the government backtracked and withdrew its reform plan. But the protests continued without anyone being able to understand what was their objective. In order to stop the cycle of violence, government spokesmen called on the protesters to participate in peace commissions. They insisted on their willingness to listen to the various demands and to promote the expression of political opposition. To no avail. Calls for dialogue from the government have been shunned. They were even perceived as a sign of weakness, galvanizing the young protesters of the M-19 movement. With no program, this movement simply calls for overthrowing the “dictatorship” accused of being at the origin of the “repression”.

Unions Have Been Down Before, History Shows How They Can Come Back

July 4, 2018 George Lakey, Wagingnonviolence.org Strategize! Class Struggle, History, Unions

The Janus decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday was another blow to the labor movement. It creates a financial incentive for public sector union members to leave the union while continuing their job. Ever since the beginning of the 1980s clamp-down on the U.S. left, signaled by President Ronald Reagan’s firing of the air traffic controllers to end their strike, the labor movement has been besieged by what billionaire Warren Buffett described in the New York Times as a class war started by his class. It’s not the first time this has happened in U.S. history. Labor organized strongly and successfully in the period before World War I, so much so that the 1 percent led a fierce push-back in the 1920s that substantially lowered union membership.

Unions Have Survived Tough Times Before

July 3, 2018 By Sarah Anderson, Inequality.org Educate! Class Struggle, History, Unions

The U.S. Supreme Court has just dealt unions a bruising blow. In a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that public sector employees who benefit from unions’ collective bargaining services will no longer have to pay for them. At least initially, this is expected to result in a steep drop in union resources and bargaining capacity, which will likely reduce employee pay. One Illinois university study, for example, predicts that public school teacher salaries in that state will drop by an average of 5.4 percent. But over the course of its turbulent history, the American labor movement has survived much worse. And it will find a way to get back on its feet. One of my ancestors was in the center of the drama during one of labor’s most roiling eras. Albert G. Denny, my great-grandmother’s brother, started out as a child laborer in a glass factory. He eventually became the national organizer for the Knights of Labor, the leading voice for U.S. workers in the 1880s.

Mexico: Massive Vote For AMLO And Morena Marks New Period Of Class Struggle

July 3, 2018 By Ubaldo Oropeza, Marxist.com Create! Class Struggle, Electoral Politics, Mexico

Yesterday, on 2 July, there was massive participation in the Mexican general elections, in which there were 18,229 public positions at stake. However, by far the most important was the presidency. With more than 89 million voters registered, the level of participation – according to the available data – was one of the highest in the history of Mexico. A political and social earthquake occurred in the victory of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of the MORENA party. The oligarchy and imperialism, who have always been accustomed to ordering and being obeyed, are now faced with a government that challenges them; a government that says it will separate economic and political power, and prioritise the poor.

15 Actions That Can Shut Down Trump’s Assault On Immigrant Families

June 30, 2018 Arun Gupta, Yesmagazine.org Resist! Class Struggle, Immigration, Repression, Undocumented

Thwarting Donald Trump’s war on immigrants and dismantling the vast deportation machine is possible. It won’t be easy, but it has to be done. Simply put, Trump’s plan is ethnic cleansing. His actions go far beyond snatching 2,342 children from parents fleeing violence-ravaged countries. From creating a taskforce to strip naturalized U.S. citizens of citizenship so they can be deported to severely curtailing asylum claims to his Muslim travel ban, Trump has made no secret of his disdain and contempt for people who, frankly, don’t look like him. He even traffics in the language of ethnic cleansing—warning of illegal immigrants who seek to “pour into and infest our country.” Momentum is building around a movement to slow the president’s deplorable treatment of immigrants, including blameless children. Protests have been going on for weeks.

Janus Is Here—But Don’t Ring The Death Knell For the Labor Movement

June 28, 2018 Moshe Z. Marvit, Inthesetimes.com Strategize! Class Struggle, Labor, New York (NY)

In a major decision that will impact labor for decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has just declared that all public-sector workers who are represented by a union have a Constitutional right to pay the union nothing for the representation. The Court overturned its landmark 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which permitted public-sector unions to charge fair-share fees that covered the costs of providing collective bargaining and contract administration to non-members that were represented by the union. Today, in Janus v. AFSCME, the Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment prohibits public employee unions from charging a mandatory fee for the costs of representation. Therefore, going forward, all public-sector employees will be under so-called “right to work,” the union-busting legal framework that denies unions the ability to charge workers dues.

The Soldier’s Tale

June 27, 2018 Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com Educate! Class Struggle, US military, Veterans

The soldier’s tale is as old as war. It is told and then forgotten. There are always young men and women ardent for glory, seduced by the power to inflict violence and naive enough to die for the merchants of death. The soldier’s tale is the same, war after war, generation after generation. It is Spenser Rapone’s turn now. The second lieutenant was given an “other than honorable” discharge June 18 after an Army investigation determined that he “went online to promote a socialist revolution and disparage high-ranking officers” and thereby had engaged in “conduct unbecoming an officer.” Rapone laid bare the lie, although the lie often seems unassailable. We must honor those like him who have the moral courage to speak the truth about war, even if the tidal waves of patriotic propaganda that flood the culture overwhelm the voices of the just.

Trump Seeks To Privatize The Post Office

June 25, 2018 Staff, Afge.org, Nalc.org Apwu.org Resist! Class Struggle, Post Office, Privatization, Trump Administration

WASHINGTON - American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. today issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s government reorganization plan: “This administration has displayed nothing but contempt for the 2 million federal workers who serve the public each and every day. Instead of improving health care access to veterans who deserve our very best, administration officials have used the new authorities Congress provided them at the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire thousands of rank-and-file workers like nursing assistants and housekeepers. “Instead of working with employee representatives to make the workplace safer and more inclusive, this administration has violated labor contracts at the Department of Education, Social Security, HUD, and elsewhere to deny employees the representation they are entitled to under the law.

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