Skip to content

Strikes

University Of California Student Workers Begin Historic Political Strike

On May 20, University of California (UC) student and postdoc workers at the Santa Cruz campus began a historic strike against the repression of the student movement. UAW 4811, which represents over 48,000 workers, voted last week to authorize a strike in response to intense repression unleashed against students and faculty protesting for Palestine. Administrators at several University of California campuses invited in the police, who violently arrested and injured students, faculty, and staff. Many workers and students across the UC system also face disciplinary action from their universities, including suspension.

How UC Researchers Began Saying No To Military Work

Our union of 48,000 academic workers has just authorized a strike over the University of California’s unfair labor practices in repressing peaceful protest, retaliating against members for protesting, and prohibiting pro-Palestine speech at the worksite. United Auto Workers Local 4811 announced the results yesterday: with nearly 20,000 members voting, 79 percent voted yes. Part of the groundwork behind this vote and informing the potential strike is the organizing we have done over the past several months in our science departments—as researchers who are no longer willing to support genocide with our labor.

Daimler Truck Workers Use Strike Threat To Win Big

North Carolina heavy truck and school bus manufacturing workers won 25 percent pay increases and ended wage tiers after an energetic contract campaign and strike threat against Daimler Truck. The United Auto Workers unionized these plants in the 1990s and early 2000s—but since then, wages had stagnated. Starting pay was low, and the plants were stuck on different wage scales. At Thomas Built Buses, the largest school bus manufacturing site in the U.S., assembly workers topped out at $24, $5 less than their counterparts at Daimler’s Mount Holly truck plant. The new contract establishes a common wage grid across all 7,400 workers at the four North Carolina plants, as well as parts distribution centers in Atlanta and Memphis.

University Of California Workers Vote To Authorize A Strike

On May 15, United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 student workers across the University of California campuses, voted to authorize a strike following police and administrative repression of pro-Palestine students staging Gaza Solidarity Encampments.  Strike authorization votes took place from May 13 to May 15. Workers voted in favor of striking by a landslide of 79%. There is currently no fixed date for a strike, but the vote empowers the union’s executive board to call a strike at any time.  Were Local 4811 to strike, it would be the first strike in history to be called for Palestinian liberation.

French Rail Workers Share Their Struggle For Better Conditions

The French railway workers have been under constant all-round attack for the past two decades, as has the entire French working class. The ruling class has been on the offensive to try to destroy everything French labour has fought to win with the CGT union since the aftermath of the Second World War. In the crosshairs of our class enemies is our social security system, our right to benefit from pensions at a decent age, our right to job security and protection against unfair dismissal, and our capacity to forge collective agreements that currently cover 95% of the workforce, both in the private and public sector.

Workers At A Maryland Apple Store Authorize Strike

It’s been a busy weekend for union organizing efforts at U.S. Apple stores, with the union at one store voting to authorize a strike, while workers at another store voted against forming a union. Back in 2022, workers in Towson, Maryland, became the first formally recognized union at an Apple retail store. That union, which is part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, voted Saturday to authorize a strike. The date of this potential strike has yet to be determined. “This vote today is the first step in demonstrating our solidarity and sends a clear message to Apple,” said the IAM CORE Negotiating Committee in a statement.

University Workers Could Strike To Reject Repression Of Student Protests

From May 13 to May 15, members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 4811 will be holding a strike authorization vote for a potential strike, in response to the University of California’s crackdown on peaceful pro-Palestine student protesters. On May 3, the union local filed Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) charges against the University of California (UC) system, in response to various UC campuses sending police officers to brutalize student protesters staging Gaza Solidarity Encampments. Last week, administration at the University of Los Angeles- California sent in the Los Angeles Police Department to clear out the Gaza Solidarity encampment staged by student protesters, peacefully demanding that their university divest from Israel.

Locked-Out Firefighters Picket Boeing

The aerospace giant Boeing locked out 125 firefighters across multiple facilities in Washington state May 4 after contract negotiations broke down. “We want to be out there working and protecting the community of Boeing employees,” said firefighter Jon Riggsby, vice-president-elect of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local I-66. “But the company won’t allow us.” Boeing firefighters are on hand for fueling, takeoffs, and landings. They also respond to any medical emergencies at company facilities in Seattle, Everett, Renton, Auburn, and Moses Lake. They’re the first line of defense to prevent the spread of flame and toxic emissions from the combination of materials used to build aircraft such as the Boeing 737, Triple Seven, and others as part of military contracts.

Don’t Like War? Then Don’t Work!

​May Day — a legal holiday for workers in most countries — was born in Chicago. On May 1, 1886, workers shut down America’s greatest industry city, and other cities too, to demand the 8-hour workday. In 1894, the U.S. Congress intentionally created a Labor Day at another time of the year, but some Americans continue celebrating the original, real Labor Day. On May 1, 2008, 10,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), one of the strongest and most militant unions in the United States, walked in those Chicagoans’ footsteps. They did so by walking off the docks at all 29 West Coast ports, completely shutting down America’s Pacific trading network.

Pulsing With Life: 2024 Labor Notes Conference

The 2024 Labor Notes Conference pulsed with life—with a record turnout of 4,700 people, and a rising note of optimism because of the many breakthroughs won and new campaigns launched. Since we last gathered, Starbucks baristas have forced their employer into national bargaining. UPS workers won a big raise and wiped out driver two-tier with a strike threat. Graduate workers are organizing by the tens of thousands. Independent unions are spreading in retail and tech. Inspired by the Auto Workers and the Teamsters, demands for more democratic unions are spreading too.

Long Beach Hotel Workers To Earn Highest Minimum Wage

Part of the Los Angeles region’s “hot labor summer” of 2023 was a growing recognition that the runaway cost of living was squeezing workers and families. It was perhaps the primary driver of the rolling strikes by unionized workers at 60 area hotels during contract negotiations, with many of those negotiations ongoing. But bargaining-table pressure and picket lines are not the only mechanisms for addressing this issue. And voters in Long Beach have likely just approved another path. Measure RW, on which Long Beach residents voted during last week’s primary, significantly raises the minimum wage for workers at Long Beach hotels with more than 100 rooms.

Greek Call Centre Workers Show The World How To Strike

Greek call centre workers went on strike on Wednesday 13 March – joining colleagues in France as well. It was over pay, conditions, and crucially the racist and discriminatory treatment of migrant workers in Greece’s call centres. With a massive new strike, workers in call centre companies in Greece demanded wage increases, collective contracts, and an end to the slave trade practices with the “special purpose visa” for migrant workers in call centres, where thousands of migrants work alongside Greek colleagues.

Teaching Each Other To Strike

Recently I heard members of the Newton Teachers Association recount the path to their 11-day January strike. The audience at the Massachusetts Teachers Association winter skills conference gave them a standing ovation. In the past 20 months, seven MTA locals have voted to strike and six have walked out. They’ve won significant raises for the lowest-paid workers, paid family and medical leave, more social workers, and educator control over planning time. All the strikes were illegal, and the courts issued fines in most cases. Newton teachers were fined $625,000, for example.

Major Strike Activity Increased By 280% In 2023

Last year saw a resurgence in collective action among workers. More than 16.2 million workers were represented by unions in 2023, an increase of 191,000 from 2022. Workers filed petitions for union elections in record numbers and captured significant wage gains through work stoppages and contract negotiations. Further, organizing efforts continued in a variety of sectors—including health care, nonprofits, higher education, museums, retail, and manufacturing (Shierholz et al. 2024). Strikes were among the more prominent forms of collective action in 2023. A strike is when workers withhold their labor from their employer during a labor dispute.

Johns Hopkins Graduate Student-Workers Picket, Negotiations Stall

One year ago, graduate student-workers at Johns Hopkins University overwhelmingly voted to unionize under the banner of Teachers and Researchers United (TRU-UE), which is affiliated with United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers. While workers had much to celebrate with their historic union election victory, bargaining a first contract with the university administration has been another story. On February 20, fed up with what workers say have been disrespectful and insufficient offers from the university administration, TRU-UE members held practice pickets on campus to show the administration what’s in store if more progress is not made at the bargaining table soon.
assetto corsa mods

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.