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Victory

Union Power Wins: Baltimore Library Workers Get Jobs Back

Fourteen part-time librarians at the Baltimore County Public Library received a jarring email on the afternoon of Nov. 12. BCPL leadership’s email informed them that they would no longer have jobs. The mass firing came just ahead of the holiday season and without any advance notice. All 14 are members of the International Association of Machinists Local 4538, which represents the several hundred BCPL workers and the staff of a nearby Apple Store. Several of those fired were particularly active members of their union. One of the fired librarians is an active union steward and member of the Local’s bargaining committee.

Texas Electricians Open Up Negotiations And Win Big

The building trades can be a tough place for union reformers. Union business is typically conducted behind the scenes, with little involvement from members, while the bosses stall and derail negotiations. But here in Austin, Texas, our Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 520 got off the hamster wheel and got members active like never before—spurred by the organizing of members like me who had joined the national Caucus of Rank-and-File Electrical Workers (CREW). Through an unprecedented amount of outreach, actions that brought members in to confront the bosses head-on, and good old-fashioned raising of stakes and expectations, Local 520 won a contract that put decades of closed-off negotiations to shame.

Indiana Kroger Workers Win Better Contract After Voting ‘No’ Twice

With 8,000 workers, the Indianapolis Kroger contract is the largest in Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 700. After keeping members in the dark about negotiations, our local union leadership dropped a concessionary contract in our laps. Wage increases didn’t keep up with inflation, and there was no contract language to address understaffing. It was obvious this contract was sending us backwards. My co-workers and I were angry, but we weren’t sure what to do. I joined a Zoom meeting hosted through the reform group Essential Workers for Democracy. I was shocked to see how many members felt the same way about our contract and our union.

River Valley Co-Op Workers Opened Up Bargaining And Won Big

River Valley Co-op is a consumer-owned cooperative grocery store with two locations in Western Massachusetts. We have been unionized with Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1459 for the last decade with 175 workers in our bargaining unit. This year, beginning in January and ending in June, we held thirteen bargaining sessions with RVC management and their attorneys in a process that was transformative for our union. Negotiations were tense and at times, adversarial. Workers took a stand in ways they never had before, strengthening our relationships and faith in our ability to fight and win. We made significant strides in the contract, including $2 an hour raises across the board, union orientation for new hires, and protections for our immigrant co-workers. Our contract was ratified with 77 percent of workers turning out for a nearly unanimous ‘yes’ vote.

Microsoft Revokes Cloud Services From Israel’s Unit 8200

Microsoft has terminated the Israeli army’s access to technology it was using to store vast troves of intelligence on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza, the tech giant informed Israel’s Defense Ministry in a letter late last week, according to the Guardian. The decision followed an exposé last month by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and the Guardian revealing how Unit 8200, the Israeli army’s elite cyber warfare agency, was housing intercepted recordings of millions of mobile phone calls by Palestinians on Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure, creating one of the world’s most intrusive collections of surveillance data over a single population group. According to the joint investigation, this data has been used over the past two years to plan lethal airstrikes in Gaza, as well as to arrest Palestinians in the West Bank.

Mask Off, Maersk

In a monumental victory for the Palestinian liberation movement, one of the world’s largest integrated logistics and shipping companies, A.P. Moller-Maersk (or Maersk, for short) announced it would halt its transport and business in illegal Israeli settlements, ​“following a recent review of transports related to the West Bank.” The announcement follows a number of reports released revealing their involvement in the weapons trade and genocide of the Palestinian people. This announcement marks not only an unprecedented victory for the movement but also the making of the successful ​“Mask Off Maersk” campaign that began at last year’s People’s Conference for Palestine, when the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) launched a transnational people’s arms embargo against the Copenhagen-based company.

Teamsters Win University Of Minnesota Strike, With Help From Farm Aid

Some 1,400 Teamster service workers at the University of Minnesota won a resounding victory in a five-day walkout that showcased their militancy and underscored the power of solidarity. “This is what happens when people stick together,” said Steve Tesfagiorgis, a shop steward and strike captain for Teamsters Local 320 and a senior custodian on the Minneapolis campus. “Our members are from different places and speak many different languages, and we all worked together and won.” The union includes more than 400 East African workers. At rallies, on flyers, and during Zoom meetings, members communicated in five languages.

RICO Charges Dismissed Against 61 Cop City Activists

In 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr brought RICO charges against 61 opponents of the “Cop City” training facility, alleging the protest movement was akin to an organized crime syndicate. Under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, prosecutors need merely to show the existence of a criminal enterprise under which any member is liable to be charged as an accessory to the group’s overall crimes.

Israeli Arms Maker Shuts Site After Sustained Anti-Genocide Protests

Israeli arms producer Elbit Systems closed its site in Bristol, UK, after years of protests by Palestine Action, The Guardian reported on 6 September. The facility at the Aztec West business park appeared deserted when the daily visited this week, with only a security guard present outside. Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, has leased the site since 2019 under a contract running until 2029. The company did not comment on the status of the facility. The site had been the focus of repeated protests, including one on 1 July, just days before the UK government banned Palestine Action under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

Cop City Defendant Has Domestic Terrorism Charge Dropped

Atlanta, GA – Jamie Marsicano, one of dozens of defendants embroiled in the sprawling legal backlash brought against opponents of “Cop City,” had a state-level Domestic Terrorism charge dropped in DeKalb County on Thursday. The dismissal represents the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the state as it moves forward with its expansive effort to prosecute those who mobilized to stop Cop City, a massive police training compound south of metro Atlanta in the South River Forest. More than 29 months after Jamie was arrested and charged under Georgia’s domestic terrorism statute for their participation in the movement against Cop City, the state hadn’t brought an indictment against the North Carolina resident, leaving them in limbo as they waited for a decision from the court regarding their charge and potential trial.

Charges Dropped Against Anti-ICE Protester Alejandro Orellana

Los Angeles, CA – On July 29, the federal government announced the conspiracy charges against Chicano activist Alejandro Orellana were dropped – a victory for Centro CSO and all freedom fighters in the immigrant rights movement fighting against ICE terror! On June 12, the FBI, National Guard, and the East LA Sheriff station raided Orellana’s home. They arrested Orellana, destroyed his family home, and locked him up at the Metropolitan Detention Center that has been the site of many anti-deportation protests. The Justice Department charged him with conspiracy to commit civil disorder and aiding and abetting civil disorder, which could have resulted in up to five years in prison for Orellana.

Teacher Strike Threat And Community Support Stop Bad Proposal

As educators fend off attacks at the federal and state level, they’re also seeing some local wins. From striking for more recess to demanding more nurses and support personnel, teachers across the country have successfully organized for policies that improve children’s school day. In May, members of the Coquille Educators Association in Oregon challenged the district on a critical decision and won. And they did it in a way that built unity between the union and their small community. It started when the district superintendent announced a new schedule. As in most elementary schools, fifth-grade classes in the district had operated on a whole-class model: students stayed with one teacher all day except for special classes like art or gym.

Belgian Court Bans Military Shipments To Israel In Activist Victory

In what could become a landmark ruling, a Belgian judge recently ordered the Flemish government to halt the transit of goods that could be used to continue or expand the genocide in Gaza. The decision follows a joint campaign by four organizations – Intal, Vredesactie (Peace Action), 11.11.11, and the Human Rights League – which was triggered by the discovery of containers in the port of Antwerp addressed to Israeli company Ashot Ashkelon Industries. The containers included materials used for the assembly of Merkava tanks, the same model implicated in the attack that killed six-year-old Hind Rajab.

How Pro-Palestine Activists At Princeton Got Their Charges Dropped

As the genocide in Gaza continues, imperialist governments that have made Israel’s crimes possible are escalating their attacks on the movement for Palestine. From the targeting of international students to the recent firing of four CUNY faculty over Palestine activism, universities remain an important site of struggle against the genocide. Despite the repression, there have been victories which show that it pays to take up the fight against these attacks on the movement for Palestine. One example is at Princeton University, where 13 activists from the Princeton community recently got charges dropped after more than a year.

Chicagoans Pack City Hall To Oppose Jim Crow Curfew Ordinance

Chicago, IL – On Wednesday morning, July 16, hundreds of people packed the Chicago city hall lobby ahead of the city council meeting. Many youth and community organizations stood united in opposition to the racist snap curfew ordinance that was put forward by Alderman Brian Hopkins two months before. This snap curfew would give the Chicago Police Department unchecked power in the instance of a mass gathering to institute a curfew with only 30 minutes notice and engage in mass arrests. The curfew received a favorable vote in the June city council meeting, but Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed the ordinance.
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