Page 34 - Labor Notes News Today

When I think of the tasks before the labor movement, I think of what it will take to organize Walmart and Amazon and now Google.

World working class Sunday 31 January 2021, by Kim Moody The working class of the twenty-first century is a class in formation, as one would expect in a world where capitalism has only recently become universal. At the same time, Marx himself reminded us long ago, in speaking of the development of classes in England where they were “most classically developed,” that “even here, though, this class articulation does not emerge in pure form.” [1] The working class, of course, is much bro...

How Jacobin and the Democratic Socialists of America aided the Teamsters’ betrayal of the Hunts Point market strike Last weekend, the Teamsters union forced through a sell-out contract to end a six-day strike by 1,400 workers at the Hunts Point produce market in the Bronx in New York City. Workers who struck for a modest $1 per hour raise per year, were left with an average annual wage increase of 62 cents more for new hires and 40 cents for veteran workers over the next three years. Most of ...

Unions, Democracy, and the Third Camp Comparing Lessons from New Politics and Herman Benson The decline of labor has been accompanied by an opportunity we have not seen in decades. A new generation of socialists, many of them members of Democratic Socialists of American, are enthusiastically discussing the role of the working class and unions in the fight for socialism. Making the best use of this development requires critically analyzing the past several decades of struggle among labor leftist...

Workers of the World: Growth, Change, and Rebellion The working class of the twenty-first century is a class in formation, as one would expect in a world where capitalism has only recently become universal. At the same time, Marx himself reminded us long ago, in speaking of the development of classes in England where they were “most classically developed,” that “even here, though, this class articulation does not emerge in pure form.” 1 The working class, of course, is much broader tha...

Most people are familiar with the politically motivated killings that punctuated the 1960s. From Medgar Evers to Robert Kennedy, bloodshed galvanized the antiwar, civil rights, and student movements, but eroded trust in government and higher education. The labor movement was no exception to the rule. On New Year’s Eve 1969 in Clarksville, Pennsylvania, three gunmen shot Mine Workers (UMWA) leader Joseph “Jock” Yablonksi, his wife Margaret, and their daughter Charlotte as they slept. The k...

Interview: Despite escalating assassinations, Colombian farmworker union fights for the right to the land The situation has recently gotten even worse in Colombia—already the world’s most dangerous place to be a union member.   Right now social movement leaders, union members, and participants in the peace process are being killed at a rate of more than one victim per day. With the restrictions and curfews related to the coronavirus, death squads can more easily find their targets at their...

FENSUAGRO, the National Federation of Agricultural Unions, was created to unite the labor movement and the farmworkers movement. Photo: Alliance for Global Justice, cropped from original. The situation has recently gotten even worse in Colombia—already the world’s most dangerous place to be a union member. Right now social movement leaders, union members, and participants in the peace process are being killed at a rate of more than one victim per day. With the restrictions and curfews relat...

Chicago Teachers Union leader partied in Puerto Rico as teachers were herded back into schools To prevent the reopening of schools, Chicago educators must organize independently of the CTU through the formation of an Illinois Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, which will unite educators, parents, students and the broader working class, to prepare strike action to close all schools and nonessential workplaces. We urge all those who want to join this struggle toattend and help build this p...

Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, filed for a union election on November 20. Photo: Workers at Amazons Shakopee, Minnesota, fulfillment center walked out in a December 2018 protest. Credit: Fibonacci Blue, CC BY 2.0. The election is to determine whether a majority of the employees at the newly opened Amazon Fulfillment Center (BHM1) in Bessemer—a small of suburb of Birmingham, Alabama—want union representation. Amazon was represented at the hearing by the law firm Morgan Lewis—a firm t...