Labor Movement
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
More...
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| << Start < Prev 1 2 3 Next > End >> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results 1 - 21 of 56 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home 
Labor Movement
Labor Movement Main Menu
What's New
Socialist Appeal Magazine
Issue 40 of Socialist Appeal is now available.
New from Wellred!
El Militante Sin Fronteras
Nuevo periódico marxista de la Liga Internacional de los Trabajadores
The past few weeks at GM Oshawa have shown that workers cannot trust the bosses to provide well-paying jobs. At the same time, we have seen that workers are prepared to fight to protect their jobs. The only things lacking are a leadership that has the same militancy as the rank-and-file, and the ideas to take this militancy forward. 
The three month strike of 3,650 American Axle workers was the most recent in a series of defensive strikes in the auto industry, and also one of the longest in recent decades. Despite the fact that the workers’ collective strike action made a dent in the company’s profits (the company lost $370 million in sales), the bosses were determined to “rule or ruin” and maximize their profits. Ballooning oil prices and the economic downturn are impacting profit margins, and workers are being handed the bill in the form of big wage and benefit cuts and job losses. 
The Big Business media is continuing its war on the NYC public employees’ pension system. Over the past twenty years or so, U.S. corporations have eliminated pensions for new employees and sometimes for existing employees, replacing them with 401k schemes. The Employee Benefit Research Institute, as reported in the NY Times, stated that 63 percent of workers in the private sector have only 401k or similar plans, not traditional pensions. This means that workers must save for their own retirement and assume all of the investment risks themselves. This is a sweet deal for Corporate America! As the present economic crisis deepens, Big Business wants to cut government spending on social programs and compensation for government workers. Our pension benefits are target number one! 
This is a report from the Portland WIL on an informational picket held outside the headquarters of Morrison Child Protective Services by SEIU Local 503. Rosemont workers are facing working conditions that do not provide decent compensation to improve the quality of care for at-risk teens, in addition to improve safety and have good standards of living. 
As it approaches its National Convention in June of 2008, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is the largest union in the U.S., with a reported membership of 1.9 million. It largely organizes home care, health care, home child care, and janitorial workers. While most unions’ growth has stagnated or declined over the last few years, SEIU has reported organizing 900,000 new members into its ranks since 1996, making it quite possibly the fastest growing union in the world.
Since February 26th, 3,600 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) have been on strike at American Axle & Manufacturing. As we go to press, contract negotiations are underway. The nearly three month strike has successfully shut down all key production lines, exhausted the company’s inventory, and sent its profits into a nose-dive. The bosses are against the ropes. So why is the UAW talking wage cuts and plant closings? The UAW must put up a militant fight and defend the jobs and wages of its members! 
As we enter 2008, millions of undocumented workers are thinking about the economic crisis, immigration raids, presidential elections and Spring mobilizations. Two years after the massive marches and the national boycott and strike of May Day 2006, the problems facing immigrant workers are far from being resolved. On the contrary, we have entered a new stage of militarized repression and loss of our political and civil liberties. 
In late January, more than 80 U.S. and Canadian auto workers met in Flint, MI to discuss the impact of the worst contract ever shoved down the throats of the membership. As a result, UAW members and their allies further solidified a loose network of auto worker and community activists. After a day of enthusiastic discussions, important groundwork was laid for the beginnings of an industry-wide class struggle current, starting with a statement and call for the elimination of two-tier workplaces.