Tag: Labor Organizing
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“The Rank and File Strategy”: A Syndicalist View
Veteran activist and writer Tom Wetzel enters the wide ranging debate on the left around the “rank and file strategy” orientation to the labor movement. This piece is based on material in his forthcoming book from AK Press, Overcoming Capitalism. By Tom Wetzel Kim Moody’s writings on “the Rank and File Strategy” have gained a broad hearing…
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From Wildcat to Union Reform: The West Virginia Teacher Struggle Continues
By Michael Mochaidean In the aftermath of the 2018 wildcat teachers strike in West Virginia that kicked off the #Red4Ed movement networks of militant teachers formed the rank-and-file caucus known as West Virginia United and for the past five months the group has been working to challenge the incumbent leadership of the West Virginia Education…
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Healthcare Workers: Back-To-Work Strikes Can Put Health Before Profit
Following the release of a recent video statement, healthcare workers members and allies of Black Rose / Rosa Negra produced a follow up statement calling for organizing around back-to-work strikes to oppose the drive to put profits ahead of collective health by exposing millions of workers to untold risks. Catch their list of tips for…
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Labor Organizing During Covid-19: A University Janitor’s Account
A University of Washington custodian gives their personal account of workplace organizing under Covid-19 and the importance of labor organizing in this time. By BeauJon McNally I love working but I hate jobs and I hate capitalism. The state of our modern economy is such that even after squeezing in a Bachelors in Anthropology, I…
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Strike While the Iron is Hot: Interview on the Growing Wildcat Strike at UC Santa Cruz
By It’s Going Down Since the wildcat strike at the University of California in Santa Cruz kicked off last Monday, thousands of students have blocked streets and shut down the campus, while riot police from across the State have been mobilized and made over a dozen arrests. Predictably, police violence has broken out on the…
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Santa Cruz Grad Students Prepare to Launch Full Strike Next Week
Following up on our previous coverage of the wildcat strike and work stoppage launched by UC Santa Cruz grad student workers, participant Cameron A. writes on the workers next move: launching a full strike this coming Monday, February 10. See below for how you can follow and support. By Cameron A. Graduate Student workers at…
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Wildcat Strike Launched by UC Santa Cruz Grad Student Workers
Could the #Red4Ed strike wave spill over to higher education and graduate student organizing? Participant Cameron .A. writes on the announced strike hours after the vote was taken. By Cameron A. Graduate student workers at the Santa Cruz campus of the leviathan University of California have voted to launch a wildcat grading strike in the…
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Colombia: All Out for the National Social Strike on November 21
Social movements in Colombia are filling the streets today, November 21, for a ‘paro nacional’ in protest of neoliberal attacks on education and pensions. Political tension has increased with calls for the resignation of right-wing president Iván Duque, while the State has enacted new repressive measures and former president Álvaro Uribe is implicating provocateurs and…
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Social Movements Gave Rise to the “Teachers’ Revolt,” Not Bernie
With the 2020 election already on the horizon we republish this commentary responding to the deeply flawed narrative that Bernie Sanders’ campaign played a key role in the teacher strike wave rather than social movement organizing with much deeper roots. The authors are a West Virginia teacher active in the 2018 strike and an education…
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“This is Overdue”: Interview with a Striking GM Worker
As General Motors reaped $8.1 billion in profit and paid its CEO $22 million, nearly 50,000 GM workers have been on strike since Monday. While workers gave major concessions during the previous recession the company is digging in it’s heels over wages and has even cut off healthcare plans for workers. Marianne Garneau of Organizing…