‘YES’ vote for strike authorization strengthens union’s hand at bargaining table
Jacksonville, FL – On May 1, Teamsters Package Division Director and lead negotiator for the UPS contract Denis Taylor announced the international union would begin the process of taking a strike authorization vote. The news breaks amid ongoing contract negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS, as well as UPS Freight, which began earlier this year and are set to continue into June.
‘Strike fever’ hits the Garden State as teachers push back to protect health care
Jersey City, NJ – On March 16, public school teachers in Jersey City, New Jersey went on strike after months of frustrating contract negotiations with the city’s Board of Education. Their union, the Jersey City Education Association (JCEA), announced the strike to their nearly 4000 members late on the night of March 15.
Jacksonville, FL – Two things stood out to me while assembling my list of the year’s top movies. First, it’s remarkable how many science fiction and horror movies I watched this year. Practically every film I liked presented a dystopian vision of the future (or past) or a horrifying situation rooted in the present. No doubt that’s a sign of the times. Between the Trump presidency and the rise of the far right around the world, reality often seems more dystopian and terrifying than anything you’d see at the theater.
Jacksonville, FL – On Dec. 4, Yemen’s Houthi movement reported they had killed former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in a military operation just outside of Sanaa, the capital. Both Saleh’s own party – the General People’s Congress – and Saudi media confirmed Saleh’s death.
Mugabe, ZANU-PF say ‘patriotic’ military intervention was not a coup
Editor’s note: Fight Back! is publishing this informative analysis by Dave Schneider on the recent events in Zimbabwe. It contains the views of the author, and Fight Back! editors welcome commentary and responses from readers.
On Nov. 5, 2017, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri appeared in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and abruptly announced his resignation. In his resignation speech, Hariri denounced the Islamic Republic of Iran for supposedly interfering in Lebanese politics through Hezbollah, which makes up part of Hariri’s own coalition government.
On Jan. 23, President Donald Trump signed an executive action withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. Negotiated by then-president Barack Obama, the TPP would have standardized trade between the U.S., Japan, Mexico, and nine other countries in the Pacific Rim, lowering tariffs and regulations between countries to favor corporations. The agreement drew heavy criticism from labor unions and environmental groups, who argued the TPP would hurt workers and hamper efforts to address climate change.
Every December, I put together my list of top 10 movies for the year. Usually I've missed a couple that would probably make the list, and this year is no different – The Birth of a Nation; Snowden and Weiner, to name three. Nevertheless, here's my Top 10 of 2016:
