Chicago, IL – At 6:30 in the morning on Thursday, Aug. 5, over one hundred workers went to work at the Frederick Cooper lamp factory. For 80 of them, it was the end of their week, because the company had cut out work on Friday. This reduced the workers’ income by 20% – one dollar out of five.

Chicago, IL – Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 743 say it’s time for a change. “We can’t stand another term of the current officers,” Richard Berg stated. Berg is the presidential candidate of the 743 New Leadership Slate, which will be on the ballot being mailed out on Sept. 22. The votes are to be counted on Oct. 16.

Outside the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) convention in Puerto Rico, Saturday, May 31, members of the Puerto Rican teachers union were attacked by riot police when they attempted to distribute fliers. The fliers were critical of SEIU for making a deal with Governor Acevedo Vila for SEIU to replace the militant teachers union in February.

Chicago, IL – When 50 angry Teamsters confronted their union president, Robert Walston, he arrogantly demanded to know who they were. “I’ve been paying dues to you for 15 years, and you don’t know who I am?” replied Manuel Rico. Rather than learning who Rico was, Walston turned his back on the group and walked away.

San Juan, Puerto Rico – Demanding a halt to the repression of activists working for the independence of Puerto Rico, about 1000 people rallied at the Federal Courthouse here, Jan. 10. Protests took place in ten other cities including, Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles.

Chicago, IL – Teamsters reformer Richard Berg is being threatened with expulsion from the union. A rank-and-file activist, Berg has been a housekeeper and a member of Local 743 at the University of Chicago Hospitals (UCH) since 1989. The gangsters running the local are out to get him for the ‘crime’ of fighting for workers.

Fight Back News Service is reprinting the following article on the FBI murder of Puerto Rican freedom fighter Filiberto Ojeda Ríos. A longer version of this article first appeared in Red Banner - a journal for left, progressive and socialist students at the University of North Carolina, Asheville.

Chicago, IL – University of Chicago students and workers have pulled together an alliance that promises to be a force on campus for years to come. The alliance between university workers and students has challenged the university's ability to treat its workers, “just any old way,” according to Daniel Davis, a University of Chicago Hospitals environmental services worker.

Las Vegas, NV – Teamster President James P. Hoffa got what he wanted – the largest union dues increase in Teamster history. The vote at the April 30 convention on finances was not even close.

Jessica Sundin, of the Colombia Action Network, led a small delegation of three North American activists to Bogatá in July 2000, to attend a conference responding to U.S. military aid. The delegation also traveled to the area in Southern Colombia controlled by the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (FARC-EP). Fight Back! interviewed Jessica about what she saw there.

Chicago, IL – For the members of Teamsters Local 743, being sold out by their union officials is a commonplace event. Rigged votes on contracts, rigged votes for union stewards, back room deals with the boss around grievances and contract issues is the normal state of affairs.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following obituary on the passing of Ali Qased, a lifelong fighter for the complete liberation of Palestine who resided here in the U.S.

Chicago, IL – “We are making history,” said Teamster activist Antonio Caldera, “we are going to change the Teamsters and we are going to change the entire labor movement.” Caldera is one of many Teamsters across North America who collected signatures in support of union presidential contender Tom Leedham.

Chicago, IL – Local 743 Teamsters are fed up. Their union officials refused to fight for a decent contract with the University of Chicago Hospitals (UCH). So Local 743 members at UCH finally decided to do something about their do-nothing leadership.

Minneapolis, MN - The Anti-War Committee organized an emergency protest here Oct. 4 in response to stepped-up Israeli repression in occupied Palestine.

Chicago IL – Teamsters working at the Frederick Cooper Lamp Company elected Tony Caldera to be their union steward by a vote of 62 to 30. This is a significant victory for the reform movement in Teamsters Local 743.

St. Paul, MN – A standing room only crowd filled Weyerhaeuser Chapel at Macalester College on February 12 and 13. The seventh annual Meeting the Challenge Conference attracted hundreds of labor activists and their supporters. Participants heard about key labor struggles, management attacks, and discussed the growing upsurge in the labor movement.

Chicago, IL – Following a crooked union election in Teamsters Local 743, management has gotten more aggressive in its attacks. Among those hit hardest have been employees at the University of Chicago Hospitals (UCH), Local 743's largest workplace with over 1300 Teamster members.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines, which urges an end to U.S. intervention in the Philippines.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement on the attempts to criminalize Professor Jose Maria Sison, a leading figure in the struggle to liberate the Philippines from foreign domination and to establish a just society.