New Orleans, LA – On July 15, former Dollar General employees rallied at the site of their former store on Earhart Boulevard to protest the company’s decision to close the store and terminate all employees without notification, severance pay or the ability to transfer to the only remaining location in Orleans Parish.

“I tried the transfer. They blocked all of us out of the system,” former employee David Williams said at the event.

Members of the Liberate and Unite New Orleans chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (LUNO SDS) were also in attendance to express their solidarity with the fired workers.

LUNO SDS member and UPS worker Silas Gillett stated, “I just found out the other day that they’re shutting our warehouse down.” He continued to draw parallels between UPS and the Dollar General closure saying, “No transfers, no severance – they’re just laying people off; that’s all we get. if they can do this to one of us, they can do this to all of us. We’ve got to show up and show out for each other.”

Workers also spoke on the hypocrisy demonstrated by Dollar General’s rejection of their “core values” when it comes to how they treat their employees. Former employee Sunshine Best said, “Dollar General says in this mission statement is ‘serving others.’”

Best continued, “Communities deserve honesty. Workers deserve respect, and accountability requires fairness.”

Through store closures and the blatant disrespect that these workers have faced, Dollar General has firmly communicated what it thinks of our communities and of the people they need to operate. The workers, however, are not discouraged. They chanted, “Worker’s rights, day and night! This ain’t right, we’re gonna fight!”

#NewOrleansLA #LA #Labor

Chicago, IL – On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 15, over 200 National Nurses United (NNU) nurses from Illinois and across the country held a rally and picket outside of Illinois Senator Dick Durbin’s condo in Lakeview.

They demanded that Durbin reject and return all campaign contributions from Palantir Technologies, the AI tech company responsible for collecting civilians’ personal data on behalf of government agencies such as the US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Department of War, and the Israeli military. About 15% of Palantir’s revenue comes from healthcare, and its software is currently managing 21% of U.S. hospital beds.

Brenda Langford is a registered nurse at Cook County and is one of the vice presidents of NNU. Langford spoke about how Palantir’s Timpani and Inspire scheduling software affect the day-to-day lives of nurses.

“At face value, [Timpani and Inspire] do a terrible job of what they're supposed to do,” Langford stated. “They're inflexible and don't accommodate nurse’s needs. They mess up our schedules, they don't provide a good mix of skills and experience among nurses for any given shift and ultimately they, of course, tend to short staff. We have learned of ICU units where nurses were tripled with patients because of these apps. This is unsafe!”

Langford’s words were met with strong agreement from the crowd. “On the back end,” Langford continued, “nurses are worried for the safety and privacy of themselves and their patients. Through all these products, Palantir has access to a whole host of sensitive data. Nurses need to download Timpani and Inspire on their personal phones, accept the terms, and input their entire profile into these apps in order to be able to use them.”

The nurses who spoke expressed concern not only for themselves, but for their patients, particularly those with vulnerable immigration status.

“The Trump administration and ICE has contracted Palantir to compile data on immigrants for their deportation machines, and to make it easier for the federal agencies to surveil, detain, and even kill those of us who protest and resist,” said Cathy Kennedy, president of NNU and California Nurses Association. “Recently in Maine, they killed Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, and in Houston, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, like they killed VA RN Alex Pretti, and mother Renee Good.”

Maria Heavener, an elementary school teacher and member of the Chicago Teachers Union, spoke to her encounter with ICE during Operation Midway Blitz last October. “They came within feet of our school and started deploying tear gas at our community members while our students were outside at recess,” Heavener stated. “[Palantir is] profiting off of this despair that they're putting families into. And then they're taking that profit and turning around and buying our representatives!”

Elinor Keener of Anti-War Committee – Chicago explained that in addition to being used to criminalize and deport immigrants in the US, Palantir helps Israel conduct its genocide in Gaza by developing “kill lists.” With very little human oversight, its AI software surveils Palestinians in order to choose targets for assassination and arrest, and then plans a sequence of attacks designed to kill the target. Those attacks often kill civilians near the target as well. When mass murder is built into the software, it is not ‘collateral damage’ – it’s genocide,” said Keener.

Keener then went on to describe how the Illinois State Board of Investment, which includes State Treasurer Michael Frerichs, nearly tripled its investment in Palantir over the past year. However, the board also quietly divested $33 million from companies complicit in genocide, apartheid and ICE attacks, which they tried to obscure from their 2025 annual report. “They hid this because elected officials like Michael Frerichs and Dick Durbin don’t want to admit that when we organize, we shape the political landscape,” Keener stated.

Despite the 90-degree heat and strong afternoon sun, the crowd at the rally was energized and engaged. The organizers had planned to hand-deliver their petition to the door of Senator Durbin’s condominium, but building security refused to let them inside. Undeterred, the crowd took the street and rallied there instead. “So, Senator Durbin,” Cathy Kennedy said, “we nurses wanna know, whose side are you on? Are you with our nurses, our patients, our communities; or are you with Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, JD Vance, and Donald Trump? Which side are you on?”

Supporters of the call to remove Palantir from the healthcare system can sign the NNU’s petition and follow their Save Our Hospitals Tour.

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #NNU #Nurses #AntiWarMovement #Palantir

Crockett, CA – On Monday, July 13, members and allies of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6 turned out in force for a picket at the C&H Sugar Factory in Crockett. This is the fifth week of an all-hands strike in protest of bad-faith bargaining offered by C&H.

Chants of “Union power!” and “Contract now!” rang out across the factory gates as workers marched en masse to the entrance, undeterred by vans full of scabs and private security. In addition, picketers demanded justice for the “Negros Nineteen,” who were massacred on April 19 by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Among those killed were labor organizers Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem, from the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington state, respectively.

ILWU Local 6 is fighting aggressive cuts to sick leave, retiree healthcare and seniority benefits proposed by C&H, as well as refusing to unload a cargo ship of “blood sugar” brought from the Philippines. Throughout its history since its foundation in 1934, Local 6 has engaged in multiple rounds of militant struggle including five strikes, and 2026 is no exception.

Coordinated actions by workers and allies have repeatedly prevented the delivery of sugar at two separate ports in Richmond and Crockett. Picketers have operated on land and sea to actively deny factory access to scab workers and prevent the ship from docking, including a “floating picket” conducted when bosses tried to sneak the ship to another port using tugboats in the dead of night. In more than a month, just 25% of the sugar has been unloaded at a non-union port in Richmond, where it sits in open storage exposed to motor oil, animal feces and other contaminants.

“The labor movement is the last best chance for most Americans,” said Harvey Schwartz, labor historian and 57-year veteran reporter for the ILWU Dispatcher. “I'm optimistic about union leadership, and we have a lot of very strong young workers.” Chanting intensified as black vans drove past the picket line, bringing scabs hired by C&H bosses to desperately maintain production. Meanwhile, workers organized a screen with their backs and signs to prevent scab security from filming the faces of picketers.

Addressing the crowd, ILWU International Vice President Brandon Wolff said, “This is what it means to be part of a real union, a real family, and a real community. What's important to me is these 75 and 80-year-old people at home right now, wondering if they're gonna be able to get their diabetic medicine, wondering if they're gonna be able to get their flu shots, because this fucking company canceled their health benefits!”

“Brothers and sisters of Local 6, we got you!” Wolff continued. “From the top to the bottom to everywhere in between, from Alaska, to San Diego, to Hawaii and Australia, we've got a lot of international support coming in, we got you! So Local 6 and their counsel, go give 'em hell!” The crowd roared out in response and formed ranks to march on the bosses.

Over 200 people representing a multitude of different working-class organizations stood together in solidarity, including allied labor unions, political parties, and other groups. They included other ILWU Locals 142 (Hawaii) and 29 (San Diego), United Educators of San Francisco (UESF), Gabriela, Bayan, Kapit-Bisig Unyonista LA, Bay Area Tenant and Neighborhood Councils (TANC), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), International League of People's Struggles (ILPS), East Bay Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), and many more.

ILWU Local 6's strike continues into its fifth week, with workers committed to doing whatever it takes to secure a decent contract.

#CrockettCA #CA #Labor #ILWU #Strike #ThePhillippines #ILPS #Bayan #Gabriela #Featured

Indianapolis, IN – Drivers for uniform and workplace-supply company Vestis walked off the job at 2 a.m. Monday, July 13, launching an unfair labor practice strike organized by Teamsters Local 135.

The union says the strike is about accountability. Local 135 alleges Vestis threatened workers for engaging in protected concerted activity, a right guaranteed under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Vestis, based in Roswell, Georgia, provides uniform rental, workwear, floor mats, linens and related workplace supplies to businesses across North America. The company was spun off from Aramark in 2023, separating Aramark's uniform services division into its own publicly-traded company. Vestis drivers deliver and service uniforms and supplies for businesses like UPS.

In a statement posted to Facebook, Local 135 said the union remains “ready, willing, and available” to meet with the company to bargain in good faith and called for Vestis to respect workers' rights and negotiate fairly to end the dispute.

The union is asking Teamsters members, families and labor supporters in the Indianapolis area to join the picket line, which will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 2050 Oliver Avenue.

#IndianapolisIN #IN #Labor #Teamsters #Strike #Vestis #IBT135 #NLRA #Featured

Minneapolis, MN – On July 1, over 200 people rallied in support of the MN 15, a group of Minneapolis community members that were indicted on bogus conspiracy charges relating to ICE resistance in the Twin Cities. 14 of the 15 were due in court to enter not guilty pleas to federal charges.

Rally speakers noted that most of the people indicted were union members, and many union officials spoke of the need to stand up to defend our union siblings, reminding attendees of the longstanding union motto, “An injury to one is an injury to all!”

Speakers included representatives from GLU-UE 1105, Macalester AAUP, MN Nurses Association (MNA), SEIU Local 26, IBEW Local 292 and the MN AFL-CIO, as well as one MFE 59 member facing indictment in this case, and a Black Lives Matter-MN organizer, who was indicted for a January protest calling out David Easterwood, a Cities Church pastor and director of the local ICE field office.

The crowd chanted “We got your back!” while those indicted and family members went to their court appearance. Monique Cullars-Doty, BLM-MN founder and indicted Cities Church protester, told the crowd, “I encourage everyone to stand up for [the Minnesota 15]. Reach out and remind them that they are not alone, to remind them that we stand with them in this fight.”

After the rally, a long line formed out the door, across the large plaza and down the sidewalk, with supporters who wanted to attend today’s court hearing. Most were turned away, despite an overflow courtroom with capacity for 80. After court, defendants came out of the building with their fists in the air, greeted by cheering crowds of supporters.

Montana Hirsh from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee stated, “We stand in solidarity with the MN 15 because federal agents don’t get to come into our streets and kidnap our neighbors, brutalize our communities and separate families without a militant fight back from the people. Protesting ICE and defending our communities is the right thing to do. We will continue to fight in the streets until all the charges are dropped on anti -ICE protesters. From Minneapolis to LA, protesting is not a crime!”

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #ICE #PoliticalRepresssion #PeoplesStruggles #Labor #Featured

Chicago, IL – On June 26, members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-1 and their families held a solidarity rally and marched outside of British Petroleum's (BP) Chicago corporate office. The rally was attended by USW members from locals all over Indiana, Illinois and beyond, as well as by members of USW International executive board. In support were local officials, members of the Chicago Teachers Union, community members and union workers from all around Chicago. 

Eric Schultz, president of USW Local 7-1, said in his speech, “They starve our families out and they're just going to wait and wait and wait until we break. What they don't understand is every day our membership's getting stronger. Every day!” Schultz then led the crowd in chants of, “One day longer! One day stronger!”

Since March 19, over 800 members of USW 7-1 have been locked out of their jobs at the BP oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana. USW 7-1 has called the lockout illegal, saying that BP has shown that they are more interested in breaking the union than they are at bargaining in good faith. BP’s offers at the bargaining table would cut pay, remove seniority-based promotions, further limit bargaining rights, and cut over 100 jobs.

This conflict began after BP brought in Jordan Marks as plant manager. BP hired Marks after he oversaw the ten-and-a-half month lockout of USW Local 13-243 workers at a ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas. “These aren't negotiations. This is a ransom,” said Eric Schultz when speaking about the BP offer. 

The Whiting Indiana refinery is currently being operated by scabs brought in by BP from out of state. Since the lockout began, there has already been at least one incident where the refinery lost power, and a major flaring event occurred in April. Picketers outside the refinery were not notified of the flares by BP. Flaring is when a refinery burns off excess gases to prevent pressure buildups and is known to release toxic pollutants in the surrounding area while they do it. The picketers reported smelling sulfur and hydrogen.

“When they're scabbing it, they're putting the community and everybody in jeopardy that we could have a disaster or a catastrophe there. We can't stand for that. We cannot allow it. Our members know those jobs, and you know how to run that refinery better than anyone else. And we're going to make damn sure you get back there with your heads held high with your jobs!” said USW International Secretary-Treasurer Myles Sullivan in his speech at the rally. 

USW 7-1 is asking supporters to sign a petition to show that they stand united in solidarity with members of USW Local 7-1 and to demand BP end the lockout and negotiate a fair contract! The petition can be found at this link: usw.to/bp-end-lockout

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #USW #SteelWorkers #BP

Lydia Caldwell was named as a new temporary station manager on June 20 and, in Caldwell’s first seven days, 30 violations have been documented by the station's union stewards, most of them pertaining to dignity and respect issues.

Carriers recently held a morning meeting in the smoke break area where they talked about the issues and came to agreement that they needed to stand up against management’s harassment and stand up for each other.

The last straw came after carriers came inside and went about their office tasks including casing mail, sorting parcels, and otherwise preparing their routes for delivery service. Caldwell walked onto the workroom floor and demanded the attention of all carriers for a service talk. Service talks are a semi-regular review by management with carriers, regarding perceived deficiencies and various reminders. Before anyone had even a chance to stop what they were doing, Dave Durrett, a customer service operations manager (CSOM), loudly and rudely told carriers to be quiet and pay attention. It was at this point when city carrier Ryan Hamann spoke up and asked Durrett to show some respect to the workers at the North Milwaukee station.

Durrett reportedly demanded silence and obedience, but Hamann didn't back down. Station steward William Schroeder then stepped in to confront Durrett as well, calling for the CSOM to maintain a respectful demeanor while talking to the carriers. Durrett demanded both Schroeder and Hamann go to the office. Carriers around the shop began to clamor and scoff as management tried to reign things in.

In the office, Durrett proceeded to try to dress down both Schroeder and Hamann, but with little effect. National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 2 President Rob Kosier was present to offer support to the workers. After things got heated in the exchange, Durrett placed both of them on something called Emergency Placement, which, at the Post Office, is essentially an immediate and sometimes indefinite suspension. Both Schroeder and Hamann stated to management that this was unequal punishment and would be grieved. They exited the office to further rally their co-workers.

The announcement of the suspensions drew applause for their actions and boos and jeers toward management who were at their desk. A chant of “Who are we? NALC!” started up. Before either of the now-suspended carriers could clock out, they were both informed that they would actually not be put on Emergency Placement and instead would carry on work that day as usual.

As the day wore on, management decided to force Hamman and Schroeder to work overtime. The typical grievance payout for this violation involves 150 to 200% penalty pay on top of the regular overtime rate for the hours worked. Plus, the carriers who would have volunteered for the overtime but lost out on work opportunities get paid for the time at 200% as well.

This instance of carrier rebellion against management comes after roughly six weeks of relative calm at the station. In the spring there were issues reported with former station manager Ron Smith, and his tenure came to an official end as he left the station for a new position. The moment Lydia Caldwell stepped into the temporary station manager position, she renewed the same tactics employed by Smith to belittle and harass North Milwaukee carriers. This includes but isn’t limited to insisting that carriers meet an office time standard, which the carriers say forces them to work faster; warning carriers against stationary time on the clock; unannounced observations of carriers on their routes; reported derogatory comments about carriers while stationed at the manager’s desk; eliminating the “no lunch” list, whereby carriers choose whether or not to take the 30-minute unpaid lunch, and a reported general tone of disrespect when addressing carriers or their concerns.

While Caldwell’s time at the North Milwaukee station has a definite end point, what she has done in her short time there has already re-energized a workplace that had recently rallied against the efforts of management to instill standards the carriers see as unsafe and as creating an atmosphere of fear. The incoming station manager, Sam Jones, takes over in July.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Labor #NALC

The 39th Constitutional Convention was held at an important time in the labor movement. Recent times have seen attacks on public sector workers from the Trump administration, heavy investment in AI threatening jobs, and at the same time, auto workers in the South have struggled to win union recognition. All of these things directly impact the UAW and its members. At the convention, UAW members reflected on the past four years of developments.

At the 38th convention in 2022, members passed a resolution creating the “one member, one vote” system for the first time, creating a direct democratic election of leadership. The passage of that resolution is seen as having played a significant role in the election of UAW President Shawn Fain’s victory. The convention held this month saw members come out and organize for measures to protect their democratic gains and make advances toward a more bold and powerful international union.

Significant changes were made regarding strike pay. The Constitution Committee recommended a strike package that included an increase of minimum weekly strike pay from $400 to $550, an increase to the maximum strike fund withdrawals for organizing drives from 60 million to 100 million, and an increase to the Strike & Defense Fund thresholds. This allows the strike fund to grow to approximately $1 billion. The recommended package was debated on the convention floor and passed after delegates argued that the package would enable the union to prepare for a major upcoming battle they expect to see with the Big Three automakers when contracts expire in May 2028. The big three refers to General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Stellantis (formerly known as Fiat Chrysler).

Newly-organized UAW Local 42 members won their first contract at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee this year, and were honored with the UAW Social Justice Award. Their victory is a breakthrough in the UAW’s strategy to unionize auto production in the South.

“They [Local 42] sent a message across Tennessee, across Region 8 and across America: the South is not for sale,” declared Tim Smith, the director of UAW Region 8, “Workers cannot be bought, and when workers stand together, corporate greed can be defeated!”

Alongside the resolutions that passed to build a more powerful and militant UAW, there is still an ongoing struggle to maintain and strengthen democratic reforms that the membership won in 2022. An amendment was raised on the convention floor, proposing that any changes to the current policy of direct democratic election of the International executive board, known as the “one member, one vote” system, only be permitted by a referendum of the entire union membership. The “one member, one vote” system that was won in 2022 replaced a previous delegate system that had been used to elect the International executive board.

This amendment’s intention was to protect democratic gains and practically enshrine direct democracy in the membership. To the confusion and frustration of membership on the convention floor, UAW General Counsel Bill Karges recommended to Convention Chair Laura Dickerson that the amendment be struck down as unconstitutional, and, as such, the membership was denied the opportunity to vote on it. The same day, a separate amendment, also deemed unconstitutional by Karges, was allowed to be debated and voted on. In the past four years, Karges has reportedly opposed President Fain’s efforts to create a more aggressive legal counsel in bargaining. Continued behaviors, such as opposing the “one member, one vote” amendment this year, are in alignment with the positions taken by the old guard leadership that opposed the democratic reforms that were passed.

“We feel that the UAW counsel made an improper interpretation of the amendment for one member one vote. We feel that this interpretation is not consistent with other earlier decisions at the Constitutional Convention,” said Gary Chynowrth, vice chair of the UAW Member Action caucus and Local 160 member, “Member Action is going to do everything in our power to help members keep their right to vote, as that is the cornerstone right to prevent the fraud perpetrated by the Administration Caucus leaders.”

A resolution was also passed that around international solidarity. UAW members won an estimated $400,000 divestment of their union from bonds in the state of Israel, after an over 50-year campaign, which began when Arab American members led strikes across Detroit and Dearborn in 1973 to demand divestment.

In an interview posted by UAW4Democracy, UAW Local 2325 member Olga Karounus stated, “This is a moment that is going to resonate far beyond just this room. I know we just answered the call of the Palestinian trade workers, who have been calling for this for over 50 years.”

The UAW is set to convene again for the 40th Constitutional Convention in 2030. In the next four years, rank-and-file members who worked to win the recent reforms say they will continue to chart the path ahead for a more militant, powerful and democratic international union.

“We’ve got to build a global movement of workers everywhere,” said UAW President Shawn Fain, “not pitted against each other across borders, but united in a common cause for a society that works for the working class.”

#DetroitMI #MI #Labor #UAW #Featured

San Jose, CA – On a June 25, in front of the Dr. MLK Jr. Library, hundreds of union city workers gathered for a rally to continue their fight for a decent contract with the city of San Jose. The workers are organized with IFPTE Local 21 and AFSCME Local 101, also known as the Municipal Employee’s Federation (MEF).

Workers held blue picket signs reading, “San Jose first,” “Invest in people,” and “Invest in affordability.”

Alyssa Grondahl of MEF spoke about how the city has been deprioritizing its workers, saying, “While city leadership talks about deficits and the challenges of the city budget, us workers are facing astronomical gas prices, skyrocketing housing costs, rising utility bills, and increasing workloads due to vacancies, removal of vacant positions, and general understaffing. The city keeps moving ahead with large projects and asking us to do more with less.”

Grondahl continued, “We are not asking for luxury. We are asking for fair wages, safe working conditions, and a contract that recognizes the value of the people who open and close this library every day.”

Mary Morse of IFPTE Local 21 brought attention to the city’s unfair “best and final” offer for their contract and how the union still wants to negotiate. Morse stated, “We are still at the bargaining table eager to keep negotiating in good faith, but that best and final offer is take it or leave it. Do we accept that? Hell no!”

The executive director of the South Bay Labor Council, Jean Cohen, also gave words of encouragement to the rallying workers.

The union members began a picket walk as the speaker program finished, chanting, “We are the union, the mighty, mighty union” and “When workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

The union members present pledged to vote yes on a strike authorization vote.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Labor

Michigan City, IN – Slot attendants at Blue Chip Casino Hotel Spa marched on management Tuesday, June 23, to demand voluntary recognition of their union with Teamsters Local 135.

Joined by Teamsters from Locals 135, 364 and 142, approximately 15 slot attendants and supporters marched through the casino before presenting a union recognition letter to General Manager JC Rieger on the gaming floor. The letter was read aloud before being handed to Rieger, who accepted the demand letter but offered no response.

The letter warned Blue Chip management to refrain from union-busting, stating “that should you or any other Company Representative make any unilateral changes to the employees’ terms and conditions of employment or take any type of retaliatory action against employees” the local union would “enforce these employees’ rights to the fullest extent of the law.”

As the delegation concluded, workers filled the casino with chants of “Who are we? Teamsters!”

Later that day, Teamsters Local 135 filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board. A pre-election hearing has been scheduled for July 2.

The bargaining unit includes slot attendants and dual-rate slot attendants, a majority of whom have signed authorization cards for representation with the Teamsters. Workers say they are organizing in response to declining wages, chronic understaffing, unjust discipline, a punitive attendance policy, and a paid time off system that often leaves employees waiting without timely approval or denial of their requests.

Workers also point to the consolidation of the guest service representative position into the slot attendant classification without any corresponding increase in pay, leaving attendants responsible for additional duties while earning the same wages.

One of the central issues in the campaign is the decline in tip income for slot attendants. Although attendants receive an hourly wage, the most significant portion of their earnings comes from pooled tips, or tokes, left by players receiving hand-paid jackpots. Recent changes to the federal W-2G reporting threshold increased the amount that triggers a mandatory hand-pay from $1200 to $2000, and many casinos have adjusted their slot machines accordingly. Workers say fewer hand-pays means fewer opportunities to earn tips, resulting in a sharp decline in take-home pay even as their workload has increased.

Teamsters Local 135 is also seeking contractual protection for tipped casino employees elsewhere in Indiana, including guaranteed toke rates for slot attendants and table games dealers during ongoing contract negotiations at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

The recognition campaign at Blue Chip marks the latest casino organizing effort by Teamsters Local 135, as gaming workers across Indiana continue pushing for a greater voice on the job and contracts that address wages, staffing, and working conditions.

#MichiganCityIN #IN #Labor #Teamsters #Casino #IBT135 #Featured

The prompt was specifically to ask about a change from the current five-day, eight-hours-per-day work week to a four-day, ten-hours-per-day model. The texts did not specify who had sent out the mass communication – the United States Postal Service (USPS), the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), or perhaps some combination of the two? Some letter carriers said they were not sure if the communication was legitimate, fearing that it might be a scam message.

Then, at the beginning of June, the NALC held a special collective bargaining conference for Branch presidents in Washington, DC. The conference was meant to be a hush-hush affair, whereby sitting NALC President Brian Renfroe could discuss his approach to this round of negotiations coming off of one of the worst-bargained contracts in recent memory for city letter carriers, in 2025. It was during this year’s conference that Renfroe disclosed that the survey was his creation, and that the proposal had come directly from him.

Now, on the surface, such a change may seem harmless enough. One less day of work per week, while still accumulating the same number of hours, ultimately means more uninterrupted free time. Sounds excellent! But, when considering some of the further ramifications this change would entail, it becomes clear just how disastrous of a proposal this would be for most city carriers, and how it only further serves to highlight the disastrous management-oriented tenure of President Renfroe.

30,000 lost routes, unsustainable workloads and dangerous conditions

Let’s start with perhaps the most glaring issue: the loss of city letter carrier jobs (and, as a consequence, NALC members). Currently, city carrier routes are intended to be completable within a regular eight-hour workday. This means that each route that exists should be designed to incorporate an area of addresses and a volume of mail that approximately adds up to eight hours of work. For anyone who actually carries mail, they'll know this often isn't the case, especially after the most recent round of route adjustments nationally, but that is supposed to be the standard.

What the change from an eight-hour day to a ten-hour one would mean, then, is a total recalibration of all routes in every station across the country to bring them in line with the new standard. But mail and addresses can’t be pulled out of a hat; they instead would likely come from slashing existing routes and redistributing the work. This would mean a loss of assignments and, consequently, a loss of jobs and members. Some estimates from opponents of this concept predict that more than 30,000 routes across the country would be eliminated. As is the case across most jobs and industries, it would be the lowest seniority carriers whose jobs would be cut first, an ironic reality given that the pool of carriers surveyed about the change overwhelmingly fit into this category.

Further, those carriers who work at stations gutted by the national route adjustments in the last year know that management’s system is not based in reality. They often add much more work to the remaining routes than can actually be achieved in eight hours, with some already taking ten or more hours. Any rational person should be able to conclude, then, that a change to a ten-hour standard would mean many routes with actual workloads reaching or exceeding 12 hours.

USPS management repeatedly demonstrates a lack of care for the safety and wellbeing of its letter carriers, and this situation would be further exacerbated by a ten-hour workday.

Letter carriers are constantly harassed by management, both on the workroom floor and out on delivery, about make-believe office leave times and so-called “stationary events” (i.e. when the USPS-provided scanner with GPS tracking capabilities indicates a carrier has been immobile for an extended period of time). When working in extreme weather such as blistering heat or sub-zero temperatures, management’s pestering and threats lead to carriers putting themselves in danger. Several carriers have died recently as a result of heat-related issues, including Dallas-area carrier Jacob Taylor in June 2025. This occurs now, with routes and workdays as they exist. Adding more work and more hours on the street will increase the frequency of these occurrences.

Fewer carriers means further delays in service

The mainstream media loves to report on postal customer complaints regarding delayed mail or other associated issues with the Postal Service. What they almost never include in their coverage is the real reason why those delays and issues exist. The simple answer is mismanagement, which in turn has led to route eliminations, fewer carriers, longer routes, and, finally, undelivered and/or delayed mail.

As mentioned, the predicted elimination of tens of thousands of routes would, out of necessity, result in the laying off or termination of a roughly equivalent number of city carriers. Far from improving service, this move to a new workweek structure would undoubtedly create yet more issues which management would expand through their misleadership, creating yet more frustration from the customers. President Renfroe will do anything to save the Post Office, including selling out his members and the customers that they serve!

Loss of pay and reduction in benefits

Some other impacts of this change would be the ability to earn overtime pay and paid time off (PTO), two things which are currently highlights of working as a letter carrier. The contract for city letter carriers ensures that all work in a day over eight hours, but not exceeding ten ,is to be paid out at 1.5 times the standard rate, and all daily working hours exceeding ten paid out at double time. With the change to a ten-hour workday standard, this could change the overtime payouts, resulting in a circumstance where carriers are effectively taking home less pay for the same amount of work.

Earned PTO – whether annual leave or sick leave – would run out more quickly than it does at the moment with the longer workday. This in practice devalues the accrued leave.

Benefits such as overtime pay and leave accrual are vital to the city letter carrier craft. These changes, however, are clearly a benefit to USPS and a detriment to NALC members, an unfortunate hallmark of Renfroe’s tenure as union president.

Complications for carriers with families or medical restrictions

Many city letter carriers have families – spouses, children, other dependents – that rely on their fixed eight-hour workdays. Daycares often have restrictions on the number of hours children can spend at their facilities, or they charge fees after a certain number of hours in a day are passed. Single parents or households where both parents are working will be unduly impacted by this change. Similarly, there are many city carriers who have medical conditions that necessitate firm eight-hour work restrictions. The change in the workday standard raises questions about how these carriers would be affected.

Some speculation suggests that carriers who need to maintain the eight-hour workday, either due to family needs or medical restrictions, would be forced to utilize their PTO benefits to compensate for the hours they don’t work, or otherwise accumulate what's known as Leave Without Pay (LWOP) for the hours that they now can’t work. The problem with LWOP is two-fold: 1) the loss in pay, and 2) excessive LWOP accrual has ramifications for retirement. Neither of these potential resolutions for the scheduling problems created by the workday change serve any benefit to the city carrier. Instead, they are actively negative outcomes.

New leadership is the path forward

While the above list is an incomplete accounting of the many pitfalls of the proposed change to the workday and week of the city letter carrier, the examples laid out her demonstrate the severe step backward that it would represent. As mentioned already, this is nothing new for the NALC under President Renfroe and his leadership clique. City letter carriers are being devalued with every passing year that Renfroe maintains his hold on power, with paltry wage increases that fall way behind even keeping up with the cost of living, the continued maintenance of a two-tiered pay structure, a workforce which continues to be divided between career and non-career workers, and serious concessions at the bargaining table.

However, all is not lost for the rank-and-file city letter carrier. In August, the NALC is hosting its national convention in Los Angeles. At this convention, nominations for national offices will be made official ahead of the national elections this fall. In preparation for this election cycle, fighters and leaders came together two years ago to create a reform slate known as the Concerned Letter Carriers (CLC). This slate of leaders stands in total opposition to this Renfroe-led initiative to further degrade the city letter carrier.

The CLC slate is headed by the indomitable James Henry, a staunch advocate for the city letter carrier, with an arbitration record without equal, and Corey Walton, a bulldog of a man who has a proven record of a no-nonsense approach to dealing with management on the shop floor. The slate represents the best and only chance for a total overhaul of the NALC national leadership. The CLC calls for an end to the two-tiered pay structure, and major reforms in the functioning of the union at the national level to encourage democracy and transparency, re-instill a membership-first approach (particularly in contract negotiations), and re-establish the fighting spirit of the union through extensive trainings and commitment to fighting management’s abuses in the workplace.

This fall, city carriers have a choice between two futures: one where letter carriers continue to be devalued and defanged by a leadership that is, at best, disinterested and, at worst, in the pocket of management; and another where the rank and file reasserts control of their union and their workplace through a leadership that has their backs. The CLC is the path forward for the city carrier that seeks the latter.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Opinion #Commentary #Labor #USPS #NALC

Billings, MT – On June 19, more than a dozen United States Postal Service (USPS) workers and community members rallied outside the post office in downtown Billings to protest changes to mail-in voting.

The changes, coming from a Trump executive order entitled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” would force postal workers across the country to check that each mail-in ballot recipient is a U.S. citizen based on a list of citizens provided by the federal government.

Mindy Nielsen, a retired postal worker and member of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Local 132 organized Friday’s rally to raise awareness of this issue and encourage her fellow union members to fight back. Nielsen retired from her job at USPS in 2018 but has remained an active and vocal union member.

Regarding the executive order, Nielsen stated, “According to Trump, the right to vote is based on a list given by the Department of Homeland Security to the post office, to determine who gets a mail-in ballot. Elections are a state issue; it’s in the Constitution. I don’t think Trump has read the Constitution. He is wielding things to benefit his billionaire and trillionaire friends.”

USPS workers report facing retaliation for speaking out on these issues, up to and including firings. Because of these conditions, president of APWU Local 132, Chris Foos, stated, “Postal customers need to be more involved in what is happening with the postal service. Otherwise, mailing standards will continue to dwindle. Without public outcry, there is only so much the workers can do.”

In spite of intimidation, Nielsen said that she will continue to hold protests with APWU to fight back against Trump’s attacks on the U.S. Postal Service.

#BillingsMT #MT #Labor #USPS #APWU

Lisbon, Portugal – On Thursday, June 18, thousands of workers marched outside the Assembly of the Republic demanding that the right-wing government kill the anti-worker “labor package” they were poised to vote on. The next day, in a vote that shocked most pundits, the labor package was voted down by the legislators even though there is a right-wing majority in the assembly.

How did this happen? Over nearly a year, the governing right-wing parties tried to push the proposal through, presenting it as absolutely necessary and its passage as inevitable.

But Portugal’s militant union federation, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), had different ideas. They sprung into motion, and over 11 months they carried out several mass marches and two general strikes – one on December 11, 2025, and another earlier this month, on June 3.

While Prime Minister Montenegro publicly claimed that not many workers participated in the general strikes, he and the right-wing parties knew that the reality on the ground was different. The general strike brought transportation systems, education and health care in the country to a near halt, and many private corporations, large and small, had significant numbers of workers go on strike, stopping production in important industries and sectors of the Portuguese economy. The working class spoke in a loud and united voice, saying that the labor package has to fall.

Even up to the day before the vote, the governing right-wing coalition thought they had the votes to pass it. But their negotiations to assure the votes of Chega, the farthest right-wing party, continued until a half hour before the vote. Chega is a far-right populist party not dissimilar from Trump’s MAGA movement. Ultimately, Chega likely feared losing the working-class voters in their base to the left if they voted in favor of the bosses’ labor package. So, Chega voted with the left-wing and centrist parties, sending the package to defeat.

The constant militant mobilizations by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP) turned the labor package into a social question that drew sharp class lines. This made it impossible for the right-wing parties to simply craft labor policy behind closed doors at the behest of the rich. The working class took the stage and made this vote into a “which side are you on” question. The capitalists’ dream – of passing new labor laws that would increase profits for the rich by driving down workers’ living standards and peeling back union rights – turned into their nightmare of awakening the unity and militant action of the working class.

After the vote in the assembly, the leader of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), Tiago Oliveira, said, “It was 11 months of struggle that translated into 11 months of workers mobilizing constantly, building two huge general strikes, building a set of initiatives that translated today into the defeat of the labor package. So today I give a huge recognition to the determining role of the workers’ struggle that developed over these long 11 months. It was the workers who were essential in all of these developments. The workers were the key that determined the position of all the political parties that today voted against this labor package. In the name of the CGTP, a word of solidarity and gratitude to the workers, because they are the true creators of everything good in our lives. Today it’s proven that it’s the workers’ struggle that determines whatever outcome.”

#LisbonPortugal #International #Portugal #Labor #Featured

Lawrenceburg, IN – Workers at Batesville Products Inc. (BPI) have been on strike since May 11 after voting unanimously to withhold their labor and demand recognition of their union, Teamsters Local 135.

The strike began after a supermajority of workers signed authorization cards seeking Teamsters representation and demanded voluntary recognition from the company. BPI management refused to recognize the union, prompting the filing of a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Rather than allowing workers to move quickly toward an election, the company challenged which employees should be included in the proposed bargaining unit through the NLRB's pre-election hearing process. Workers and Teamster representatives contend the objections are a bogus attempt to delay the election and buy time for union-busting inside the facility.

The union's bargaining unit includes machinists, polishers and shipping and receiving employees working at the company's facility in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Management wants to include workers from another separate location in Aurora, in hopes of diluting the vote with unorganized workers who were not a part of the union campaign.

The strike comes as the NLRB faces significant staffing shortages and case backlogs nationwide. Delays in the union certification process give employers major advantages in their campaigns to break organizing drives before workers have the chance to vote.

BPI workers formed their union over unsafe and unfair workplace conditions, excessive overtime, low wages, high health insurance costs, and declining benefits. Employees say many workers have been required to work mandatory 60-hour weeks for extended periods.

Facing delays from the bureaucratic pre-election hearing process, Teamsters Local 135 held a strike authorization vote and the workers unanimously approved a recognition strike. Picketing began outside the facility on May 11 and has continued for more than a month.

“This is about workers standing together and demanding a voice in their workplace,” said Teamsters Local 135 President Dustin Roach on the day of the strike's commencement. “These workers built their majority themselves, they organized themselves, and now they are prepared to stand together on the picket line for as long as it takes to win the dignity, respect, and representation they deserve.”

The strike remains ongoing as workers continue to seek recognition of their union and the opportunity to negotiate a first collective bargaining agreement.

This is the second strike for recognition called by Teamsters Local 135 in the past year, with the first taking place at the Horseshoe Indianapolis casino in Shelbyville. The early U.S. labor movement made use of the strike for recognition in the period of time before the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935 and for years after. In the modern era, the tactic was virtually extinct as unions came to rely more heavily on the NLRB for union certification.

As the NLRB becomes more dysfunctional and openly operates on behalf of employers, militants in the labor movement are beginning to rediscover this tactic – and in Teamsters Local 135, they are making use of it to counter employers' unchecked union-busting campaigns.

#LawrenceburgIN #IN #Labor #Teamsters #BatesvilleProducts #Strike

Chicago, IL – On the morning of June 10, nurses organizing with Teamsters Local 743 rallied against Endeavor Health’s union busting campaign and demanded the reinstatement of two pro-union nurses recently terminated at Evanston Hospital.

The rally was attended by several dozen nurses who work at Endeavor Health, Teamsters from Local 743, JC 25, and Teamster locals around the Chicagoland area. In support were local officials, Jobs with Justice Chicago, and many community members, totaling well over 100 people.

Dave Bernt with Teamsters Joint Council 25 said in his opening remarks, “Over the last year nurses at Endeavor have been organizing with Teamsters Local 743 to win union representation so that they can have a voice in their working conditions and in patient care. It is these nurses’ right under federal law to do so and it is Endeavor Health’s obligation to respect those rights.”

Last month, during Nurses Week, two nurses were fired while handing out union literature and gift bags to their fellow nurses, an act which is their federally protected right as workers.

ICU nurse Stacey Oswald shared, “Last year during Nurses Week, many of my colleagues were told they’d receive pay cuts ranging anywhere from $9000 to $30,000 per year.” The pay cuts and understaffing pushed pro-union nurses to organize their coworkers with the help of Teamsters Local 743.

Since beginning their organizing efforts with the Teamsters, Endeavor has used union-busting tactics and campaigns with the goal of shutting down their organizing efforts. A month ago, again during Nurses Week, Endeavor used hospital public safety officers to spy on and harass nurses while they were exercising their legally protected rights to pass out union literature and talk with their coworkers about forming a union.

Two highly respected pro-union nurses were fired in an effort to chill the momentum of their organizing campaign. Multiple charges have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

Speaking to her fellow nurses at the rally. Endeavor nurse and organizing leader Tricia Poreda concluded her speech by calling those that have not signed their authorization cards to sign.

Poreda stated, “Endeavor has not been quiet about how they feel about us having a seat at the table and you shouldn't be quiet either!”

After this, the nurses marched to the Endeavor Health Corporate Center and delivered a letter addressed to the CEO of Endeavor Health, J.P. Gallagher, demanding that Endeavor Health must immediately reinstate the two terminated nurses, respect nurses’ right to organize a union and discuss union matters, and end all surveillance, intimidation and interference with nurses engaging in their right to organize.

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #Nurses #Teamsters

“Our 99.8% vote shows Horizon and Alaska management that we will do whatever it takes to get the contract we have earned,” said Lisa Davis Warren, president of the Horizon chapter of AFA-CWA representing 650 Horizon Air flight attendants. “We have dedicated our lives to Horizon and the communities that we serve. We are simply asking for the pay, benefits, and improvements we have earned. But Horizon management seems uninterested in resolving this dispute or showing the slightest concern for frontline workers who can’t afford rent or other basic life necessities.”

Horizon flight attendants filed for federal mediation in January 2025. They have common industry demands: living wage pay increases, increased pay for time at work including while boarding the plane, better benefits, and work rule improvements.

“Flight attendants at Horizon and other regional airlines across the industry fly the same routes and provide the same service as mainline flight attendants. It’s time they are recognized for their critical contributions to Alaska-Hawaiian,” said Sara Nelson, international president of AFA-CWA representing 55,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines. “There is no reason these negotiations should take a minute longer. Flight attendants deserve a living wage contract now.”

AFA has a trademarked strike strategy known as CHAOS™ or Create Havoc Around Our System™. With CHAOS, a strike could affect the entire system or a single flight. The union decides when, where and how to strike, without notice to management or passengers. The right to strike is triggered when the National Mediation Board declares that negotiations are deadlocked and releases both parties into a 30-day “cooling off” period leading to a strike deadline.

Horizon Air is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alaska Air Group operating daily flights to nearly 50 destinations.

#WashingtonDC #Labor #FlightAttendants #Strike

Fort Morgan, CO – On the morning of May 20, an hour and a half drive northeast of Denver, Cargill Meat Solutions locked out 1700 workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. This lockout comes after months of negotiations for a new contract, during which Cargill, the largest privately-owned company in the United States, repeatedly refused to give necessary wage increases and health benefits to its workers.

The collective bargaining agreement between Cargill and the Teamsters expired in late February, with Cargill initially offering raises totaling 70 cents over the next five years. Over the course of several weeks of negotiations, representatives of Teamsters Local 455 were able to raise the employer’s offer to include pay increases of $2.15, along with a $1250 ratification bonus. On April 23, Cargill stopped production and demanded a vote on their most recent proposal.

“We continued to negotiate throughout the day,” said Servando Payan, a Teamsters Business Agent who took part in the negotiations, “They asked for a vote but it wasn’t a last best, and final offer.”

In union negotiations sometimes a boss will name an offer as their “last best and final” meaning that they will not move further and signaling that workers should vote on that deal, either to accept it, or to refuse it, which often signals a strike coming soon.

Cargill halted production, paying their workers to stay home until May 19, when they removed the $1250 ratification bonus from their latest proposal and refused to raise wages. Throughout this, the Cargill workers maintained their demand for $1 per year in raises, for a total of $5 over a five-year contract, or, preferably, $3 over a three-year contract.

A vote was held and of the over 1500 workers that cast a ballot, over 85% voted down the company’s newest proposal. The company then initiated a lockout the following day. As a response, workers started a picket line in. On June 1, workers continued to picket outside the Cargill meatpacking plant, calling for better wages and working conditions even after weeks of being locked out.

Concrete barricades were set up by Cargill and next to them workers shouted “¡Sí, se puede!” as neighbors and community members drove by honking in support. Local food vendors prepared food for the workers while volunteers passed out water. Rank-and-file Teamsters from UPS in Commerce City, several of whom were members of the Denver District of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), visited Fort Morgan to stand in solidarity with the workers.

On the picket line, Imam Kasim, a religious leader among the largely Muslim workforce, spoke about the daily religious discrimination workers face. He spoke about how Cargill regularly denies workers the ability to take prayer breaks. He also spoke of harassment from supervisors and cases of workers being prevented from leaving the disassembly line to use the bathroom. “They made him wait 30 minutes,” said Kasim while describing one such example. “The other guy wasn’t allowed to use [the] bathroom and pissed himself.”

On June 12, several members of FRSO again traveled to Fort Morgan to stand in solidarity with the locked-out Cargill workers. Many workers had gathered in a nearby park. FRSO members passed out cold water and fruit while talking to workers and Teamsters representatives. In expressing gratitude for the food and water, workers spoke the language they were comfortable in, whether Spanish, French, Somali or Haitian Creole. One Cargill maintenance worker spoke about how he was unhappy with how long the lockout had lasted but said he was glad that the union is taking care of everyone.

Union representatives spoke about the past few months of negotiations with Cargill, as well as what they described as collusion between the “Big Four” beef processing companies, which are Cargill, JBS, Tyson Foods, and National Beef, which together control around 85% of all cattle processing in the United States.

Teamsters officials said Cargill’s initial contract proposal offered raises and bonuses very similar to those rejected earlier this year by 3800 JBS workers in Greeley. Those workers went on a three-week strike in March to demand a better deal. Teamster officials said similar contract proposals are being offered at meatpacking plants across the country.

“These other deals are based on different costs of living, from Nebraska to Alaska,” said Teamsters Business Agent Servando Payan, “Those wages don’t make sense here.”

The Teamsters Food Processing Division is also looking into possible antitrust issues tied to the company’s conduct. Cargill and Tyson Foods were recently forced to pay a combined $87.5 million in antitrust settlements after claims that they conspired to keep beef prices high led to a class-action lawsuit. The Department of Justice has also announced the start of an antitrust investigation into major beef producers, including Cargill and JBS.

Payan spoke about the immense solidarity the Cargill workers have shown in their fight against the multi-billion dollar meatpacking company stating, “We have 27 different languages out here,” said Payan. “With so much diversity in race and culture, they came together collectively to vote down this contract.”

At the end of the day, Salem Chadwick, one of the FRSO members that came to stand in solidarity, said, “These workers have a tough battle ahead of them, but their fight is necessary. Together they can overcome any obstacle.”

A few days earlier, on June 10, Teamsters Local 455 filed unfair labor practice charges against the company, saying Cargill unlawfully cut off workers’ access to pay and benefits.

#FortMorganCO #CO #Labor #Teamsters #Featured

On the evening of January 31, 1938, hundreds of workers crowded into a San Antonio, Texas factory meeting room. Management had just announced a wage cut of up to 30%, a devastating blow to workers who were already among the lowest-paid in the United States. The atmosphere was tense and uncertain. Then a young Chicana organizer, Manuela Solis Sagar, climbed onto a table and cut through the hesitation: “Well, what are we going to do? Are you going to sit there, or are we going to strike?”

The answer came back in a roar, “Vamos a la huelga!” Within hours the decision was made. By the next morning, thousands of pecan shellers across San Antonio had walked off the job. The barrios of the city's West Side erupted into mass demonstrations as workers took to the streets in a militant display of workers’ power. What followed was nearly two months of struggle against the bosses, against the police, and against the city's corrupt political machine that would shake San Antonio to its foundations.

A city built on exploitation

To understand the eruption of 1938, it is necessary to understand what life was like on San Antonio's West Side. Between 1910 and 1930, the Mexican population in Texas more than tripled, driven north by the upheavals of the Mexican Revolution and the displacement of peasants and small landholders by large-scale commercial agriculture on both sides of the border. These workers arrived in San Antonio systematically excluded from most trades and industries, funneled into the most grueling and lowest-paid work available, including pecan shelling.

By the late 1930s, the West Side resembled one of the most impoverished urban districts in the country. Families of eight or ten were crowded into two-room shacks without running water or electricity, renting for as little as one dollar a week. The pecan shelling plants themselves were overcrowded and unventilated; state health inspectors described filthy floors, broken containers, and no soap or towels. Workers were paid by the pound, just five or six cents per pound shelled, with a WPA survey finding average weekly wages of $2.73.

Julius Seligsman, the “Pecan King” whose operations supplied half the country's pecans and who reportedly paid himself a salary of $1000 a week, testified before a federal hearing that “The Mexican pecan shellers eat a good many pecans, and five cents a day is enough to support them in addition to what they eat while they work.” Respiratory illnesses, particularly tuberculosis spread by the ever-present pecan dust was rampant. Many workers brought shelling home with them in the evenings, enlisting their children to try to earn a few extra cents.

La Pasionaria: Emma Tenayuca and the Workers Alliance

“I was arrested a number of times; I never thought in terms of fear, I thought in terms of justice.” – Emma Tenayuca

The 1938 strike was the culmination of years of labor struggle and militant organizing amongst San Antonio's working class. At the center of that organizing was a young Chicana communist organizer named Emma Tenayuca.

Tenayuca had first emerged as an organizer in 1934, while still in high school, participating in strike support activities at the Fink Cigar Company, one of the low-wage, labor-intensive industries that relied heavily on young Chicana women. She was arrested at 16, the first of many times. She soon became an organizer with the Communist Party-led Unemployed Council, and helped to lead a series of struggles, supporting striking garment workers, demanding public relief for unemployed families, and defending immigrant workers threatened with deportation and repatriation. She built a reputation as an uncompromising advocate for the West Side's working class, earning her the moniker of “La Pasionaria.”

The organizational vehicle for this work was the Workers Alliance. The Workers Alliance was a national mass organization of the Communist Party. In San Antonio, the CPUSA and the Workers Alliance organized for WPA jobs and federal relief, and crucially, fought the systemic discrimination that locked Mexican Americans out of national relief programs.

As early as 1930, the local Communist Party and the Unemployed Council had organized a march of the unemployed drawing over 1000 participants, the majority of whom were of Mexican origin. Under Tenayuca's leadership, the San Antonio chapter became one of the most active in the country, staging sit-ins at City Hall, organizing mass demonstrations, confronting immigration repression, and building a network of chapters rooted in the barrios of the West Side. Through this work, the Workers Alliance elevated Tenayuca to its national executive committee, placing the young Chicana communist in the leadership of a national mass organization

In addition to her labor work, Tenayuca also made significant theoretical contributions in applying the National Question to Chicanos in the Southwest. In her 1939 article titled “The Mexican Question in the Southwest” she advanced the idea that Mexicans in the United States represented an oppressed nationality, stating that “the status of the Mexican people as an oppressed national group may be compared in a number of respects with that of the Negro today.” While she stopped short of calling for self-determination of the Chicano Nation, her analysis of Chicanos as an oppressed nationality earned her a place as one of the earliest revolutionary theoreticians of the Chicano National question.

The strike: Class war in the open

The walkout on January 31 was spontaneous. The local union leadership vacillated and opposed launching such a large-scale strike. But the workers moved anyway, and they moved toward their most trusted militant leaders. Tenayuca, alongside fellow communist organizers like Manuela Solis Sagar, helped transform the spontaneous walkout into coordinated action. Over 10,000 workers ultimately joined the strike, affiliated with Pecan Workers Local 172 of the CIO affiliated UCAPAWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America). What had begun as a response to a wage cut became a social rebellion of the Chicano working class.

The city’s ruling class responded with force. Within a day of the walkout, police arrested several strike leaders, including Tenayuca and her husband Homer Brooks, both known Communist Party members. San Antonio Police Chief Owen Kilday openly justified the crackdown, declaring to the press that he “would not permit the reds to take part in the strike.” San Antonio elites maintained that the strike was an attempt to place the entire west side of San Antonio “under the red banner.”

The workers' response was equally forceful. Hundreds marched on the police station demanding Tenayuca's release. When she emerged from jail the next day, the workers elected San Antonio's most prominent communist organizer honorary strike captain by acclamation.

What followed was weeks of intensifying repression. Chief Kilday deployed over 250 police officers and firemen into the West Side, using tear gas, beatings, and mass arrest against picketers. Workers were charged with blocking sidewalks, loitering and disturbing the peace. The city jail, which critics took to calling the “black hole” of Texas, held over 1000 strikers over the course of the strike, some as young as 14. Inside the cells, workers were hosed down with cold water to break their spirits.

Organizers adapted. When picket lines were broken up for loitering, they devised rolling pickets, coordinated groups moving from plant to plant. When police targeted public property, they picketed from private lots adjacent to the factories, with the permission of homeowners.

All the forces of reaction in San Antonio united in an effort to crush the threat of the strike. The city's corrupt health department shut down CIO soup kitchens on spurious sanitary grounds. The archdiocese issued a statement defending the police beatings and condemning the strike leadership as communist. The Mexican Chamber of Commerce and the local LULAC chapter—representatives of the Mexican American aspiring petty bourgeoisie also joined in the smear campaign against the workers' movement.

Under pressure from the national CIO leadership, Tenayuca stepped back from the public face of the strike; the constant red-baiting had become a strategic liability. But in reality, she continued to run the operation: writing circulars and coordinating picket lines.

Victory, reversal, and legacy

Hearings sought by UCAPAWA president Donald Henderson before the Texas Industrial Commission gave workers a platform to testify publicly to the abuse they had endured. 14-year-old Dora Enriquez testified that she had been arrested and threatened if she returned to the picket line. 45-year-old Refugia Garcia testified that Chief Kilday had personally threatened to “split my head wide open.” The commission ultimately found that the civil rights of the striking workers had been fundamentally violated, though with no enforcement mechanism, Kilday and the bosses continued their campaign of terror.

Texas Governor James Allred eventually pushed both sides toward arbitration. On March 8, after nearly six weeks on strike, the pecan shellers returned to work pending a formal settlement. The arbitration board awarded formal union recognition and a wage increase to five-and-a-half cents per pound for pieces and six cents for halves. It was a real, if partial, victory: workers had forced the state and the bosses to respond to their demands and won.

The victory would be short-lived. The pecan operators mechanized their operations. Julius Seligsman shuttered his plants and reopened with a fraction of the workforce. Many of the workers who had fought so hard found themselves unemployed once more.

But the strike still left an enduring legacy in San Antonio and beyond. For nearly two months, over 10,000 of the most exploited workers in the country, overwhelmingly Chicana women, earning less than three dollars a week, had organized, resisted and fought back. They demonstrated that even under conditions of national oppression, violent repression and economic exploitation, the working class could fight their employers and win. That capacity had not developed spontaneously, but had been carefully built, year by year, through the patient organizing of the Workers Alliance and the militant minority of communists and labor leaders like Emma Tenayuca who led the workers in the struggle.

Today, the San Antonio pecan shellers’ strike remains a powerful reminder that the working class has never won anything without militant struggle. Faced with starvation wages, racist repression, police violence, and red-baiting, thousands of Chicano workers still organized and fought back. Their struggle shows us that militant organization, class solidarity, and communist leadership can transform workers economic grievances into collective power. At a time when workers across the country continue to face exploitation, union busting, and attacks on immigrants, the legacy of Emma Tenayuca and the pecan shellers remains not just a piece of history, but an example to follow.

#EmmaTenayuca #Labor #LaborHistory #SanAntonioTX #TX #N

Des Moines, IA – On the morning of June 8, about 100 nurses, members of the Teamsters union, and community supporters gathered at the Iowa State Capitol in downtown Des Moines to rally and march to UnityPoint Health Iowa Methodist Medical Center, a large hospital in the area. At the rally and march, the crowd chanted “Hey, hey, ho ho, union-busting has got to go!” and “Nurses, nurses won’t back down, patient safety all around!” along with other lively chants.

United Nurses of Iowa organized the rally and march to protest union-busting tactics being used by Unity Point Health management to avoid recognizing their union. It has been 180 days since nurses at UnityPoint Health voted to join Teamsters Local 90. In that time, the company has refused to recognize the union and has instead filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) challenging the outcome of the election. The NLRB has seen underfunding and a large backlog of cases under Donald Trump. In many cases, this means that wait times for cases to be heard or ruled on can take months or even years to see rulings.

Along with members of United Nurses of Iowa in the crowd were Teamsters members from Locals 90, 120, 135, 238, 320, 554 and 705. Additionally, the event drew Democratic Party politicians Josh Turek and Nate Boulton, as well as community organizations such as Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and the League of United Latin American Citizens.

At the hospital, large inflatable figures of Scabby the Rat and Corporate Fat Cat were set up. Near these inflatables, the marchers gathered to hear speeches from some of the nurses who organized the union drive.

Teamsters Local 90 Secretary-Treasurer Alano de la Rosa opened the rally with brief remarks, saying, “We’re here because healthcare workers deserve respect. We’re here because patients deserve safe staffing and good care,” before turning the microphone over to Sammi Ladd and Belinda Huerta, two of the nurses who organized to form their union. Both nurses spoke about why they are fighting for a union and reiterated the demand for UnityPoint to recognize the results of the election.

Huerta said, “Our employer launched the most expensive union-busting campaign orchestrated by a hospital system. They spent millions on ‘consultants.’ Yet we’re told there’s no budget for staffing.” She concluded her remarks by saying, “To UnityPoint, we say this: if nurses truly matter, prove it. Work with us.”

#DesMoinesIA #IA #Labor #Nurses #UnitedNursesOfIowa #Featured

Two trade unionist leaders from Colombia recently shared updates at a videoconference of international trade unionists on the situation in Colombia and the stakes of the presidential elections. Marlon Puentes, a member of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), talked about how Colombia has been dominated by decades of a radical right-wing government. It is only with the 2022 election of Gustavo Petro that “working-class Colombians have had access to government but not power.”

Puentes recognized that while limited “because the Congress has blocked us,” there have been four years of reforms and key advancements in the Petro administration. He added, “We advance from Petro, but we find ourselves in the same situation as many years before: an ultraright and right wing, aligned with the ultraright of Latin America, aligned with the interests of the U.S. empire. We want to deepen the reforms we got through with Petro.”

During the following week’s videoconference on June 5, the group heard from Cindy Jimenez, a leader in the transport workers union in Colombia.

“We want to continue the wins we had under Petro, to reorganize political power to serve the people, and be a part of the movement across Latin America trying to push back capitalism and rising fascism,” Jimenez stated.

Jimenez added, “In this second round of presidential elections, the people have two choices: the continuation of Uribismo, Espriella’s career was to support the narcotraffickers and paramilitaries. He wants to eliminate the JEP, implement fracking, support Israel, and bring in North American influence.”

She added that amid all the disinformation and fear-mongering being put on the people, “we continue in hope, struggle, resistance and collective mobilization against the advance of fascism in our country.”

The JEP is a tribunal of special jurisdiction created out of the 2016 Peace Accords. It has been an important body to investigate cases of political violence from the 1980s into the 2000s. Its purpose is reconciliation and justice. Notably, the JEP has dropped the charge of rebellion against Colombian revolutionary and former FARC leader, Simón Trinidad. The JEP has also requested that Trinidad appear before the court in order to share his perspective and experiences from the political violence of the 1980s, when around 5000 members of the electoral coalition Patriotic Union were murdered by the far right. Presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda has firmly upheld the demand that Simón Trinidad be released from U.S. prison and repatriated to Colombia to help the peace process.

#International #Colombia #Labor #SimonTrinidad