News and Views from the People's Struggle
Tallahassee, FL – On February 1, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) Local 3343 AFSCME workers will hold an informational picket line to protest the stalled contract negotiations between the AFSCME union and FAMU administrators.
Looming strike averted
Minneapolis MN – A looming strike was averted when AFSCME Local 2822 came to a mediated settlement with Hennepin County, January 27. The agreement comes one day after Local 34 also reached a tentative deal. Workers represented by these two locals will begin voting on the contract February 2, the first day workers were poised to walk out. The bargaining committees of both locals are unanimously recommending a yes vote on the new contract offer.
Denver, CO – On January 21, the United Food and Commercial Workers’ (UFCW) Local 7 reached a tentative agreement with Kroger subsidiary King Soopers after an all-night bargaining session. The picket lines that had been established ten days earlier went down and the strikers returned to work.
Pittsburgh, PA – Roughly 500 workers at four Kane Community Living Centers voted unanimously January 21 to join the United Steelworkers union (USW).
Minneapolis MN – Trails of frozen breath rose above hundreds of workers, January 19, as they chanted and picketed in subzero temperatures in front of county buildings throughout Hennepin County, the most populous county in Minnesota. The picketers are members of AFSCME Local 34 and AFSCME Local 2822 and work as library workers, social service workers and more. Earlier that morning the union members filed notice to go on strike February 2.
Denver, CO – On Monday, January 17, grocery workers represented by UFCW Local 7 entered day six of their Unfair Labor Practices strike against King Soopers. King Soopers is a subsidiary of Kroger.
Fight Back! interviews Carol McMillian, a bakery worker from Denver currently on strike against the unfair labor practices of King Soopers, a division of Kroger. Fight Back!: Why are you out here today on the picket line?
Chicago, IL – Members of the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates voted to end a four-day remote learning action and return to school. The union announced today that by a vote of 55.5% in favor that the union would accept an agreement with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s handpicked school board.
Denver, CO – On January 3, King Soopers workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 (UFCW) in Denver and Colorado Springs approved an Unfair Labor Practices strike by a 97% margin. On January 7, the union announced that workers would walk off the job and onto the picket line starting next Wednesday, January 12.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot locks teachers and students out of virtual classrooms
Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, January 4, more than 73% of teachers in Chicago who are represented by Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to not return to classrooms on Wednesday, and instead taught their classes remotely to keep the teachers, staff and students safe as the pandemic surges. As the Omicron variant intensifies, the current positivity rate for COVID-19 in Chicago is at 23% and climbing.
Denver, CO – On January 3, King Soopers workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Worker’s Local 7 (UFCW) in Denver and Colorado Springs approved an Unfair Labor Practices strike. Workers across 87 King Soopers locations approved the motion by a 97% margin.
St. Paul, MN – Chanting their demand for “raises and respect,” close to 200 members of AFSCME members braved the snow, December 28, for an informational picket to bring attention to the county's proposed plan to freeze wages and raise health insurance costs on workers during the ongoing global pandemic. AFSCME Locals 8, 151, 707, 1076 and 1935 took part in the picket, and were joined by other workers in solidarity.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).
Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, December 22, 150 workers at the Jefferson Street UPS barn in Chicago staged a protest before work.
Minneapolis, MN – On December 16, around 2500 hundred clerical, technical and healthcare workers at the University of Minnesota reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. The workers are members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Locals 3800, 3801, 3260 and 3937 and have been working with an expired contract since July 1. The agreement is for a one-year contract, which means even as this long round of negotiations and contract campaign actions wraps up, the locals are already gearing up to begin bargaining their next contract.
Battle Creek, MI – Kellogg’s workers are continuing the fight after a rejection of a proposed contract last week. At the Battle Creek headquarters, there is determination to hold the line despite the company’s plan to permanently replace 1400 workers.
Minneapolis, MN – On December 13, over 3500 Hennepin County clerical and social service workers who are members AFSCME Locals 34 and 2822 rejected the county’s “last best and final” contract offer and authorized a strike across both locals. The two locals represent the largest blocks of organized workers in the Hennepin County system.
Toni Gilpin is a prominent labor historian, author and activist. She wrote the book The Long Deep Grudge which covered the militant history of the Farm Equipment Union whose members later merged into the United Auto Workers, including some the locals that recently struck for five weeks at John Deere, where Gilpin provided support on the picket lines.