Chicago, IL – On the snowy Thursday evening of November 21, the chambers of the Chicago Temple were heated up by the fighting spirits of over 1500 school staff, students and community members. The rally was organized by the Chicago Teachers Union to demand the settlement of its contract with Chicago Public Schools, which is made more urgent by Trump's intentions to dismantle the federal Department of Education.

“We need leadership of Chicago Public Schools who will protect us from Trump and his troops,” declared CTU President Stacy Davis Gates.

Four months after the expiration of the 2019 contract, CPS, under the leadership of CEO Pedro Martinez, has refused to budge on many of CTU’s contract proposals which would defend Chicago’s public schools from Trump's racist, bigoted and anti-education agenda.

“We need this contract before January 20 so we can protect our local communities from federal attacks,” said Corey Blake, a music teacher and co-chair of CTU’s LGBTQIA+ Committee.

Speakers also connected Trump's policies to the decades long neoliberal campaign to defund public schools all over the country, which has manifested in hundreds of school closures in Chicago since 2000.

“If Trump succeeds, many more schools will have to close,” said Angelica Jaurez, a parent at Fuentes Elementary School.

In October, Acero Charter Schools announced plans to close seven of its campuses, including Fuentes, by the end of the school year, a decision which would leave 2000 students and 200 teachers without a school.

The instability and lack of accountability of charter schools like Acero is the future envisioned by Trump and others who want to dismantle the public school system. In opposition are CTU and its contract demands, which Southside high school student organizer Catelyn Savado described as “a love letter to the people of Chicago.”

CTU brought 750 proposals to the bargaining table in April on issues ranging from raises that keep up with inflation, to restorative justice and improving school buildings. Neoliberal politicians and corporate media have criticized the contract proposals for demanding too much money from the city. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez sent a mass email on the day of the rally complaining about the increases to the school budget that the contract proposals would necessitate.

CTU responded by explaining how negotiations have advanced beyond Martinez's description, which they referred to as “a reckless PR stunt” in a statement released on Friday, and speakers at the Thursday rally argued that the contract proposals simply address the needs of Chicago's children.

6th Ward Alderman William Hall outlined the contradiction between the budgetary priorities of the Chicago neoliberal establishment and the needs of the people, stating, “We have $1.5 billion for prisons, yet we still can't find $1 billion to educate our children.”

Speakers also highlighted previous contract victories that CTU won through militant action, including air conditioning in schools, smaller class sizes, and sanctuary schools for immigrant families. While the CTU has an ally rather than an enemy in the mayor’s office for the first time in decades, they are still facing neoliberal politicians, CPS bureaucracy and millions of corporate dollars organized through right-wing groups like the Illinois Policy Institute and the Illinois Network of Charter Schools.

“Be encouraged when they send millions of dollars to beat you because they're scared of you,” Teachers Pension Fund Trustee Quentin Washington said about the $6 million spent by INCS and similar organizations on the November 5 school board elections. Despite being vastly outspent, candidates supported by the CTU-led Our Schools Coalition won four of ten elected positions as opposed to three won by charter school interests.

“Republicans, right wingers, and neoliberals do not get to win,” Savado said. “One thing we have that they don't have is people power!”

“From Gaza to Little Village to Altgeld and all over the country, the children are all ours, every single one of them, and it is our duty to fight for all of them,” said music teacher Kathryn Zamarrón, describing the need for solidarity between local, national and international struggles.

“The call to action is not just to tweet or cry and hug about it. The call to action is solidarity,” said Davis Gates, summing up the fighting unity between the many diverse communities represented by the rally’s speakers and crowd.

After the rally, the union members and supporters marched several blocks to Federal Plaza. Chants demanding a fair contract and calling for Pedro Martinez to “get out the way” echoed through the downtown streets.

CTU aims to settle this contract using tactics of militance and solidarity, and wants it done before Trump's inauguration on January 20, a day which will see protests in Washington DC, Chicago and around the U.S.

#ChicagoIL #ChicagoTeachersUnion #CTU #CPS #UnionPower #LaborRights #Trump #Feature

Cincinnati, OH – Workers at DHL’s largest air hub in the United States made history on Monday, August 12. DHL, bowing to months of escalating pressure after a two-year organizing campaign, officially recognized the union formed by over 1300 sort workers at the company’s Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) hub. Now unionized, the sort workers at CVG have joined Teamsters Local 89.

James Lamb, a sort worker at CVG and a new member of Local 89, said in a press statement, “DHL has recognized the strength in our unity and the hard work we put in every day. We‘ve fought hard, and we’re proud to be officially recognized as Teamsters. Our victory is a powerful testament to what we can achieve when we stand together.”

This landmark victory is the culmination of many years of struggle by DHL workers at CVG to form a union. Located in Erlanger, Kentucky, DHL’s global CVG air hub has been the site of contentious battles between labor and management for about two decades.

CVG is an enormous facility that sorts, loads and unloads packages onto airplanes for delivery around the world – including small parcels shipped to U.S. troops stationed abroad. It is comparable in its significance to the giant UPS WorldPortair hub located in Louisville, Kentucky. CVG employs over 2500 workers - most of whom are now represented by the Teamsters.

The CVG hub has two primary operations: the airport and the sort. Workers in the airport, referred to as ramp and tug, number over 1100, while workers in sort total over 1300. Together they constitute the vast majority of the workforce at DHL’s largest air hub in the United States.

The decades-long battle for a union at DHL CVG

DHL is a worldwide logistics monopoly corporation headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It delivers parcels in most countries around the world and ranks among the largest of all international logistics companies. DHL Express reported operating profits of $4.5 billion in 2022 and $4.3 billion in 2023. In Germany, as well as many other countries, all of its workers are represented by a union and collectively bargain.

In the U.S., however, DHL has fought to keep its workers from forming a union and collectively bargaining. Ever conscious of its image, the company presents itself as a generous employer to the public. In actuality, it has made their profits in the U.S. through sub-standard wages, high health insurance premiums and deductibles, and rampant safety violations. At the CVG air hub in particular, workers for decades faced irregular and changing hours, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, threats of intimidation, and more.

Representing 340,000 workers at UPS, the Teamsters have fought to expand their presence in the logistics industry in North America. Industry giants like FedEx, Amazon and DHL have used their power to break attempts by their own workers to form unions and join the Teamsters for decades.

The union made some progress and successfully organized many DHL facilities across the country. Prior to the victories at CVG in 2023 and 2024, some 6000 DHL Express employees in the U.S. were represented by the Teamsters. But previous attempts to organize the crucial CVG air hub ended in defeat, leaving the company’s largest facility non-union.

Organizing DHL in two stages

The most recent union campaign began almost three years ago,when DHL workers from both sort and ramp and tug began organizing with the Teamsters. A decision by the National Labor Relations Board, however, split the bargaining unit into two separate operations. This forced the campaign to adopt a two-stage approach to securing a union for CVG workers – organizing ramp and tug and then organizing sort.

DHL fought against its own workers tooth and nail from the first day it learned about the campaign. The logistics monopoly giant hired union-busting consultants to wage a dirty war against workers on ramp and tug. It resorted to shameful union-busting tactics like harassment, intimidation, surveillance, threats of job loss, unjust discipline and illegal firings to scare workers into submission.

But as the company bared its teeth more, workers fought back. Through the Teamsters, CVG workers filed unfair labor practice (ULP) charges and took collective workplace actions to protest their mistreatment. Ramp and tug workers held public actions, delivered demands from their rank-and-file organizing committee to management, and continued building support among their coworkers.

After reaching majority-support, the workers on ramp and tug marched on the boss and demanded union recognition from DHL. The company refused their demand and responded instead by calling for an NLRB-supervised election.

In the weeks leading up to the election, workers stood tall in the face of heightened repression and union-busting from DHL. When the election finally took place in spring 2023, ramp and tug voted overwhelmingly to form their union. They then joined Teamsters Local 100 based in Cincinnati, Ohio and began a new battle for a first contract.

Bargaining began in July 2023, but by December of the same year, DHL had stonewalled the Teamsters at the table. Worse, DHL continued waging war on the union through retaliation against workers for showing open support. At every turn, the newly formed union filed ULPs challenging the company’s illegal union-busting, gathering statements and collecting evidence to prove their cases.

The Teamsters, DHL and the strike weapon

In early December of 2023, ramp and tug Teamsters at CVG took a crucial strike authorization vote. Their will was clear: 98% of members voted to authorize a strike, empowering their negotiating committee to call a work stoppage if DHL failed to address illegal practices and agree to a decent contract.

This strike authorization vote took place in the context of a renewed, fighting orientation in the Teamsters union. Under the previous Hoffa Jr. administration, Teamster officials would sometimes call for a strike authorization vote during contract negotiations, but they would do so with a wink and a nod to employers, who seldom took the threat seriously.

But in 2021, the Teamsters elected Sean O’Brien as general president of the international union, along with a slate of new leaders who pledged to fight employers at work and at the bargaining table. Since that time, the Teamsters have made greater use of the strike weapon and presented employers with credible strike threats (i.e. preparing the rank-and-file members to actually shut down production). This culminated in victory during the 2023 contract negotiations with logistics giant UPS, in which a credible strike threat brought the employer to its knees and secured major contract gains.

With 98% support for striking, the ramp and tug Teamsters at CVG struck the air hub last December. After taking this courageous step, they quickly learned they were not alone in their struggle. They expanded their picket lines to 15 locations nationwide, including Boston, Indianapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, San Francisco,and Portland – all cities where DHL workers are already Teamsters. Their Teamster sisters and brothers honored their picket line, refusing to come into work and often joining members from CVG outside their own workplaces. This strike impacted 60% of DHL's domestic network, including both coasts and several Midwest cities, shutting down production during peak season for one of the world’s largest logistics companies.

The strike lasted for 12 days before DHL returned to the bargaining table with the Teamsters. Within a few weeks, the union and the company reached a tentative agreement, which included an immediate $2 per hour raise with a total of $5 per hour raises over the next three years. The agreement also included just cause protections, doubled company contributions towards retirement, established strong workplace safety standards and, crucially, required DHL to pay health insurance premiums for workers. The agreement was approved by DHL Teamsters on ramp and tug by an overwhelming 98% yes vote, resulting in a first contract.

Strikes open the union door to more workers

The heroic DHL strike secured not only a first contract for ramp and tug workers at CVG, but also another significant victory, in the form of a DHL agreement to basic rules for allowing the Teamsters to organize the more than 1300 workers on CVG sort. This deal included union neutrality and site access for Teamster organizers, who could now meet and talk with sort workers in designated common areas at work.

Inspired by the historic win on the ramp, sort workers formed their own organizing committee and began building support for a union among their coworkers. Over the next several months, they used the rights won by the ramp and tug strike to build towards majority support.

Although DHL agreed to remain neutral during this organizing campaign, the company continued illegal union-busting tactics. Through their supervisors and managers, they surveilled, intimidated, demoted, harassed and even terminated workers on sort for showing open support for the union. The Teamsters responded in kind, filing ULPs to defend workers’ rights and calling actions to protest these violations of the union neutrality agreement.

DHL’s union-busting also took another form in this stage of the campaign: attempting to neutralize support and enthusiasm for the union by paying lip-service to their workers’ long-felt demands for better treatment and higher wages. They raised wages on sort by the same $2 per hour that ramp and tug had won and vowed to make health care effectively free.

But sort workers saw through these empty gestures and two-faced promises. Workplace leaders and activists reinforced to coworkers that these gains didn’t come from DHL but from the struggle waged by the ramp and tug Teamsters. Furthermore, these wins were guaranteed for ramp and tug through a legally binding contract. Anything given by DHL to sort could just as easily be taken away in the absence of a contract.

Support for the union among sort workers steadily grew over the next year before reaching a majority of the workplace. Workers signed authorization cards declaring their support for forming a union to the NLRB, and most signed membership applications to become Teamsters.

Illegal DHL layoff seals its fate

In July 2024, DHL announced a sweeping change to their sort operation that negatively impacted thousands of workers. Management moved to eliminate first shift for one of sort’s two largest buildings, as well as a hybrid shift between first and third. This was a mass layoff, which may have violated provisions of the WARN Act that guard against unannounced factory and operation closures.

Giving workers 24 hours’ notice, they presented these workers – many who had worked for the company for several decades – with an ultimatum: They could go from full-time (five-day, 40-hour weeks) to part-time (two-day, 20-hour weeks), or they could sign resignation letters. This was a particularly ugly choice for parents, who would be forced to find alternate child-care arrangements and reorient their whole lives in a single day. Adding insult to injury, DHL provided those who chose to resign with the unemployment office numbers for Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Of course, management knew full well that any worker who did resign would make themself ineligible for unemployment assistance.

The news sparked outrage across the CVG sort. For those workers affected by the layoffs, support for the union skyrocketed among those who chose to stay and fight. Even on second and third shifts, many workers recognized the need for a union as protection from these kinds of cruel, arbitrary changes in working conditions. At other Teamster logistics companies like UPS, for instance, employers have to bargain with the union before making significant changes to their operations.

In the days that followed, CVG sort workers made a dramatic stand in defense of their sisters and brothers on first and hybrid shift. Having reached majority support in the workplace, the organizing committee called for a march on the boss. July 12 saw 100 workers from sort and their fellow Teamsters on ramp and tug come together outside the CVG facility in protest.

The same morning, a giant banner appeared, which was hung from the top of the Amazon parking garage right across the street. Apparently unrelated to the march, the text of the banner nevertheless captured the outrage felt by many sort workers at the news of the mass layoff ultimatum: “WTF DHL. We gave you years. You gave us 24 hours. Stop unfair firings. Teamsters yes!”

With a letter demanding union recognition in hand, the assembled workers marched together in formation to the office of DHL CVG’s Vice President and General Manager Darryl Wettlaufer. Together they notified DHL that a majority of sort workers at CVG had authorized the formation of a union and demanded that the company recognize the union through a process known as card-check. It also called for the company to cease and desist in the implementation of the announced layoffs and come to the bargaining table instead.

Card-check vs. NLRB elections

There are several ways that workers in the U.S. can form unions, but they hinge on union recognition by the employer. This largely gives employers the upper hand – something that is a feature of U.S. labor law in general.

According to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 30% of workers in a bargaining unit – usually a single workplace – or more can demand recognition and ask to collectively bargain over wages, conditions and more. For legal purposes, this type of support for a union is demonstrated through workers signing either a petition or individual cards that authorize a union to collectively represent them.

Employers rarely choose to recognize a union voluntarily. Under new rules established by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), employers who receive a demand for union recognition have 14 days to file for an NLRB-supervised election. This process usually takes several months, including a period of campaigning followed by a vote overseen by Labor Board officials. If a majority of workers vote yes to form a union, the employer is made to recognize the union.

Since the NLRA was made law, however, employers have taken advantage of the lax rules and low penalties for union-busting in the workplace. They use the period of time before an election to intimidate, threaten, harass and terminate workers who support the union. They sometimes face ULPs and other charges for this, but hearing these charges takes time and the penalties are minimal (i.e. small fines). Workers also have to vote at work in most cases, meaning their boss can see who votes and intimidate them with threats of retaliation. With few real consequences, employers use their dictatorship over the workplace to break their own workers before any vote takes place.

Under new leadership, however, the Teamsters have fought back against these rules that stack the deck in favor of employers. They have led strikes for union recognition in response to ULP charges, and they have also pressured employers into another method of recognition, namely card-check. If an employer agrees to a card-check, the union submits its authorization cards to a third-party arbitrator, who then checks them against a list of current employees. If supporters of the union indeed constitute a majority, the arbitrator reports their findings, and the employer recognizes the union.

The advantages of card-check over an NLRB-supervised election are clear for workers. It weakens the control that employers can exercise over workers trying to organize. Furthermore, it reflects the reality that unions are formed through protracted campaigns rather than single moments in time. When an organizing campaign starts, it’s usually a militant minority of the workers who want to form the union and fight the boss. Over the course of a struggle-oriented campaign, however, that militant minority wins over the majority to forming a union. This gradually growing support can find expression through accumulating authorization cards. In that way, card-check is actually more democratic for workers than the employer-advantaged NLRB election process.

Victory through fighting unionism

The Teamsters and DHL eventually reached an agreement on card-check for sort, though this was not out of the goodness of the employer’s heart. Pressure from the workers on sort and the looming threat of another strike convinced DHL management that they had more to lose by continuing to fight the growing union support.

Thus, on August 12, the Teamsters announced that DHL had recognized the union after having majority support certified through an arbitrator. Sort workers at CVG, like their sisters and brothers on ramp and tug, are now Teamsters. Together, the almost 2500 workers represented by the Teamsters at the CVG air hub join over 6000 DHL Express workers across the United States who are already Teamsters.

Important lessons abound for Teamsters and union workers everywhere. The courage of the ramp and tug workers was met with the solidarity of DHL Teamsters across the country, who honored the picket line of workers most of them would never personally meet. The victory on ramp and tug then opened the door for CVG sort workers to win their own historic union victory less than a year later.

The struggle continues

Having won their union, sort workers are not letting up the pressure on DHL as the focus turns towards collective bargaining.

“We’re ready to take the next step and secure the protection of a strong Teamsters contract,” said Lamb.

Furthermore, the union victory at the CVG air hub shows a way forward for the workers at Amazon’s KCVG air hub, which is right across the street. There, logistics workers doing jobs similar to those at DHL are still fighting for the right to organize. Amazon KCVG has an active organizing campaign underway, which has already included a ULP strike in July of this year. DHL agreeing to card-check stands in contrast to the continued aggressive union-busting tactics employed by fellow monopoly giant Amazon.

Despite Amazon’s relentless efforts to suppress unionization, the Teamsters are building momentum, and the victory at DHL is providing a morale boost for Amazon workers.

As the Teamsters continue to push for better conditions and representation for workers in the logistics industry, the triumph at DHL signifies a significant win for worker power in the United States. It demonstrates that through solidarity, strategic organizing, and use of the strike weapon, workers can successfully challenge even the most powerful corporations and secure the rights and dignity they deserve.

#CincinnatiOH #WorkerPower #LaborRights #Teamsters #TeamstersLocal89 #DHL #Logistics #DHLWorkersUnited #UnionPower #Feature

As other airlines recovered quickly from the shutdown, the problems at Delta extended for a week. Crew scheduling and operational support at Delta is extremely low-staffed. Delta employs as little as 53 crew schedulers, in comparison to United and Spirit Airlines, which have over 100 crew schedulers and American Airlines, with over 200. In times of crisis the incredible workload put on Delta workers becomes impossible to manage.

The airline, without any capacity to even locate their own flight attendants, asked crews to fill out surveys to figure out their locations. Many flight attendants have shared horror stories of Delta’s mishandlings of the situation.

Flight attendants stated that they were evicted from their hotels after Delta couldn’t be reached to extend their reservations. By the time the company told flight attendants book their own hotel rooms, hotel prices had skyrocketed to over $1500 per night in some cities. Many flight attendants, especially younger or newer workers, have spoken out about not having the funds to front the cost of a hotel room and being forced to sleep in airport lounges. Flight attendants have been forced to wait online for over 12 hours in attempts to reach scheduling or hotel support to no avail. Many flight attendants were stranded away from home for days.

In these times of crises, with the company totally unable to function, Delta management continued to insult workers at every opportunity.

Delta management, rather than doing whatever was necessary to get flight attendants home, handed out baggies of laundry detergent to workers in the Atlanta airport lounge. The CEO of Delta, Ed Bastian, has been under fire because midst all the chaos he and several members of the board of directors flew first class to Paris to attend the Olympics. Even as many people spoke out about the clear inequality between a CEO relaxing in first class and Delta flight attendants stranded without a place to sleep, Bastian has still refused to apologize or offer any aid to workers.

Unfortunately, this response to the meltdown from Delta is not a surprise. It’s only one example of the ways in which the company disrespects its workers every day. It is treatment like this that has motivated flight attendants to push to organize a union at Delta, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.

The Delta flight attendants have been up against union-busting tactics. In a statement in response to the meltdown, the Delta AFA steering committee said, “Even though operational metrics have improved, Delta Flight Attendants are still trying to recover and get home from the operational meltdown.

The statement also noted, ”While Ed was flying to Paris Tuesday night, crew were sleeping in airports across the country. Flight attendants expect an apology and accountability. We provided a roadmap to recovery and care for the affected crew members. Instead of taking ownership, Ed took a first class seat. It’s not acceptable.”

It is clear that flight attendants want and deserve more from Delta - they want real support when things go wrong, and they want bargaining power. Despite the company’s last ditch efforts, it seems like they will be unable to stop the power of their workers as they fight for representation and unionization.

#MinneapolisMN #Delta #Microsoft #LaborRights #UnionPower #WorkersRights #AFACWA

Minneapolis, MN - On Friday July 26, after 23 days on strike, Minneapolis Parks workers, who are represented by the Laborers International Union of North America Local 363 (LIUNA 363) reached a tentative agreement on terms for a new contract with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board. 

The strike began after seven months of negotiations failed to reach an agreement that the park workers felt was worth voting for. Now with a tentative agreement reached, the park workers returned to their jobs on Monday July 29.

The agreement still has to be voted up by the membership of LIUNA 363. This week the union is holding information sessions at parks for members to come learn about the terms of the tentative agreement. LIUNA 363 says they believe the deal will be voted into place by the members.

Under the tentative agreement, Park Workers would receive 10.25% in pay increases over a three-year contract, with an additional $1.75 in step (longevity) increases for most workers.

The bargaining of the new contract was bitter and rough. By the end of the strike the workers had held rallies, picket lines, taken over a Park Board meeting, and passed a vote of no confidence by 98% of their membership - showing their dissatisfaction with the Park Board’s management.

Part of what made the workers fight back so hard in bargaining this year were anti-union proposals that the board was attempting to move at the bargaining table. Management wanted to make step increases contingent on performance, as seen in the eyes of the workers’ supervisors, rather than having step increases protected in the contract as guaranteed raises. Additionally, management wanted to set a limit on the number of union stewards in an attempt to limit the unions power to enforce its contract and represent its members effectively. 

After staying out on strike for over three weeks, those anti-union proposals were pulled off the table and neither of them made it in to the tentative agreement.

The park workers are expected to vote on the contract sometime next week.

#MinneapolisMN #LaborRights #Labor #UnionPower #LIUNA363

Atlanta, GA – United Parcel Service (UPS) announced on March 26 that the company plans to close up to 200 UPS hubs and automate sorting at the remaining hubs within the next five years. The plan is part of a broader initiative by UPS called “Network of the Future” which looks to automate union jobs with a goal of saving the company $3 billion in labor costs by 2028. UPS made $6.7 billion in profit last year and UPS CEO Carol Tomé took home $23.4 million in total compensation.

The plan was announced at the UPS investor and analyst conference held at Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is investing $9 billion in network upgrades with 63 automation projects planned between now and 2028. This would bring the total number of automated sorting facilities in the UPS network up to 400.

The Network of the Future initiative is not just limited to automating the sorting of packages, UPS is planning on automating additional jobs as well. “Every single work area is being scrutinized for automation opportunities, not just our sortation hubs,” said Nando Cesarone, executive vice president of UPS. The company is planning on automating address correction and package redirection as well as automated dispatch for package cars and feeder runs. The company is also testing automating trailer loading and unloading.

“Network of the Future is targeting all activities for automation within our four walls,” Cesarone said. “These building consolidations and automations yield real savings. For example, we’ll have fewer feeder runs. We’ll be able to eliminate both a.m. and p.m. ground and air feeds in many, many locations.”

The goal of UPS’s investment in automation equipment, and their plan to automate Teamster jobs, is to squeeze as much profit as it can out of the hubs while reducing its costs paid in wages. UPS’s Network of the Future envisions a future with fewer Teamster jobs but more profit for shareholders.

#AtlantaGA #UPS #LaborRights #Teamsters #TeamsterUnion #UnionStrong

Chicago, IL – 1000 people marched in Chicago, May 1, from Union Park to the Haymarket Memorial, and then into downtown Chicago to Trump Towers. The front banners read “Stop the deportations!” “Stop the hate! Stop Trump!” “Yes to DAPA/DACA!” “Yes to legalization!” and “Yes to workers’ rights!”DAPA and DACA refer to President Obama’s executive orders for deferred action – Deferred Action for Parental Accountability, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

At the Haymarket Memorial earlier in the afternoon, the Illinois Labor History Society and the Chicago Federation of Labor gathered for their annual event to commemorate the martyrs of Haymarket. In 1886, the tradition of International Workers Day was born from a general strike by hundreds of thousands of workers in the U.S. The rich in Chicago called for the leaders of the strike to be rounded up and hung by the government.

This year, the commemoration honored the World Federation of Trade Unions. The Filipino union federation, Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) also sent a solidarity statement which was read at the memorial.

#ChicaoIL #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #ImmigrantsRights #MayDay #PeoplesStruggles #chicago #DACA #Illinois #DAPA #laborRights

“We’re standing up for working families and standing up to Verizon’s corporate greed,” said CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor. “If a hugely profitable corporation like Verizon can destroy the good family-supporting jobs of highly skilled workers, then no worker in America will be safe from this corporate race to the bottom.”

Verizon made $39 billion in profits over the last three years and $1.8 billion a month in profits over the first three months of 2016. The company wants to gut job security protections, contract out more work, offshore jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other locations and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families. Verizon is also refusing to negotiate any improvements in wages, benefits or working conditions for Verizon Wireless retail workers, who formed a union in 2014.

“More and more, Americans are outraged by what some of the nation’s wealthiest corporations have done to working people over the last 30 years, and Verizon is becoming the poster child for everything that people in this country are angry about,” said Edward Mooney, vice president of CWA District 2-13.

The Verizon negotiations began in June 2015, and the workers’ contract expired on August 1. At the same time, Verizon’s CEO is making 200 times more than the average Verizon employee, and the company’s top five executives made $233 million over the last five years.

“For months and months, we’ve made every effort to reach a fair agreement at the bargaining table,” said Myles Calvey, IBEW Local 2222 business manager and chairman, T-6 Verizon New England. “We have to take a stand now for our families and every American worker.”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #strike #Verizon #Strikes #laborRights

Madison, WI – Right to Work passed in the Wisconsin State Assembly along party lines, 62-35, after a 24-hour debate. The bill is on Governor Scott Walker's desk.

The AFL-CIO held another rally, March 5, on the capitol steps as thousands of workers returned to protest.

The State Assembly room turned to chaos as workers shouted down Republicans and were thrown out by police. Another group of people blocked off Governor Walker's office entrance for hours and held a teach-in.

Defeat Right to Work in Wisconsin, a network of workers across Wisconsin that wanted to see an all-out fight, finished off a week of protests by rallying in the capitol.

“Right to Work is Wall Street's attempt to further undermine our collective bargaining, to lower our wages, to weaken our unions and lower the living standards of working people, particularly women and people of color,” commented Teamster activist Daniel Ginsberg. “We will not put up with ‘Right to Work.’ This can only go on for so long.”

#MadisonWI #PeoplesStruggles #Wisconsin #rightToWork #laborRights

Later this year, the United Auto Workers (UAW) will feel the effects of the law as the contracts with big car-producing companies expire.

‘Right to work’ says workers are not required to belong to the union at a unionized work place, despite the votes and decisions of the majority. It creates a division amongst the workers and weakens their ability to act in concert for good contracts and to enforce safety work rules, fairness and equality.

In 2013, there were 3.9 million employed workers in Michigan, of whom 633,000 were union members. Now in 2014, there are 4 million employed workers of whom 585,000 are union members. The number of employed workers in Michigan increased by 139,000 overall, while the number of union members decreased by 48,000, hurting the unionization rate even more.

The statistics show that a higher percentage of workers covered by union contracts stopped paying their dues. These ‘free riders’ benefit from the union contract that their co-workers negotiate and pay for.

Michigan Republicans also stripped teachers of the ability to pay their union dues via direct deposit with their employer. Government workers know it as dues check-off and, despite its popularity, Republicans passed a law denying this basic right to teachers.

Across Lake Michigan, in the state of Wisconsin, Republicans are threatening a similar law and union members are beginning to mobilize to fight it. Jacob Flom is the creator of a Facebook page “Defeat Right To Work in Wisconsin” (https://www.facebook.com/defeatrighttowork?ref=br_tf )that says “We are rank-and -file union members and Wisconsin residents who want to keep our state union strong. Fight Governor Walker's union busting agenda with mass protest!”

Unions are based on workers joining together to act as one in relationship to their bosses and owners. Union contracts provide millions of workers around the world with higher wages, better health care, sick time off, vacations and a chance to defend themselves from arbitrary discipline and firing. Union members like nurses and health care workers can enforce health and safety rules for themselves and the public they serve.

Republicans plan to finish off unions, attacking and outlawing them state by state. The Democratic Party stands idle, feigning surprise. Judges rulings in U.S. courts are threatening to do away with public sector unions over the next five years as well.

Union members in the U.S. tend to live better lives than non-union workers and command more respect from their bosses. Bureau of Labor Statistics show median income for a union worker in 2014 was $970 per week, while non-union was $763.

#GrandRapidsMI #rightToWork #Michigan #laborRights #laborUnions