San Jose, CA – On Saturday, April 18, over 20 people gathered in front of the Microsoft office in Mountain View to protest the company’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Palestine, ICE’s deportation operations as well as their development of AI data centers causing ecological destruction.

Protestors held signs like, “San Jose: Divest from Alphabet and Microsoft” and “We will not be complicit.” Organizers hung up a large banner saying, “No U.S. tax $$ for Israeli occupation.” The crowd chanted, “Free Palestine” and “Microsoft you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide!”

Jack McCann, member of San Jose Against War, spoke to the crowd highlighting how Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian people also destroyed their ecology and water infrastructure.

McCann said, “Israel could not commit crimes on this massive scale without the digital infrastructure to collect and store data on who to kill next. Microsoft helps Israel by providing this technology that is essential to their crimes.”

Nassim Nouri of the Santa Clara County Green Party stated, “We have a government that is taken over by billionaires – by corporations like [Microsoft] – that put profit over people, planet and peace! They think nothing of taking lives and shedding blood of the people locally through ICE and abroad through Israel.”

Marcel Knightly of San Jose Against War said, “This is not just about data centers and contracts, it is about a system where corporations profit from war abroad and extraction at home, it’s about working-class communities being forced to sacrifice their water, electricity, health and dignity to executives can expand their empires.”

Philip Nguyen, member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, spoke on how the climate crisis is built into the capitalist system, saying, “Endless wars and the sharpening climate crisis are both the natural outcome of the capitalist system, which is driven by unrestrained profit with no regard for human life or the future of our planet, and working and oppressed people all over the world will be the ones to suffer the consequences.”

Nguyen continued, “And that means that all working and oppressed people must unite to take on our common enemy once and for all. We must build a militant, fighting movement against these evil corporations and corrupt politicians and their endless wars.”

To commemorate Palestinian Prisoners Day, Donna Wallach of San Jose Against War read quotes from an article describing the torture and sexual violence that Palestinian prisoners experience in Israeli prisons.

John Duroyan from Students for a Democratic Society at San Jose State University (SJSU) spoke to the crowd, saying, “The number one emitter in the world is the U.S. military, and we must never forget that the climate struggle is inseparable with the anti-war struggle. Now SJSU is working with known war-profiteer Alphabet to open an ‘AI Center for Social Good’ on campus which the students will be mobilizing against.”

The crowd continued to chant outside the office building and cars driving by honked in solidarity.

#SanJoseCA #CA #EarthDay #AntiWarMovement #Environment #Palestine #SJAW #Divestment #Microsoft

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