Seattle, WA – Seattle union members and community activists joined a National Day of Protest on March 23 led by the National Association of Letter Carriers, saying “Hell No!” to dismantling the postal service. 300 people attended the rally in front of a Seattle post office, one of several rallies in the region in solidarity with 200,000 letter carriers and 640,000 postal workers who are fighting against President Trump’s attempt to restructure or privatize the U.S. Postal Service.
Los Angeles, CA – On April 22, more than 100 Sheridan Street Elementary School students, teachers, parents and community supporters took to the streets to oppose a privatization threat through the co-location of their school.
Eulalia “Laly” Centeno was interviewed Oct. 23 at the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation office in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Centeno is a teacher at the Salvador Brau Elementary School in Cayey and active with the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation. She talks about the danger of the government using the crisis of Hurricane Maria to impose massive school closings and privatize public education in Puerto Rico – as they’ve tried to do for years but have not been able to because of resistance from teachers and the community. She warns that the government is using the model that was used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when public schools were closed en masse and changed to privatized charter schools. Interview and translation into English by Brad Sigal.Fight Back!: Can you tell us who you are and what’s happening with your school?Eulalia Centeno: I’m Eulalia Centeno Ramos, better known as Laly Centeno. I’m a teacher and affiliated with the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR). I’m an elementary school teacher at the school called Salvador Brau, which is a K-6 school. In this difficult moment that the country is living through, the school where I work is in the best possible condition because it has electricity, it has water, and it’s clean because the teachers and workers of the school did all the cleaning. We got everything ready. We organized the program to welcome back students and start the academic process. All areas are ready to start classes.
Joined by letter carriers, mail handlers, and UPS Teamsters
Jacksonville, FL – Dozens of union workers rallied outside of the Staples store on Beach Boulevard here to oppose the proposed privatization of key United States Postal Service (USPS) jobs.
Jacksonville, FL – Protesters from the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition stood outside of a local Staples retail store, Feb. 8, demanding that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) stop using non-union labor at Staples. In order to cut costs, the Postal Service recently opened up mail centers at participating Staples stores around the nation as part of a test program. Instead of employing union postal workers with good pay and benefits, these new centers are staffed by underpaid, non-union retail workers.
Detroit, MI – In a blow to Detroit unionized public workers and their pensions, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven W. Rhodes ruled on Dec. 4, that workers’ pensions are not protected. The judge overruled the Michigan constitution, which protects pensions as contracts between government and workers. Judge Rhodes said the Detroit bankruptcy could proceed anyway. This means that city of Detroit workers will not hold a special place in the bankruptcy proceedings versus municipal bond holders, insurers and others jockeying to collect in court.
Lansing, MI – Nearly 200 protesters rallied here July 25. They stood for three hours on the steps of the Michigan “Hall of Justice,” to demand an end to Governor Rick Snyder’s use of Emergency Financial Managers (EFM).
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution to save the public postal service by the Letter Carriers Union, Golden Gate Branch 214.
Chicago, IL — The wind chill was 2 degrees below zero when University of Illinois at Chicago (U.I.C.) workers started picketing on Dec. 6. After 45 minutes of marching in the blowing snow, they knew they had sent a strong message. “We're fighting for our jobs!” said Shirley McIntosh, shouting to be heard over the snowstorm.
San José, CA – Durante los últimos cuatro años, los pensionados han tenido que enfrentar ataques en dos frentes. Por un lado las compañias los despojan de sus planes de seguro médico y pensiones, y por otro, con la caida de la bolsa, el valor de sus pensiones (conocido como “plan 401 k”) se ha reducido significativamente, obligando a muchos a trabajar.
Chicago, IL – When Willie English heard management say that the bathrooms in his building were dirty, he was insulted. English, a foreman, said, “The number of Building Service Workers in my building is half what it was three years ago, but we take pride in keeping the building clean.”
Chicago, IL – Since the economy tanked nearly three years ago, workers at the University of Illinois have put up with doing more with less. Building Service Workers have been hit especially hard. There are 80 fewer of them today than there was in 2001.
Chicago, IL – 700 service workers at University Illinois Chicago (U.I.C.) are working without a contract. This is because management is refusing to end their decades-long practice of paying less to workers in Chicago than at the downstate campuses. Chicago workers are mostly Black and Latino; downstate workers are mostly white.
Chicago, IL – On April 3, nearly 400 workers and nurses rallied and attended a public hearing against the privatization schemes of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). They are opposed to a secret administration plan to merge the UIC hospital with the private hospital called Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center.
Chicago, IL – “El Salvador!” exclaimed Rodney Dye, a clerk from Medical Records at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center (UICMC). “They are facing privatization too?”
Chicago, IL – The struggle continues at the UIC Medical Center. In recent months, the Chicago Tribune broke the news of a planned merger of 3 hospitals: UIC, Cook County, and Rush-St. Luke's Presbyterian. This is another form of privatization, because Rush is a private hospital, with an enormous, for-profit HMO.
St. Paul, MN – A standing room only crowd filled Weyerhaeuser Chapel at Macalester College on February 12 and 13. The seventh annual Meeting the Challenge Conference attracted hundreds of labor activists and their supporters. Participants heard about key labor struggles, management attacks, and discussed the growing upsurge in the labor movement.
San Jose, CA – Over the past four years, retired workers have faced a double-barreled attack as companies do away with their retiree health plans and dump their pension plans. At the same time, the fall in the stock market has reduced the value of 401-k plans for older workers and retirees, forcing many to have to work longer. Now the Bush administration has declared that it will move forward with plans to begin to privatize Social Security, creating personal investment accounts with the money that used to go to Social Security benefits. This would be a windfall for Wall Street, which could collect up to $15 billion dollars a year from ‘managing’ and ‘advising’ these retirement accounts.
San Jose, CA – As Congress wrapped up its business for the holiday break, the Republican leadership sent a big lump of coal to millions of unemployed workers. By refusing to renew the federal extended unemployment benefits program, jobless workers whose six-month state unemployment benefits ran out after Dec. 21, 2003 will no longer be able to collect thirteen more weeks of unemployment benefits. This will affect about 90,000 workers each week.
