St. Paul, MN – More than 3500 trade unionists and their supporters marched here, April 4, to stand up for workers’ rights on the anniversary the Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder. A sea of signs and banners filled John Ireland Boulevard as workers marched to the state capitol building.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following letter, written by Labor for Palestine to the President of the AFL-CIO, urging support for the campaign to boycott Israel.

Pedro Eusse es el Secretario General del SIndicato de la Industria de Bebida y Alimentos, y el Secretario General de la Confederación Unitaria de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CUTV). La Confederación Unitaria de Trabajadores de Venezuela es actualmente la más importante confederación sindical en el área comercial y juega un papel importante en la defensa del gobierno patriótico y democrático de Hugo Chávez.

Laura Gordon is President of the Western North Carolina Central Labor Council and delegate to the 50th AFL-CIO Convention.

Chicago , IL – A dramatic split rocked the U.S. trade union federation, the AFL-CIO, convening its 25th Convention, July 25-28. Four major unions stayed away: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE.

End of the Sweeney Era

Ten years ago, John Sweeney was elected president of the AFL-CIO. Supporters of his New Voices slate rallied to oust the stale leadership of his predecessor, Lane Kirkland. Under Kirkland, workers had seen 20 years of declining wages, benefits and working conditions. For 20 years, attacks by the capitalists had come down, and the defenses put up by the unions failed to turn them back. In fact, most unions hadn’t fought at all.

At the top levels of the labor bureaucracy in Washington D.C., a debate is raging about the future of the labor movement. Underlying the debate is the failure of the top labor officials to stop the decline of organized labor. When John Sweeney was elected president of the AFL-CIO in 1995, he pledged to increase organizing. Since then, despite a push to organize, the percent of union members organized has dropped.

Pedro Eusse is the Secretary General of the Food and Beverage Union, and the Secretary General of the United Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CUTV).