A delegate gives an account and commentary

Las Vegas, NV – The United Auto Workers International convention was held here, June 12 – 15. This was the first convention I have ever attended. It was an honor and a privilege to be elected by the membership (active and retired) to represent them at the convention. The convention was a thorough learning experience in regards to the issues that exist not only throughout our Local and International Union but our society as a whole. I was given a lot of information on what to expect so I was not stunned by what I observed. Nauseated, maybe – surprised, no.

Decatur, IL – Nowhere in organized labor is the failure and treachery of business unionism more indicting than in the United Auto Workers (UAW). Today, that treachery threatens not only the existence of the organization, but the fundamental values upon which the union was built. If there exists a saving grace for the UAW, it is not in the halls of Solidarity House [UAW headquarters in Detroit], but in the rank and file resurgence against the devastating concessions at Delphi and Visteon, parts suppliers to the auto industry. The massive job losses and concessions, including tiered wages and benefits, are not a new occurrence, but a carefully crafted course that involves not only the bastards of the boardroom, but top UAW leadership as well.

A May Day speech by Christina Chavez

Editors note: the following is the text of a speech prepared by Christina Chavez for International Workers Day in Chicago.

Berg and Fox are Rank and File leaders in Teamster Local 743

Sixty years ago, on Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing 140,000 Japanese from the blast, heat and radiation. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing another 75,000. Thousands more suffered, and many died, from the long-term effects of the heat and radiation from the bombings that also caused scarring, cancer and birth defects.

I recently traveled to the land where Ché Guevara's ghost still breathes with the people. I was a guest of the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, a gathering of more than 60 journalists from around the globe. The journalists – representing radio, film, Internet and print media – had come to the school in Bolivia in early August to explore strategies for advancing credible media coverage of the war on drugs and democracy movements in the Americas.

Urbana, IL – Beasts lurk within the halls of our universities. They kidnap professors, raise tuition and exploit public tax dollars. The destructive monster that plagues our universities is corporate influence.

Minneapolis, MN – After a 45-day strike, Twin Cities transit workers reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, April 13. Despite vocal opposition in the media by some members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, the contract was ratified with 72% voting in favor. The final scorecard was clear – retiree medical benefits were eliminated and wage increases were only 1.5% over three years. While there were some gains from the employer’s final pre-strike offer, the union was able to get back only a portion of the millions of dollars the employer saved by not operating buses during the strike.

Ileana Gadea and Naomi Nakamura, both regular contributors to Fight Back!, reviewed the film A Day Without A Mexican . Based on the premise that California is covered by a thick fog and Latinos have vanished, the movie satirically deals with role of Mexicans and Latinos in the California economy. How well does the film do this? What follows are two different views.

The new book, Crusade for Justice, Chicano Militancy, by Ernesto B. Vigil, is a major contribution to U.S. and Chicano history. The University of Wisconsin Press edition, released May 1999, tells the history of the Crusade for Justice (CFJ) and its militants' struggles for Chicano Liberation in the late 1960s and 1970s.

A review of the pamphlet Build a Fighting Workers Movement by the Labor Commission of Freedom Road Socialist Organization

This past Dec. 5, 250 workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Goose Island in Chicago. They had been told a few days earlier that the company was closing and that there would be no severance pay, or even payment of wages or sick or vacation pay owed them. Their protest, targeting their company and the Bank of America, became a national symbol of working people’s anger at the rich and powerful. “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” they chanted as their story was reported across the world.

In Colombia, the people are winning. The U.S. war machine is losing plane after plane to a growing popular insurgency. On April 7, a U.S. pilot died when his plane crashed while spraying deadly chemicals on fields in rural Colombia. The U.S. State Department refused comment on assumptions that the plane was shot down by rebels.

The Bush administration knows nothing about peace. The administration backed Israel's brutal, right-wing Sharon government from day one, and waged a cowardly military attack on Iraq. In the aftermath of militarily defeating the Iraqi government, the Bush administration is trying to reshape the Middle East, dominate the entire region and eliminate all opposition to the United States. While the attempt to put down the Iraqi resistance continues, Washington is now taking aim at the Palestinian liberation struggle. Central to the struggle for freedom in the Middle East, the battle of Palestinians for Palestine serves as an example and an inspiration to all the Arab peoples of the region.

Los Angeles, CA – Former Republican governor of California, Pete Wilson is personally sponsoring another oppressive and discriminatory ballot initiative. On March 7, 2000, Californians will vote on the Juvenile Crime Initiative that if approved will allow for the prosecution of teenagers, as young as 14 years old, in the adult court system rather than the juvenile system.

Los Angeles, CA – The following speech was given by an activist of the New Raza Left at this year's “Farce of July” event.

Commentary

East Los Angeles, CA – The campaign to defeat Proposition 21, the war on youth ballot initiative, climaxed with a statewide week of rage, and protests led by young people. Thousands of L.A. youth protested by walking out of school, and marching through the middle of East Los Angeles, chanting, “Schools not Jails!”

Fight Back News Service is reprinting the following article on the FBI murder of Puerto Rican freedom fighter Filiberto Ojeda Ríos. A longer version of this article first appeared in Red Banner - a journal for left, progressive and socialist students at the University of North Carolina, Asheville.

FARC-EP Spokesperson

I want to say to the people of the U.S. that the Colombian people admire and respect your efforts.

The United Parcel Service (UPS) strike in 1997 was the most important labor victory in recent years. It was fought under the reform leadership of then-Teamsters president, Ron Carey, and was won due to the courage and determination of UPS workers.