Chicago, IL – As the strike at SK Hand Tool moves into its second week, it is clear it is picking up momentum. On Sept. 2 a contingent of workers went downtown to tell their strike story to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who was in town to present a Labor Day speech.

Chicago, IL – When the owner of SK Hand Tools in Chicago unilaterally cut off health care benefits for his employees, he provoked a strike. As a result, the picket line of striking workers on Tuesday, Aug. 25, was also a health care rally.

Comunidades pobres y de clase trabajadora, ya azotadas por los cesos y reducciones dehoras de trabajo que resultan de la recesión económica, están a punto de sufrir aun mas como los gobiernos estatales y municipales empiezan a cortar los servicios de salud, escuelas y gobierno local, cosas necesarias para nuestras familias.

Management Overestimated Costs But Won't Lower Rates

Minneapolis, MN – “Workers at the University of Minnesota are being ripped off. The administration is stealing $6 million from us and we want it back,” said Kelly Ryan, an executive board member of AFSCME Local 3800, the clerical workers' union at the University of Minnesota. The unions are fighting to get back $6 million that the administration is overcharging workers for health care. They have come together in a new coalition called University Unions United.

Chisholm, MN – With a contract set to expire July 31, the stage is set for a major confrontation between iron miners and the Cleveland Cliffs Inc. Cleveland Cliffs is demanding concessions, including take-aways of retirees’ health care. The company says that it will answer any strike by hiring scabs. Housing for strikebreakers has been placed at the Hibbing mine. Scabs are being trained in the town of Silver Bay.

Plainfield, NJ – The fight here to save Muhlenberg Hospital continues to intensify and broaden. Two public hearings of the New Jersey Health Planning Commission, on May 5 and on June 5, each drew more than 1200 people. The Commission must grant a Certificate of Need (CN) to legally allow Solaris Health Care Corporation to close the hospital.

Trenton, NJ – 500 people traveled to Trenton, the state capital of New Jersey, April 5, to protest the threat to close Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield. Hospital closings are at crisis level in New Jersey and Muhlenberg, which has served Plainfield for 125 years, is only the latest to be threatened.

Plainfield, NJ – A throng of 600 turned out here, March 15, to protest against the closing of Muhlenberg Hospital by its owner, Solaris Healthcare. A 250-person protest had already come out on March 1 at the call of the People's Organization for Progress.

Plainfield, NJ – A move to close Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, New Jersey has triggered a storm of protest. Plainfield would hardly be a city without the 125-year old Muhlenberg Hospital.

Poor and working class communities, already hit hard by layoffs and shorter work hours from the recession, are about feel more pain as state and local governments cut health care, education, and other social services that our families need.

Asheville, NC – People from all over western North Carolina protested here in Pritchard Park, June 27, to demand a single payer system in which health care is provided to all people, with those able to paying their fair share.