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.

Chicago, IL – Following a crooked union election in Teamsters Local 743, management has gotten more aggressive in its attacks. Among those hit hardest have been employees at the University of Chicago Hospitals (UCH), Local 743's largest workplace with over 1300 Teamster members.

With just 30 percent of all Teamsters voting, Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., was elected president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He got fewer votes than when he ran and lost the election in 1996. Hoffa, Jr., will be in office two years before the post is up for election again.

Chicago, IL – In an election to decide control of Chicago's powerful Teamsters Local 743, the Hoffa Take Back Slate (HTB) has declared victory over the reformers in the 743 New Leadership Slate (NLS). The Hoffa Slate is closely connected the Chicago underworld crime scene.

In a few weeks, members of the largest union in the United States, the Teamsters, will be voting to elect new leaders. This election will effect the whole American labor movement.

Minneapolis, MN – At a February 19 public meeting at Holy Rosary Church, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) yielded to demands raised by Minnesota's Latino immigrant communities for improved and increased services.

People across the country marked the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war by taking to the streets in protest. Students turned out in full force. Members of Students for a Democratic Society, whose call for a week of action against the war brought together over 90 SDS chapters and other progressive organizations committed to rallying, marching and walking out to protest the war. This week of actions was the largest student-organized anti-war protests since the war on Iraq began.

Minneapolis, MN – One hundred and fifty people took to the streets on August 8, 1998, to protest Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) policy in Minnesota. Chants of “Not my border, Not my war, Stop the INS!” and “Papeles Para Todos (Papers for Everyone)” echoed along the one mile plus march route through South Minneapolis. Participants were energized by the Danzantes, a local Aztec dance group that accompanied the march.

Asheville, NC – Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of North Carolina Asheville and the Asheville chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) staged an exciting counter-recruitment action here, Feb. 5, that brought the war home to students at UNCA.

St. Paul, MN – Matt Conbere, a working class fighter in the Twin Cities, a union man and a friend to many, tragically died Sunday, Sept. 15, 2002. Matt worked at Alliant Foods as a driver. He worked difficult shifts with strenuous routes. People describe Matt as a very giving, thoughtful and kind man. He was an inspiration to all who knew him.

Tuscaloosa, AL – Four protesters from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were arrested here, Feb. 29, at the University of Alabama for performing a mock raid meant to demonstrate the effects of the U.S. occupation on Iraqi civilians.

Chicago, IL – Christine Royster, candidate for International Vice President of the Teamsters, gave the following talk at a Fight Back! Forum in Chicago for Black History Month. Royster is also a key leader in the battle to turn around the 12,000-member Local 743, one of Chicago's largest Teamster locals.

Across the United States, on campuses from Los Alamos High School to Harvard University and at all points in between, students are getting organized to commemorate the fifth year of the U.S. occupation of Iraq with rallies, marches, die-ins and civil disobedience. More than 80 student and youth organizations have endorsed a call from chapters of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) for campus-based protests from March 17-21.

Minneapolis, MN – Video coverage is now available of the Feb. 9-10 Organizing Conference to prepare for RNC Sept. 1 anti-war protest in St Paul, MN. The planned demonstration will coincide with the Republican National Convention.

International Brotherhood of Teamsters president James Hoffa Jr. has proposed the largest dues increase in the union's history. Right now, workers are paying the equivalent of two hours pay per month. Hoffa's proposal is to increase dues by 25%.

Listen to some of the key speeches

Minneapolis, MN – Activists from around the country gathered here Feb. 9-10 for an organizing conference to plan the anti-war protests at the Republican National Convention.

Cleveland, OH – Hundreds of Teamsters, tired of being driven down by their employers and sold out far to often by their union leaders, gathered November 5-7 for the annual convention of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU).

Milwaukee, WI – Over 400 Teamsters gathered here November 6-8 for the annual convention of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). TDU is a powerful rank and file caucus that's working to turn around the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Milwaukee, WI – Angry labor unionists and their supporters protested here, May 19, against Republican hit man Karl Rove. The conservative lobbying group, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) invited former Bush aide Karl Rove to speak against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). EFCA promises to make it easier for workers to form unions with less interference and dirty tricks from bosses. Unions and workers are demanding this new amendment to the National Labor Relations Act that will make forming a union a simple democratic choice.