Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

studentsforademocraticsociety

By Jenae Stainer

Tuscaloosa, AL – After a week in and out of work and negotiations, Crimson Ride bus drivers at the University of Alabama have successfully achieved their first contract with First Transit. The agreement was reached at approximately 2:30 a.m. on March 8, after several hours at the bargaining table. The negotiating process has stalled several times, which led to the Crimson Ride drivers’ strike on March 1. After a few hours on the picket line, First Transit agreed to come back to the table, but once again these negotiations went nowhere. On March 7, they returned to the table once more, threatening the drivers with a lockout and scab buses if no agreement was reached.

Read more...

By staff

"Make the Rich Pay!"

Fight Back New Service is circulating the following statement from the Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society.

Read more...

By staff

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Read more...

By Laura Langley

Students picket with striking bus drivers at Univ. of Alabama

Tuscaloosa, AL – Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1208 went on strike here, March 1. After a successful day on the picket line, First Transit called them back to the table for further negotiations. They made the agreement that if they went back to the table, then the strike would end and the drivers would return to work. So on Tuesday, March 2 the drivers went back to their job. After a few hours of negotiating, the company still refused to agree to a fair contract for the union.

Read more...

By Network to Fight for Economic Justice

Students gather signatures supporting U of Alabama bus drivers

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Network to Fight for Economic Justice urging support for the Crimson Ride bus drivers.

Read more...

By Laura Langley

Students in solidarity with the Crimson Ride drivers

Tuscaloosa, AL – Bus drivers, with the support of students at the University of Alabama (UA), are organizing a union campaign to win a living wage. The bus drivers shuttle students, football fans and others around the UA campus. Student activists are riding the buses to sign up student supporters for the bus drivers. The 62 Crimson Ride Shuttle Bus drivers work for FirstGroup PLC, a huge British multinational corporation. The union drivers and students are exposing the British company’s big ripoff of Alabama workers and taxpayers.

Read more...

By Fern

Workers rally at the City Hall steps in Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville, FL – Over 200 supporters of Jobs for Jacksonville rallied to protest Turner Construction's unjust and unlawful labor practices, Jan. 26. Union members from the Carpenters, IBEW, Boilermakers, Sheet Metal Workers and the Teamsters are waging a campaign against Turner Construction. Turner refuses to hire out-of-work construction workers in Jacksonville for the Duval County Courthouse building project. This is a blatant breach of Turner Construction's contract, which promised to provide many jobs for the economically hurting building trades people in Jacksonville.

Read more...

By staff

Union workers with AFSCME Local 3800 speaking and holding banners

Minneapolis, MN – More than 75 workers, students and community supporters rallied at Morrill Hall, the central administration building here, Jan. 21, to oppose attempts by President Bruininks and senior administrators to balance the budget on the backs of staff and students.

Read more...

By Laura Langley

March in Birmingham, Alabama for MLK Day 2010

Birmingham, AL – On Jan. 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, dozens of people gathered here to participate in the Solidarity March with the Birmingham Homeless Coalition and Birmingham Peace Project. Under the banner of, Breaking the Silence: Perpetual War=Perpetual Poverty, protesters spoke out against the war and for affordable housing and fair wages. Marchers began in Linn Park downtown and continued on to the Greater Birmingham Ministry. There, several speakers took the stage, including Rodney Cole, videographer of police harassment and violence towards the homeless; Sarah White, union organizer and human rights activist and Rosa Clemente, community organizer, hip hop activist and former Green Party vice-presidential candidate.

Read more...

By Daniel Ginsberg

Hundreds protest against war in Afghanistan in Chicago

Students from around the country protested the U.S. government’s plan for a 30,000 troop surge into Afghanistan in early December.

Read more...