Gainesville, TX – After a week-long strike, more than 350 workers represented by Teamsters at Safran Seats have won a three-year contract eliminating mandatory overtime. Members ratified the agreement October 1 with 93% voting in favor, according to the union.

Local 767 reports the agreement also restores the 80-hour bank, increases contributions toward 401(k), retirement and company-paid insurance, and provides wage increases that the union describes as historic.

The workers, who manufacture airplane seats for commercial airlines, began their unfair labor practice strike September 24 after rejecting a tentative agreement that retained mandatory overtime provisions. Workers on the picket line identified the provision, which they called “mando,” as a principal reason for voting down the earlier proposal.

One week after walking out, they ratified an agreement removing the requirement.

The ULP strike had started on Thursday, September 24. Just one week later, the company caved and quickly yielded to the demands of the membership.

Mario Hernandez, business agent and bargaining committee member for Safran Teamsters, stated, “We fought the company with everything we had and we came out victorious. That goes to show you that with a little unity anything can happen.”

#GainesvilleTX #TX #Labor #Strike #Teamsters #IBT767

Gainesville, TX – More than 350 workers at Safran Seats began an unfair labor practice strike on September 24, after their rejection of a tentative agreement for a next contract, which contained mandatory overtime provisions. The workers manufacture airplane seats for commercial airlines and are represented by Teamsters Local 767.

On September 18, the union members voted down the proposed tentative agreement. Local 767 bargaining committee members returned to the table, making it clear that an agreement retaining mandatory overtime provisions would be rejected, but Safran refused to offer a revised agreement removing the provision.

According to Local 767, Safran called on Friday, September 25, to arrange a meeting with the bargaining committee that morning. Committee members arrived at the agreed location, but company representatives did not appear. Several hours after the scheduled start, the company called to cancel. The Teamsters then filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board on September 24 alleging surveillance, coercive statements, and bad-faith bargaining by Safran.

Workers on the picket line repeatedly cited mandatory overtime, which they called “mando,” as the principal reason for rejecting the proposed tentative agreement. Many of the members on strike expressed that they were glad to have voted it down, pointing out that there are enough people who volunteer to work overtime so it didn’t need to be in the contract, and that they stand on their feet for ten-hour shifts, which is already hard or impossible for some workers to do. They also pointed out that during the companies 90-day probationary period, workers are not allowed to work overtime, and with this contract language, they too would be required to work overtime despite lack of full training.

The workers’ demand is straightforward: overtime should be voluntary. By rejecting the agreement and taking their fight to the picket line, Safran Teamsters are demanding a say over how much of their lives the company can claim.

#GainsvilleTX #DallasTX #TX #Labor #Strike #UnfairLaborPractice #Teamsters #Teamsters767 #SafranSeats

Carrollton, TX – Workers at two DHL delivery service providers operating out of the same facility won unanimous union victories. The new union workers joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The vote followed a campaign marked by aggressive union busting and retaliation against worker leaders by management.

First, workers at Cartage Services voted unanimously for the union on September 15. One day later, September 16, DrivenForce workers also voted unanimously to join the union. Both contractors operate as third party delivery service providers that DHL subcontracts delivery services to. The victories came after weeks of organizing and a joint march on management on August 25, when workers from both companies demanded union recognition.

Cartage and DrivenForce are separate DHL delivery service providers, but their workers operate out of the same facility and are part of the same broader delivery operation. Rather than allowing the separate contractors to divide them, workers organized around their shared concerns and built support for union recognition at both companies. On August 25, workers from Cartage and DrivenForce marched on management together to make their demand for recognition directly.

After the workers demanded recognition of their union, management quickly responded with an aggressive union-busting campaign. Some worker leaders were fired, while others were placed on probation soon after the march. The workers facing terminations or disciplines were workers who had taken leading roles in the organizing campaign. Despite this, the workers continued organizing, talking with coworkers and preparing for their elections.

On September 15, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held a union election for the Cartage workers. The result was unanimous. Every vote was in favor of union representation. The election win came despite the retaliation workers had faced during the campaign and demonstrated the depth of support and militancy of the organizing drive.

The next day, September 16, DrivenForce workers held their election. They also voted unanimously for the union.

These two DHL delivery service providers are the second and third such companies in the DHL delivery network to vote to join the Teamsters union, demonstrating that DHL and its union-busting program can be beat.

#CarrolltonTX #TX #Labor #DHL #Teamsters #CartageServices #DrivenForce

Dallas, TX – On September 21, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression – Dallas (NAARPR-Dallas) and the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda Coalition held a protest outside the Dallas ICE field office in response to the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Pérez, a Venezuelan immigrant by an ICE agent in Austin.

Lili Monge, a member of NAARPR-Dallas, spoke at the rally, saying, “First it was Houston, then it was Austin; it’s only a matter of time before it happens in Dallas. We need to demand city council pass resolutions to hold an independent investigation into these shootings and killings. No one in Congress or any governmental body is holding them accountable. We don’t feel safe around ICE. We need to keep pushing back to regain the civil rights that we've lost.”

40 people gathered to make their voices heard and held signs denouncing ICE killings. Members of different organizations attended the rally, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization and DFW-Anti War Committee.

Chants rang out such as, “Legalization for all” and “Killer ICE off our streets!”

#DallasTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #ICE #WilberRafaelGarcesPerez #NAARPRDallas #OppressedNationalities

Austin, TX – Around 200 people protested outside the Texas Capitol on Monday evening, September 21, to demand justice for a Venezuelan man, Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, who was shot by ICE and left in critical condition in Austin on Sunday.

After several rounds of energetic chants from the crowd, Selena Jurado of La Frontera Unida gave a speech. Jurado explained that within hours of the shooting, ICE took Garcés Pérez into custody, stating, “They denied his lawyer access. They denied his wife access to her husband. This is modern-day terrorism.”

Jurado continued, “La Frontera Unida raises these three demands. Primero, Wilber must be released from ICE custody immediately. Segundo, the ICE agent who shot him must be arrested and prosecuted. Tercero, there must be a real independent investigation. La Frontera Unida is not interested in another federal cover-up!”

Jesse Valdelamar, the emcee of the rally, said, “We will never support ‘reforming’ ICE into a more humane version of itself. As long as there exists a permanent body of second-class citizens, there will always be immigration enforcement, and there will always be la migra. This is why La Frontera Unida supports legalization for all as the real solution to the immigration question!”

Cynthia Treviño, another member of La Frontera Unida, spoke on the coming expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Salvadorians. She said, “The expiration of TPS for Salvadoreños is setting the stage for hundreds of thousands of our raza to suffer the same fate as Wilber. As a Chicana, I understand this history intimately. My ancestors didn't cross the border, the border crossed us. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo promised my people property rights, language rights, cultural rights. What we got instead was centuries of violence and displacement.”

Treviño continued, “Terrorism is what awaits those who do not stand up and fight back. Today's immigrants, whether from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, or Venezuela, face the same terror. And just like my ancestors, they are fighting back.”

Sofie Gomez of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) urged, “When people migrate here, they are uprooting their whole lives out of desperation, but they live here in the states as second-class citizens, continuing to be exploited as cheap labor. This is the U.S. capitalist machine’s playbook. That’s why we need a new system, socialism, where we can actually address immigration rather than exploit those who immigrate here. Legalization for all is the way forward!”

#AustinTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #ICE #OppressedNationalities #TPS #Venezuela #Shooting #WilberRafaelGarcesPerez #Featured

Austin, TX – On September 10, Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a protest at UT Austin for their campaign against Trump-backed university administration. The group of up to 30 people marched around the campus, garnering attention from many students going to class.

The protest began with chants calling to reverse the elimination of women’s, gender and ethnic studies departments. Students also demand the firing of university President Jim Davis and Provost William Imboden.

SDS member Sofie Gomez spoke on the undemocratic nature of the University of Texas, and highlighted the control that Governor Greg Abbott has on the unelected officials, including UT President Jim Davis.

“UT Austin and the entire UT system in Texas has board members that are directly appointed by Abbott himself,” Gomez said.

Students for International Labor Solidarity member Jack Hernandez expressed frustration at the suspension of multiple Austin SDS members during their campaign against Trump's Compact for Higher Education. “I am disgusted by the attempts of our administration to censor our education,” Hernandez said.

Austin SDS plans on continuing their fight against cuts to education as the administration continues to censor and eliminate study of race and gender in the classroom.

#AustinTX #TX #StudentMovement #AustinSDS #UTAustin #JimDavis

Dallas, TX – 400 people took to the streets of Dallas on September 10 to protest the Republican Party’s midterm convention and demonstrate opposition to the Trump agenda. Organized by the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda (DATA) Coalition, the protest brought together workers, community activists, socialists, immigrant-rights organizers and others who marched to bring their opposition to the Republican convention directly to the streets surrounding the American Airlines Center.

The action began at Pike Park. Demonstrators marched toward the convention. Hundreds of protesters participated in the march, which made its way toward the security perimeter surrounding the convention.

Riot police and mounted units were deployed as the protesters approached the convention center. Despite the police presence and attempts to limit the march’s movement, protesters reached the security checkpoint and held speeches within sight and sound of the convention. The crowd responded enthusiastically, chanting and cheering as speakers addressed the demonstrators.

The police presence intensified as right-wing counter-protesters confronted people participating in the march.

Two protesters were arrested during the action. They were attempting to keep right-wing counter-protesters away from the main crowd when police moved in, tackled the two to the ground and arrested them.

The arrests did not stop the demonstration. Protesters continued marching and maintained the energy of the action as they approached the convention.

Jake Holtzman of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “It was inspiring to see hundreds march against the Trump agenda. Even in the face of harassment from the cops and a few counter-protesters, everyone kept the energy high and marched within sight and sound of the convention. There was clearly a great degree of unity among the people against our common enemy: Trump and monopoly capitalism.”

Toni Jones of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) stated, “I’m marching with the over 20 cities in our National Alliance Against Racist And Political Repression fighting for community control of the police. I’m marching with all of you who did what you needed to be here today, and I’m marching with men like my friend Darrin Robinson, who can’t be here because they are being tortured while serving unjust sentences. And all of us, we are going to make sure the Trump agenda, ‘SAVE America Act’ racism never gets passed, and the GOP gets dumped in the trash heap of history they so desperately worship!”

The September 10 action was the first major public demonstration organized under the banner of Dallas Against the Trump Agenda. The coalition formed around the Republican Party’s decision to hold its midterm national convention in Dallas, but its organizers have emphasized that the coalition is intended to be more than a one-day protest.

DATA is working to establish a continuing center of organizing in Dallas against the Trump agenda — bringing together people involved in labor, immigrant rights, racial justice, community organizing and other struggles.

The next task is to build on the momentum that has already been established. DATA is organizing in Dallas. The fight against the Trump agenda continues.

#DallasTX #TX #Trump #PeoplesStruggles #ImmigrantRights #FRSO #NAARPR #DATA #OppressedNationalities #Featured

Austin, TX – Over 70 people attended a speakers panel and social to commemorate the 56th Chicano Moratorium on August 29. La Frontera Unida (LFU) hosted the event featuring local Chicana musicians and vendors. This marks the first time Austin observed the Chicano Moratorium and was met with enthusiasm by the community.

LFU member Jessie Valdelamar highlighted the importance of the commemorating the Chicano Moratorium this year, amidst the wave of racist attacks against immigrants by Trump, saying, “We need to build up to and go beyond what the generation before us achieved in the 1970s. La Raza is strengthened by immigration, and deportations that rip our families apart and attack our cousins from El Salvador, weaken our people.”

When asked about the goals of the Chicano movement, Sofie Gomez of the FRSO said, “We must unite all who can be united. We aren’t alone in this fight; we need to merge our fight with the liberation of the Black nation and the labor movement. Our problem is capitalism, and only a revolution that brings together these forces can bring us to the next step.”

The speaker panel was followed by a social, with many participants mingling while sipping their “La Causa Cooler” and dancing to the flurry of norteño, cumbia, salsa and country music played by local musicians.

LFU member Jake Holtzman said, “The event was a great success due our frequent barrio walks in the past few months. Our outreach efforts attracted community members to the event. We were offered a free venue and help with fundraising and developed contacts with local artists and musicians.”

The panel featured speakers from LFU, Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

#AustinTX #TX #OppressedNationalities #ChicanoLatino #ChicanoMoratorium #LFU

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda Coalition. The group plans to march on the RNC in Dallas on September 10.

Dallas Office of Special Events has cancelled our permit application to protest the RNC

As organizers attempt to exercise their First Amendment right to protest the midterm Republican National Convention, the city of Dallas has escalated from stalling our permit request to cancelling it.

Organizers applied for a permit and had repeatedly met with city officials to negotiate in good faith. From officials rejecting our original route without finalizing an alternative to city hall police and DPD ordering our organizers to leave the vicinity of the City Hall Plaza during our press conference, the city has placed obstacle after obstacle in our way.

Taken together, these actions appear intentional in an attempt to weaken the march, disrupt our preparations, and push protesters out of sight and sound of the convention.

The First Amendment protects our right to march and bring our message within sight and sound of its intended audience.

With the convention approaching, the process of finalizing this permit has gone from glacial to permafrost. In a phone call with the Office of Special Events, they mentioned that they were told by the Dallas Police Department to cancel our permit. Further, we were told that DPD wants us to fill out a “First Amendment Activity Request form.”

We will not accept being pushed around. We will exercise our right to assemble and our right to free speech. We will march on the Republican National Convention.

Republicans claim they’ll bring thousands of people to Dallas to organize behind the Trump agenda. We are preparing a family-friendly statewide march to represent the millions of people who reject the Trump agenda, to confront their attacks on immigrants, women, trans people, marginalized communities, anti-fascist organizations and people, and their hawkish pursuit of endless wars.

They don’t want us there. That is exactly why we have to show up.

#DallasTX #TX #PeoplesStruggles #Trump #ImmigrantRights #AntiWarMovement #RNC2026 #RNC

Dallas, TX – On August 14, people gathered for a lively talk by Dr. Michael Philips exploring the protests of the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas. The event was put on by the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda Coalition in the lead-up to the protests of the midterm Republican National Convention descending on Dallas on September 9 and 10 of this year.

Blake Van Wicken, a local Teamster and member of the immigrant rights group El Moviemiento, commented, “It was great to come together and learn about Dallas’ strong but often forgotten history of protest, and to connect that history to our moment as a new generation of Dallas organizers prepares to march on the Republican convention and oppose the Trump agenda.”

The protest of the Republican National Convention will take place at Pike Park on September 10, at 1 p.m., beginning at Pike Park and marching to American Airlines Center, where the convention is being held.

#DallasTX #TX #PeoplesStruggles #RNC #Trump #Midterms2026

Dallas, TX — Members of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression Dallas spent this past weekend, July 24-25, honoring the life and mourning the death of Santos Rodriguez, the 12-year-old Mexican American boy murdered by Dallas police officer Darrell Cain on July 24, 1973. More than five decades later, his case remains a flashpoint in the fight against police crimes in Dallas, and a reminder that the struggle for the memory of, and justice for, Santos and his family continue.

Who was Santos Rodriguez?

In the early morning hours of July 24, 1973, Dallas police officers Darrell Cain and Roy Arnold responded to a report of an $8 burglary at a Fina gas station in Little Mexico, a Mexican American barrio near downtown Dallas. Acting on a hunch, the officers went to the home of the elderly, largely non-English-speaking foster grandfather of brothers David, 13, and Santos, 12.

The boys were pulled from bed in their pajamas, handcuffed and driven to the gas station for interrogation. While Santos sat handcuffed in the front seat, Officer Cain put his revolver to the boy's head in a game of “Russian roulette,” demanding a confession. Santos's last words were that he was telling the truth. Cain pulled the trigger a second time and killed him instantly, in front of his brother. Evidence later revealed Santos and his brother had no connection to the burglary.

Cain was indicted for murder, but a judge set his bond at a mere $5000. Outrage in the Chicano and Black communities of Dallas boiled over on July 28, 1973, when more than 1000 people marched from Kennedy Plaza to City Hall, torching police cars and smashing windows as police cracked down.

Cain was ultimately convicted of murder with malice but served only two-and-a-half years of a five-year sentence. It would take until 2021, 48 years later, for the Dallas Police Department to formally apologize to Santos's mother, Bessie Rodriguez. Killer cop Darrel Cain ultimately escaped justice and lived out his life quietly until 2019. There was no mention of the murder in his obituary.

July 24: Angelversary and vigil

On Friday, NAARPR Dallas members hosted an Angelversary commemoration for Santos Rodriguez at Pike Park, where a small statue of him sits, bringing together community members to remember his life and to reaffirm the ongoing fight of victims of police crimes still demanding justice. The gathering placed Rodriguez's murder within the broader history of police violence against Mexican Americans in Dallas and across the country, drawing a direct line from 1973 to the police killings communities continue to organize against today.

July 25: Gravesite visit

On Saturday, several NAARPR Dallas members traveled to Santos Rodriguez's gravesite to lay flowers and pay their respects to his memory, to his family, and to the decades-long fight for justice that his family carried on.

Xavi Velasquez, chair of NAARPR Dallas said of the weekend's events, “We attended several events for Santos this weekend, and a common question was, 'What do we do about his murder?' I had the opportunity to talk about community control of the police to many people this weekend, and most people wanted to know more. People want change and are looking for practical and people-powered solutions. This weekend's events solidified to me the need for community control of the police here in Dallas, not just for modern victims of police violence but to hold DPD accountable for police violence that is deep in Dallas history.”

#DallasTX #TX #InJusticeSystem #KillerCops #NAARPR

Garland, TX – On July 2, outside the Garland Chamber of Commerce meet and greet, the DFW Anti-War Committee held a protest to demand that Garland Independent School District (GISD) and Dallas College stop sending students to build bombs in the Paligen Technology factory.

The event was hosted at Tavern on the Square, the owner of which berated, threatened and called the police on protesters for writing chalk messages on the public sidewalk near his business. Messages included “Stop the bombs Garland,” “Stop partnering with Paligen” and “No to Garland students building bombs.” Police came and went without incident and the protest proceeded.

“We were able to have some really good conversations with people in Garland who were horrified to find out that schools are partnered with a place like Paligen that’s been involved in so many war crimes,” said Kai Leslie of DFW Anti-War Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The MK-84s produced by Paligen have been heavily used by Israel in the genocide in Palestine, including the bombing of a school that killed 65-year-old retired school principal Mohammad Eltif, along with over 100 others. Israel has also used Paligen’s MK-84 to bomb dozens of universities in Iran.

Regarding the private GROW networking event being protested, Kate Deremo of DFW Anti-War Committee explained, “This is one of Paligen Technologies opportunities to connect with the local business community. The Dallas County Manufacturers’ Association, which is a subset of the Chamber of Commerce, is the direct link between Paligen Technologies and GISD and Dallas College. Their membership in the DCMA is the driving factor in both their access to students as well as influence in educational programming.”

DAWC has standing plans to protest Dallas College board meetings to continue to pressure for Paligen to be dropped from all partnerships with schools and to end student involvement in building bombs at the facility. The next Dallas College protest will be at 4 p.m. on August 11 at Dallas College headquarters.

#GarlandTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #DAWC

Dallas, TX – On July 14, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression-Dallas hosted a rally to demand justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Guerrero.

Araujo and Guerrero were killed by ICE agents in Houston and Maine, respectively, within a span of a week.

The rally was scheduled during the semifinal game of the World Cup hosted at the Dallas Stadium in Arlington. Attention was also drawn to the grand jury investigation of Los Angeles-based immigrant rights activist Nadia Topete.

The protest was attended by concerned community members who spoke out against the killings.

Xavier Velasquez, the chair of NAARAPR Dallas, commented, “We’ve come here today to bring awareness and to demand justice for Lorenzo Araujo, Joan Guerrero and to also demand DOJ hands off Nadia Topete. Our people are under attack from all sides, immigrants and immigrant rights activists and we aren't going to it be business as usual. With the World Cup happening as a backdrop to this action, we are trying to bring the issue of ICE violence and federal repression of immigrant rights activists like Nadia Topete to the world stage!”

Protesters chanted, “Legalization for all!” “Justice for victims of ICE,” “Hands off Nadia Topete” and “ICE out of Dallas!”

#DallasTX #TX #ImmigrantRights

Dallas, TX – On July 8, in response to the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE agents in Houston the day before, NAARPR-Dallas organized an emergency rally at the Dallas City Hall to demand justice and that his killers be held accountable,

Over 50 people crowded in front of Dallas City Hall to make their demands heard. They chanted “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!

Between chants members of DAWC, FRSO-Dallas, and PYM Dallas gave speeches.

Blake Van Wicklen of FRSO-Dallas told the crowd, “We will not allow fear to silence us. We will continue organizing in our workplaces, in our unions, in our neighborhoods and in the streets until every worker, regardless of immigration status, can live with dignity and without fear.”

Jo Hargis of DAWC stated, “It is clear to anyone who is looking that the violence we export to Palestine, to Iran, and around the world is inextricably linked with violence visited upon people here at home. We must hold accountable the forces who profit off of these murders, whether the murdered be a father on his way to work in Texas, or a school full of little girls in Minab, or the steadfast people of Palestine.”

Xavier Velasquez, the chair of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression – Dallas stated, “This is what we are up against: ICE had been targeting people thru large raids which resulted in the deaths of Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Keith Porter Jr.. What we've witnessed thru the course of the year is a de-emphasis on large raids and they've been doing smaller scale kidnappings and quieter raids. These new ICE tactics are no less deadly, as we saw yesterday. The spin they are giving this recent killing is the end goal of this racist system. They are now trying to say that this killing is OK because Lorenzo was a so called ‘illegal alien.’ Shame!”

An altar was set up in remembrance of Lorenzo Araujo where people paid their respects. NAARPR members encouraged people to attend a vigil on July 10 in Dallas for Lorenzo Araujo at Huitzitzilin cafe and promoted their “ICE out of the World Cup” protest that is set for July 14.

#DallasTX #TX #InJusticeSystem #ImmigrantRights #KillerCops #KillerICE #Feature

Dallas, TX – On June 14, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression-Dallas hosted a protest against increased ICE presence, particularly in Dallas due to the FIFA soccer World Cup 2026. The protest was attended by community members and several fans who had come to watch the group stage game between the Nederland’s and Japan.

Even before the games even began, the United States made it extremely difficult for fans to travel to the games, with long lines at the airport, and increased visa scrutiny resulting in fans, players, coaching staff and referees of several teams being detained at the airport or denied entry based on arbitrary reasons. Many questioned whether the U.S. would ever be suitable to host the games again.

The protest was in conjunction with Legalization for All Network's call to action against ICE detention centers. NAARPR Dallas members held a banner that read “Free the people, empty the ICE concentration camps.” Onlookers and pedestrians were supportive of the message.

Blake Van Wicklen, a member of Teamster Local 767 and Freedom Road Socialist stated, “ Those of us in the labor movement know that an injury to one is an injury to all. An attack on immigrant workers, the backbone of labor in this country is an attack on the entire working class.”

Several chants were heard such as, “ICE out of the World Cup”, “Killer ICE off our streets, ICE melts in the Texas heat” and “Legalization for who? Legalization for all”

The protest ended with a call to action for community members to attend the next ICE out of the World Cup protest on July 14, during the semi-final game at the Dallas Stadium.

#DallasTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #NAARPRDFW #WorldCup #ICE

Austin, TX – Approximately 20 community members gathered in front of Travis County Jail on Saturday, June 13 in a show of solidarity with those resisting in Delaney Hall and Adelanto ICE processing facility. The rally was organized by La Frontera Unida (LFU), a member of the Legalization for All Network (L4A), as a part of L4A’s Weekend of Action Against Immigration Detention Centers.

LFU targeted the Travis County Jail because Travis County Commissioners and Sheriff Sally Hernandez continually hold people suspected to be in the U.S. “illegally” past their release date, in order to give ICE time to pick them up from jail.

La Frontera Unida president, Jesse Valdelamar, broke down the shameless submission of Travis County to Greg Abbott and Donald Trump: “When Sheriff Hernandez complies with the state in executing an immigration hold against community members, she is handing them over to a murderous system. Detained people are denied their basic human rights, medical care, adequate food, water. When people die because of these cruel conditions, no one is held accountable. Not the agents! Not the sheriffs! Not the commissioners!”

Valdelamar continued, “The people in Delaney Hall understand this reality. They are risking their own wellbeing because they know that collaboration with ICE is collaboration with death. These detainees have every right to resist their oppression, and it is our duty to assist them. For Sheriff Hernandez, the Travis County commissioner, this is our demand. This is not a request. Free our people! Free them all now!

In between speeches, the rallygoers chanted “Se ve se siente el pueblo está presente!” and “What do we want? ‘Legalization!’ When do we want it? ‘Now!’” Several people released from jail for unrelated reasons stopped to chat with organizers and a couple joined in on chants and took pictures with the signs and banners.

Mia Reballosa of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization pointed out, “La migra’s violence has one simple goal, fear and submission. Instead of listening to the people, of uplifting and supporting its people, the U.S. has decided to continue its longstanding tradition of beating its own people into submission with the goal of continued exploitation.”

LFU is continuing its campaign to end the Austin Police Department's collaboration with ICE, and will hold its first Barrio Walk on June 27.

#AustinTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #LFU #L4A

Garland, TX – On Friday, June 12, 20 community members gathered outside the Paligen bomb factory in Garland, Texas to say no to Trump’s war on Iran. The factory, situated in a working-class Chicano neighborhood, produces vast quantities of the bombs that the U.S. and Israel are dropping on communities in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine and elsewhere. The DFW Anti-War Committee has an active Stop the Bombs Garland campaign to target this factory.

Speakers at the protest condemned Trump’s war on Iran and Paligen’s bombs used to wage it. Paligen, the U.S. subsidiary of Turkish REPKON, has been coming under increasing fire in Türkiye for its bomb production in the U.S. in an effort to skirt around trade embargoes with Israel. These same bombs, the Mk-80 and BLU-109 series, make up a core part of the U.S. and Israeli arsenals in their current wars of aggression around West Asia.

Jo Hargis with the DFW Anti-War Committee commented, “These bombs have been used in countless attacks on Iran, Lebanon and Palestine, and have been used in war crimes as far back as the U.S. wars on Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia. Now Paligen, which is complicit in killing students and destroying educational institutions, is bringing Garland-area students into their bomb factory for ‘experience’ through the FAME program.”

A member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization Dallas, Glen Reed, said, “It was great to see people come out and make a stand against this company that has been profiting off of killing innocent lives in Iran and Palestine.”

Community members in attendance chanted “Stop the bombs Garland” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” towards the nearby Paligen bomb factory and the Dallas College campus, which houses the office of Paul Mayer, board of trustees chair and initiator of the FAME program partnership with Paligen.

Lauren Aguilar, a Garland resident and organizer with the DFW Anti-War committee, said, “The partnership between schools and Paligen is revolting. The location of this bomb factory, close to schools and colleges and neighborhoods within a mile radius, is another important factor in this fight to shut down this factory. There are a lot better partnerships schools should be making instead of Paligen.”

The Stop the Bombs Garland campaign has an active petition demanding Paul Mayer remove Paligen from FAME, available at tinyurl.com/NoFamePaligen.

#GarlandTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #Paligen #DAWC

Fight Back News service is circulating the following statement from the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda Coalition.

Texas is a battleground against the fiercest of Donald Trump and Greg Abbott’s attacks on the people, and the Dallas -Fort Worth metroplex continues to stand up and fight back. We are proud to announce the formation of the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda (DATA) Coalition as a unified voice to strike back against these attacks on our communities.

We are an action oriented coalition of organizations working together against Trump’s agenda. We are not here merely to speak up, but to build the people’s movements so that they can take meaningful action against this far-right violence. From the first Trump regime to the current one, our communities here in Texas have been a training ground for racist police violence, anti-LGBTQ laws targeting Trans kids, attacks by ICE on our immigrant neighbors, and rollbacks hard-won labor rights. We are building mass people power to keep our communities safe through collective action, no matter what Trump and Abbott throw our way.

We have seen the power of Dallas-Fort Worth in action, and we will continue to grow our unified strength. From the George Floyd uprisings in 2020 and Reproductive Rights rally in 2022 to the Free Palestine marches in 2023 and the ICE Out protests in 2026, we have seen our communities show up in the tens of thousands to stand united against attacks on the people. Now, in the midst of the Trump regime as these attacks heighten, we must stand taller than ever and fight back twice as hard.

The ground is fertile for collective strength as our communities have nothing to lose but their chains. Trump and Abbott took the gloves off as they repress communities across Texas and the people see them for what they represent: the throes of a dying empire as it tramples everyone underfoot. The people united will never be defeated and together the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex will rise against our enemies in the White House and Governor’s Mansion.

We call on all DFW organizations fighting against the Trump agenda to join the DATA Coalition and stand alongside us in our mutual struggle for the freedom we all deserve. To our local communities, we ask you to join us in the streets, get organized in the people’s movements, and build this coalition alongside us. Together, we have the power to win and our future looks bright.

#DallasTX #TX #Trump #PeoplesStruggles #ImmigrantRights

On the evening of January 31, 1938, hundreds of workers crowded into a San Antonio, Texas factory meeting room. Management had just announced a wage cut of up to 30%, a devastating blow to workers who were already among the lowest-paid in the United States. The atmosphere was tense and uncertain. Then a young Chicana organizer, Manuela Solis Sagar, climbed onto a table and cut through the hesitation: “Well, what are we going to do? Are you going to sit there, or are we going to strike?”

The answer came back in a roar, “Vamos a la huelga!” Within hours the decision was made. By the next morning, thousands of pecan shellers across San Antonio had walked off the job. The barrios of the city's West Side erupted into mass demonstrations as workers took to the streets in a militant display of workers’ power. What followed was nearly two months of struggle against the bosses, against the police, and against the city's corrupt political machine that would shake San Antonio to its foundations.

A city built on exploitation

To understand the eruption of 1938, it is necessary to understand what life was like on San Antonio's West Side. Between 1910 and 1930, the Mexican population in Texas more than tripled, driven north by the upheavals of the Mexican Revolution and the displacement of peasants and small landholders by large-scale commercial agriculture on both sides of the border. These workers arrived in San Antonio systematically excluded from most trades and industries, funneled into the most grueling and lowest-paid work available, including pecan shelling.

By the late 1930s, the West Side resembled one of the most impoverished urban districts in the country. Families of eight or ten were crowded into two-room shacks without running water or electricity, renting for as little as one dollar a week. The pecan shelling plants themselves were overcrowded and unventilated; state health inspectors described filthy floors, broken containers, and no soap or towels. Workers were paid by the pound, just five or six cents per pound shelled, with a WPA survey finding average weekly wages of $2.73.

Julius Seligsman, the “Pecan King” whose operations supplied half the country's pecans and who reportedly paid himself a salary of $1000 a week, testified before a federal hearing that “The Mexican pecan shellers eat a good many pecans, and five cents a day is enough to support them in addition to what they eat while they work.” Respiratory illnesses, particularly tuberculosis spread by the ever-present pecan dust was rampant. Many workers brought shelling home with them in the evenings, enlisting their children to try to earn a few extra cents.

La Pasionaria: Emma Tenayuca and the Workers Alliance

“I was arrested a number of times; I never thought in terms of fear, I thought in terms of justice.” – Emma Tenayuca

The 1938 strike was the culmination of years of labor struggle and militant organizing amongst San Antonio's working class. At the center of that organizing was a young Chicana communist organizer named Emma Tenayuca.

Tenayuca had first emerged as an organizer in 1934, while still in high school, participating in strike support activities at the Fink Cigar Company, one of the low-wage, labor-intensive industries that relied heavily on young Chicana women. She was arrested at 16, the first of many times. She soon became an organizer with the Communist Party-led Unemployed Council, and helped to lead a series of struggles, supporting striking garment workers, demanding public relief for unemployed families, and defending immigrant workers threatened with deportation and repatriation. She built a reputation as an uncompromising advocate for the West Side's working class, earning her the moniker of “La Pasionaria.”

The organizational vehicle for this work was the Workers Alliance. The Workers Alliance was a national mass organization of the Communist Party. In San Antonio, the CPUSA and the Workers Alliance organized for WPA jobs and federal relief, and crucially, fought the systemic discrimination that locked Mexican Americans out of national relief programs.

As early as 1930, the local Communist Party and the Unemployed Council had organized a march of the unemployed drawing over 1000 participants, the majority of whom were of Mexican origin. Under Tenayuca's leadership, the San Antonio chapter became one of the most active in the country, staging sit-ins at City Hall, organizing mass demonstrations, confronting immigration repression, and building a network of chapters rooted in the barrios of the West Side. Through this work, the Workers Alliance elevated Tenayuca to its national executive committee, placing the young Chicana communist in the leadership of a national mass organization

In addition to her labor work, Tenayuca also made significant theoretical contributions in applying the National Question to Chicanos in the Southwest. In her 1939 article titled “The Mexican Question in the Southwest” she advanced the idea that Mexicans in the United States represented an oppressed nationality, stating that “the status of the Mexican people as an oppressed national group may be compared in a number of respects with that of the Negro today.” While she stopped short of calling for self-determination of the Chicano Nation, her analysis of Chicanos as an oppressed nationality earned her a place as one of the earliest revolutionary theoreticians of the Chicano National question.

The strike: Class war in the open

The walkout on January 31 was spontaneous. The local union leadership vacillated and opposed launching such a large-scale strike. But the workers moved anyway, and they moved toward their most trusted militant leaders. Tenayuca, alongside fellow communist organizers like Manuela Solis Sagar, helped transform the spontaneous walkout into coordinated action. Over 10,000 workers ultimately joined the strike, affiliated with Pecan Workers Local 172 of the CIO affiliated UCAPAWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America). What had begun as a response to a wage cut became a social rebellion of the Chicano working class.

The city’s ruling class responded with force. Within a day of the walkout, police arrested several strike leaders, including Tenayuca and her husband Homer Brooks, both known Communist Party members. San Antonio Police Chief Owen Kilday openly justified the crackdown, declaring to the press that he “would not permit the reds to take part in the strike.” San Antonio elites maintained that the strike was an attempt to place the entire west side of San Antonio “under the red banner.”

The workers' response was equally forceful. Hundreds marched on the police station demanding Tenayuca's release. When she emerged from jail the next day, the workers elected San Antonio's most prominent communist organizer honorary strike captain by acclamation.

What followed was weeks of intensifying repression. Chief Kilday deployed over 250 police officers and firemen into the West Side, using tear gas, beatings, and mass arrest against picketers. Workers were charged with blocking sidewalks, loitering and disturbing the peace. The city jail, which critics took to calling the “black hole” of Texas, held over 1000 strikers over the course of the strike, some as young as 14. Inside the cells, workers were hosed down with cold water to break their spirits.

Organizers adapted. When picket lines were broken up for loitering, they devised rolling pickets, coordinated groups moving from plant to plant. When police targeted public property, they picketed from private lots adjacent to the factories, with the permission of homeowners.

All the forces of reaction in San Antonio united in an effort to crush the threat of the strike. The city's corrupt health department shut down CIO soup kitchens on spurious sanitary grounds. The archdiocese issued a statement defending the police beatings and condemning the strike leadership as communist. The Mexican Chamber of Commerce and the local LULAC chapter—representatives of the Mexican American aspiring petty bourgeoisie also joined in the smear campaign against the workers' movement.

Under pressure from the national CIO leadership, Tenayuca stepped back from the public face of the strike; the constant red-baiting had become a strategic liability. But in reality, she continued to run the operation: writing circulars and coordinating picket lines.

Victory, reversal, and legacy

Hearings sought by UCAPAWA president Donald Henderson before the Texas Industrial Commission gave workers a platform to testify publicly to the abuse they had endured. 14-year-old Dora Enriquez testified that she had been arrested and threatened if she returned to the picket line. 45-year-old Refugia Garcia testified that Chief Kilday had personally threatened to “split my head wide open.” The commission ultimately found that the civil rights of the striking workers had been fundamentally violated, though with no enforcement mechanism, Kilday and the bosses continued their campaign of terror.

Texas Governor James Allred eventually pushed both sides toward arbitration. On March 8, after nearly six weeks on strike, the pecan shellers returned to work pending a formal settlement. The arbitration board awarded formal union recognition and a wage increase to five-and-a-half cents per pound for pieces and six cents for halves. It was a real, if partial, victory: workers had forced the state and the bosses to respond to their demands and won.

The victory would be short-lived. The pecan operators mechanized their operations. Julius Seligsman shuttered his plants and reopened with a fraction of the workforce. Many of the workers who had fought so hard found themselves unemployed once more.

But the strike still left an enduring legacy in San Antonio and beyond. For nearly two months, over 10,000 of the most exploited workers in the country, overwhelmingly Chicana women, earning less than three dollars a week, had organized, resisted and fought back. They demonstrated that even under conditions of national oppression, violent repression and economic exploitation, the working class could fight their employers and win. That capacity had not developed spontaneously, but had been carefully built, year by year, through the patient organizing of the Workers Alliance and the militant minority of communists and labor leaders like Emma Tenayuca who led the workers in the struggle.

Today, the San Antonio pecan shellers’ strike remains a powerful reminder that the working class has never won anything without militant struggle. Faced with starvation wages, racist repression, police violence, and red-baiting, thousands of Chicano workers still organized and fought back. Their struggle shows us that militant organization, class solidarity, and communist leadership can transform workers economic grievances into collective power. At a time when workers across the country continue to face exploitation, union busting, and attacks on immigrants, the legacy of Emma Tenayuca and the pecan shellers remains not just a piece of history, but an example to follow.

#EmmaTenayuca #Labor #LaborHistory #SanAntonioTX #TX #N

Fort Worth, TX – In response to the murder of Emmit Elijah Mayo by the Fort Worth Police on May 16, National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, NAARPR-Dallas, organized a protest June 7 at the Fort Worth Police Department to demand justice for Mayo, accountability from the officers involved, and the immediate release of the unedited body cam footage.

Mayo, a musician, performed under the stage name 88Dub.

This demonstration followed a funeral service for Emmit Mayo that police had threatened to disrupt by arresting members of Mayo’s family during the procession, prompting the family to request NAARPR-Dallas’ presence as a deterrent. No arrests were made at the funeral.

Over 50 people crowded around the police station, making their demands as police within the station made mocking faces and gestures towards the crowd. While police watched from the station’s balcony, organizers led the protesters in chants shouting, “Jail all killer cops!” “Community control now!” and “Justice for 88Dub!”

Members of Emmit Mayo’s family took the opportunity to speak to the crowd and to the police onlookers about the truth of the situation. One family member stated, “It’s funny the kind of quality we can get from videos taken by drones off in faraway places, but when it comes to people being murdered in our community all we get is blurry and edited videos.”

A few hours into the action, several FWPD vehicles left the station’s parking lot in quick succession, prompting the crowd to gather around the exit and make their demands heard up close to the officers who had refused to acknowledge the protest.

After the action, FWPD officers followed three members of Emmit Mayo’s family to their homes and arrested them.

#FortWorthTX #TX #InJusticeSystem #KillerCops #NAARPRDFW