By ANN MONTAGUE Socialist Action has published several articles in recent issues exposing Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party. This included a look at past primary elections that were used to raise workers’ hopes that there would be a place for their aspirations within the Democratic Party. Another article looked at Sanders’ role in Congress…
By CARL SACK — MADISON, Wis. — As many here expected, so-called Right-To-Work legislation has come to Wisconsin. Republicans, who control both houses of the legislature, announced on Feb. 20 that they would seek to fast-track a Right-To-Work bill over the following two weeks. It passed both houses of the legislature, and Governor Scott Walker,…
By ANN MONTAGUE SALEM, Ore.—Hundreds of Oregonians came to Salem on Jan. 24 to rally and march and demand a statewide $15 minimum wage. Organized by labor and community groups, the event not only showcased how the movement has expanded outside of Portland to the rest of the state but also the growing passion to…
By ADAM RITSCHER — SUPERIOR, Wis. — Jan. 11 was the last day of work for 27 janitors and grounds keepers at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. They lost their jobs after a dramatic nine-month battle with university administrators. Like many colleges across the state, the University of Wisconsin-Superior is facing a major budget crisis. This…
By BILL ONASCH The annual ritual of President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress (SOTU), required by law and custom, comes without any mandate for action. It has evolved into Reality TV viewed by tens of millions—but with less lasting impact than the style decrees of Fashion Police. It is one component of…
By ANN MONTAGUE — PORTLAND, Ore. — On Dec. 4, the 2nd anniversary of the first Fast Food strikes—when 200 workers walked out—strike actions increased in number to include over 190 cities in the United States alone. Moreover, workers at convenience stores joined them. As we go to press on Dec. 4, reports indicate that home-care…
The web newsletter, “Anticapitalisme et Revolution,” which represents a current in the French New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), recently interviewed Socialist Action member Ann Montague in regard to the growing movement in the United States for a minimum wage of $15.. The interview appears below. The French-language version can be found at: http://anticapitalisme-et-revolution.blogspot.fr/2014/09/nous-sommes-un-mouvement-maintenant.html Anticapitalisme et Revolution:…
By MARTY GOODMAN New York’s self-proclaimed “progressive” mayor, Bill de Blasio, promised “respect” for the city’s 300,000 unionized public workers and has pledged to fight the city’s vast income inequality. What unions actually got was the same old hustle from the Democratic Party, as part of the city’s 1%. De Blasio, who took office in…
By DAVID BERNT The grassroots rank-and-file Vote No movement against the proposed UPS contract won a major victory when the contract was rejected in several regions of the U.S. The tentative agreement, which covers 235,000 Teamsters nationally, passed by a narrow margin, 53 to 47 percent. However, the Teamster (IBT) constitution requires all supplemental agreements to be…
By DAVID BERNT A groundswell of resistance has developed among rank-and-file workers to a proposed concessionary contract at shipping giant United Parcel Service. Details of the five-year tentative agreement, which covers 240,000 workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, were revealed in early May at a meeting of local union officers. The UPS contract…
By MARTY GOODMAN The following presentation was given in the labor workshop at the April 20 conference at Barnard College in New York City sponsored by the Eco-Socialist Contingent. The conference was endorsed by 29 organizations, including Socialist Action, and brought together 240 participants in lively debate and discussion concerning an effective strategy to combat…
By ANN MONTAGUE The economic burdens on women are triple—working in undervalued jobs, domestic work, and cutbacks in social services used by women. In the first place, women’s work continues to be undervalued and underpaid. Women are half the labor force and continue to earn 76 cents on the dollar earned by men. There remains…
By CHRISTINE MARIE This article is based on a portion of the resolution on the oppression of women, written by the author, that was approved by the 2012 Socialist Action convention. “Such demands [from the women’s liberation movement] go to the very heart of the specific oppression of women exercised through the family and strike…
By ANN MONTAGUE SEIU 503 announced it supports a living wage for its workers in Oregon, and is taking the issue to the bargaining table and possibly to the streets. While President Obama has proposed an increase in the Federal Minimum Wage to $9 an hour, SEIU doesn’t believe that is the solution. Oregon’s minimum…
By MARTY GOODMAN NEW YORK—Some 8800 school bus drivers and helpers (called “matrons”) returned to their jobs on Feb. 16 after losing a bitter month-long strike over the city’s cancellation of job security guarantees, known as Employee Protection Provisions (EPP). The EPP includes seniority-based hiring, training, health care, and benefits. Now when private bus companies,…
By DANIEL XAVIER During the course of the past two months, retail super-giant Walmart, notorious for its low wages, unfair labor practices, and union-busting agenda, faced the first strikes in the United States since the company’s founding in 1962. In September, warehouse workers contracted in Walmart’s supply chain walked off the job in Illinois and…
By ANDREW POLLACK From its beginning Occupy Wall Street has had a focus on debt—student, homeowner, health care, etc.—and has encouraged debt refusal and resistance. Part of the logic behind that focus is the tens of millions affected by debt, and their common interest in rejecting the misery imposed on them by the huge financial…
By DAVID BERNT CHICAGO—After a nine-day strike that electrified this city and won broad support from working people, the 26,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union returned, heads held high, to the classroom Sept. 19 after successfully pushing back against an all-out attack against their union. The teachers’ strike ended the day before by a vote…
