Workers Resistance

Author: Fight Back

  • May Day rally and union picket for fired workers in Asheville

    Asheville, NC – Two-dozen workers gathered in downtown Asheville for a rally on May 1 to celebrate International Workers Day. Community members and workers brought red flags and signs such as, “Thou shalt not steal. Stop wage theft now!” The Asheville May 1st Coalition organized the rally, bringing together organizers from Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Women Organizing to Resist and Defend, Veterans For Peace, Industrial Workers of the World, Asheville Homeless Network and Just Economics.

    “We want to educate people not only about the history of May Day and organizing but about the current efforts groups here are working on to improve life in Asheville for the working class. Unfortunately, we still lack the basics in Asheville, like the right to organize our workplaces without fear of retribution,” said Bella Jackson, an event organizer. “We lack a minimum wage standard that meets basic needs and our public transit does not yet adequately get people to and from their jobs,” she added.

    John Spitzberg, past president of the Asheville Veterans for Peace also spoke, “There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people while the 1% have all the good things of life. Between these two classes, a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class.” He urged activists to come to the National Veterans for Peace Convention being held July 23-24th in Asheville.

    The next day, union supporters rallied again to picket outside a local Asheville newspaper, the Mountain Xpress. Workers and reporters are organizing with Communications Workers of America to form a union. They hope to improve their working conditions and protect their rights on the job. Picketers demanded the paper rehire senior news reporter David Forbes and photographer Max Cooper, who were both fired for union activity.

    Reporter David Forbes, respected by workers for the coverage of the Sitel Union Organizing efforts commented in a blog managed by the workers, “Too often the belief in Asheville and elsewhere is that the people who make a city work are powerless, that we can lose our livelihoods due to asking basic questions or a boss’s bad mood. We often hear that’s ‘just the way it is’ and we shouldn’t hope for better. This is a lie. We have rights, and we have power. Things can change.”

    Picketers held signs, “Xpress workers deserve better!” and “Xpress needs a union!” Organizers with the local IBEW also came out in solidarity, holding “Union yes!” signs.

    The workers leaflet read, “Asheville weekly newspaper Mountain Xpress is supposed to serve the community and grassroots activism, but the actions of its top management show a determination to bust a union and ignore employees’ rights.”

    Mountain Xpress is facing several unfair labor practice charges as a result of their retaliation against the workers trying to form a union.

  • Welcome home Lynne Stewart!

    San José, CA – On Saturday, May 3rd, more than 60 people gathered at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in San José for a reception and program with Lynne Stewart organized by the South Bay Committee Against Political Repression with a generous donation of food for the reception from the National Lawyer’s Guild. The event raised more than $1100 to help with the health costs of Lynne Stewart who is battling cancer.

    Long-time attorney, Lynne Stewart, had been imprisoned on a bogus ‘material support’ for terrorism charge, for her work defending an Egyptian cleric.

    While the audience was gathering for the program, a taped message from Mumia Abu-Jamal was played, welcoming the release of Lynne Stewart. The program was opened by Masao Suzuki of the SBCAPR, who had been visited by the FBI in September 2010 at the same time that antiwar and international solidarity activists in the Midwest were being raided by the FBI and subpoenaed to a Federal Grand Jury. Karen Wald then read a solidarity statement from the Cuba 5 for Mumia and Stewart.

    The first speaker was Ramona Africa, coordinator of MOVE, whose headquarter was bombed by the Philadelphia police in 1985. The bombing killed 11 MOVE members, including five children, and burned down an entire block of about 60 homes. She spoke about the MOVE 9, who have been unjustly imprisoned since 1978 for the death of police officer.

    Jeff Mackler of he Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, spoke about Mumia who had been on death row from thirty years, before finally having the death sentence dropped in 2012. He said that the struggle to free Mumia continues. Ralph Pointer, Lynne Stewart’s husband, thanked the audience for their support in the struggle to free Lynne Stewart and then Dan Carpenter of the National Lawyer’s Guild introduced Lynne Stewart.

    Lynne Stewart said that coming home from prison was a victory, and that “I am going to keep fighting so others can go home.” She stated that she had a special concern for women prisoners, who often were separated from their children. Lynne Stewart also spoke out for political prisoners in the United States, and urged the audience to go to the website of the National Jericho Movement to learn more about how to support political prisoners in the United States.

    Following the speakers there was a question and answer period. Pam Africa of MOVE also came to the event but was not feeling up to speaking.

    The San José event was part of a Bay Area tour with events in San Francisco, Oakland, San Rafael, and Sacramento sponsored by the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee, and KPFA.

  • FBI questioning Chicago Palestinian community members

    Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR).

    Last week, two FBI agents entered the small business of a Palestinian American in Chicagoland and began asking him questions about community leader Hatem Abudayyeh (who is still under investigation as one of the Midwest 23 activists) and Rasmea Odeh, the community icon facing trial this June. The United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR) denounce this attempt at harassment and intimidation, and call on all organizers and activists around the country to remember: Don’t talk to the FBI!

    The person visited by the FBI last week refused to answer any questions about Abudayyeh or Odeh, and told the agents to call his attorney when they insisted on continuing their interrogation. Everyone has the right to remain silent, and should always utilize that right when visited by the FBI or other law enforcement agencies.

    If you are contacted by the FBI or other law enforcement, you should refuse to answer questions and IMMEDIATELY call the National Lawyers Guild Chicago hotline at 312-913-0039. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) also produces important “Know Your Rights” literature in English and Arabic.

    In addition, a dynamic new organization, Palestine Solidarity Legal Support, which focuses specifically on defending the rights of those active in Palestine support work, has published an important legal and tactical guide to Palestinian human rights advocacy in the U.S. Also, youth activists with the community-based Arab American Action Network in Chicago produced a popular video in 2012, reminding community members of their rights when approached by the FBI.

    These FBI visits and intimidation tactics are not new to the Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities, which have been the most affected by U.S. law enforcement’s techniques of widespread surveillance, entrapment and harassment, especially since 9/11. The Department of Justice will continue to come after those of us who are doing effective and impactful work, especially those of us in the Palestine support movement. But we have rights that must be known, learned and defended.

    Abudayyeh’s family home was raided by the FBI in September of 2010, and over 3 and a half years later, he still has not had all his property returned. The Midwest 23 were all subpoenaed to a federal grand jury, and all refused to testify, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas has repeatedly told Midwest 23 attorneys that the “investigation is ongoing.” CSFR activists have insisted throughout that the investigation is nothing but a “witch hunt,” an attempt by federal law enforcement to harass, intimidate and pressure anti-war and international solidarity activists into informing on friends and colleagues in the social justice movements. And this has proven to be the case, as no arrests or indictments have been made. Nevertheless, the Midwest 23 cannot put this chapter of their lives behind them, as it seems that the FBI is still sniffing around for information.

    The FBI and other federal and local law enforcement have used informants, surveillance, infiltration and other nefarious methods for decades in this country, targeting especially oppressed nationality groups like the Black and Chicano liberation movements, the Puerto Rican independence movement and the American Indian Movement. Recently, anti-war and anti-austerity activists like the Midwest 23, the NATO 5, Occupy and others have also come under attack, but the people facing some of the most vicious current state repression are Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, including Rasmea Odeh, who is facing 10 years in prison, revocation of her U.S. citizenship, and deportation for the ridiculous allegation that she lied on an immigration application two decades ago.

    You Have the Right to Remain Silent! Don’t Talk to the FBI! Palestine Support Work is Not a Crime!

  • Chicano community protests police checkpoint

    Los Angeles, CA – The Community Service Organization (CSO) and supporters held a protest Friday night, May 2, at a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) license/sobriety checkpoint located at a major intersection in the immigrant Mexican-American community of El Sereno.

    The organizers called this a repeat of the Battle of Puebla, where a ragtag Mexican army defeated the imperial French army in 1862. With volunteers and little resources the community took on the LAPD, informed the community, and protested what they see as a racist attack during Cinco de Mayo weekend.

    “Why during Cinco de Mayo and why in El Sereno?” organizers asked the LAPD. They pointed out that police continue to target Mexican/Chicano communities that have majority undocumented immigrants. With no driver’s licenses, the undocumented are easy prey for car confiscations.

    Car confiscation generates high revenues to local cities, as well as the Official Police Garage Association and their owners, who donate money for campaigns to local politicians for Los Angeles city council elections. For example Councilmember Mitch Englander has received large donations from Official Police Garage Association participants in the past. He in turn is a supporter of the Police Protective League, which also supports police checkpoints and car impounds. The protest was successful as the community came out and joined. Many drivers avoided the police trap, honked their car horns and waved in solidarity. The CSO and supporters will continue to protest any police checkpoint in our community.

  • Protest against joint U.S./Colombia military exercise in Arizona

    Tucson, AZ – 20 anti-war protesters confronted the arrival of Colombian Air Force and Special Forces troops at a U.S- led military exercise near Tucson, May 4. The anti-war activists chanted, “Stop the U.S.-funded war in Colombia!” and “50 years of war is enough!”

    The Colombian military came to practice under U.S. and NATO forces at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Outside the base, on a busy street corner, speakers denounced U.S. military intervention, the more than $8 billion spent by the U.S. government in repressing democracy and human rights, and the significance of the ongoing peace process between the revolutionary FARC and the Colombian government. In recent years Colombian officers, trained at Fort Benning in Georgia, were caught murdering civilian day laborers and claiming they were revolutionary fighters of the FARC. At least 1800 young men died this way.

    Tucson anti-war activist Jim Byrne shared, “We are here to denounce the collaboration of the NATO militaries during their training – for maintaining war and violence. We oppose the disgusting trend of the militarization of state and local police, who more and more look like professional armies. These police-armies are used against Chicano, African-American, and other oppressed people here, so that Arizona feels like the Terrordome!”

    Ana Maria Vasquez from Colombia explained, “I am 48 years old and I’ve never known peace in my country. We are all here today in solidarity to ensure the end of the war so that Colombians can live without war, murder, repression and fear.”

    Protesters vowed to continue their international solidarity with the Colombian people. Jim Byrne said, “We in the U.S. must develop alliances with all those seeking peace and justice for the people of Colombia. Labor unions like the United Steel Workers, faith organizations and social justice groups must demand the U.S. government stop financing, arming and supporting the militarization of Latin America and the repression of its peoples.”

    Video of the protest is being shared with unions, human rights organizations and the Colombian democratic movement Marcha Patriotica. The Alliance for Global Justice organized the protest to build solidarity between the U.S. and Colombian working people in struggling for peace and democracy. Tucson Students for a Democratic Society, Occupy Tucson and local churches endorsed the rally.

  • Ukraine fascists kill many, burn trade unions building in Odessa

    Thugs of the neo-Nazi political party Right Sector assaulted and set ablaze the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, Ukraine, May 2, murdering dozens and injuring over 200 anti-fascist, anti-coup protesters. The Right Sector is one of the fascist parties in the new, U.S.-backed coup government of Kiev. The vicious attack on the House of Trade Unions is only the most recent explosion of violence backed by the Kiev government.

    In the wake of the secession of Crimea and its induction into the Russian Federation following a popular referendum in March, the crisis in Ukraine is intensifying. The fascist-dominated junta in Kiev, backed by the U.S. and NATO, is cracking down on ‘separatist elements’ in the east and now the south of the deteriorating country.

    Within less than a month of Crimea’s secession, mass protests erupted in Eastern cities – Donetsk, Lugansk, Slavyansk and Kharkov and dozens of smaller towns. Occupying government, public and media buildings, the protesters declared their cities independent and issued a minimum demand: a referendum on the federalization of Ukraine in order to provide its heterogeneous population and ethnically varied regions choice in their official language and allegiance between Ukraine and Russia.

    The uprisings in the east come on the heels of the U.S.-backed Maidan coup in February that ousted the Yanukovich government. The Yanukovich government turned down an EU deal on the grounds that EU integration would bankrupt and destabilize Ukraine.

    The new coup government is comprised of several menacing parties that usurped power. The neo-Nazi Svoboda (Freedom) Party, which has promoted a campaign to “liquidate” the “Muscovites and Jewry” of Ukraine, holds key ministerial as well as judicial and military positions. The Right Sector party, whose leader has claimed that even Svoboda is “too liberal,” has claimed an equally significant number of military posts. The stubbornly right-wing Fatherland Party, led by the one of the most infamous, wealthiest and criminal oligarchs in Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, is the other newly ascended party in the regime. In tandem with the rise of these parties to power, the portrait of Stepan Bandera, the notorious Ukrainian Nazi-collaborator of World War II, is hanging in government buildings.

    Virulently anti-Russian, the new government is hitting hard with its first political offensives that target a vast portion of the Ukrainian population. Such ‘reforms’ included the proposed ban on any official use of the Russian language, which was formerly respected as the second official language of 13 out of 27 regions.

    The predominantly Russian east, frightened by the new coup government’s fascist ambitions, is being devastated by the austerity imposed by Kiev as a prerequisite measure to join the EU. Cut off from funding and suddenly faced with the menace of fascism, one city and region after another is rising in defiance of the right-wing government.

    Protesters in the east surged out in mass numbers to demonstrate against the new government. After demonstrations changed little and an offensive on the part of Kiev was impending, occupiers soon declared autonomy, formed self-defense teams, and looked to Russia for aid. The most famous instances include the declaration of People’s Republics in Donetsk and Lugansk and requests by newly appointed governors for Putin to intervene on Russians’ behalf. The Ukrainian left, including the Borotba Union and the Communist Party of Ukraine, are organizing and leading protests.

    In mid-April, the Kiev junta announced an ‘anti-terrorist’ and ‘anti-separatist’ military operation to clear protests in Eastern Ukraine by force. The Ukrainian military launched offensives against numerous eastern cities, deploying tanks, helicopters and heavily armed soldiers against protesters.

    While peaceful protesters initially greeted tanks, intense fighting has since broken out as Kiev makes it clear that it is determined to suppress any resistance to its new order. Although defections, mutinies and executions of soldiers who refuse to fire on protesters plague the Ukrainian army, the Kiev coup government offensive continues and the number of civilian deaths is rapidly increasing.

    With Ukraine facing civil war and the U.S. mobilizing and deploying troops throughout Eastern Europe, all progressive people should adamantly oppose U.S. intervention and declare: “Hands off Ukraine!”

  • Jacksonville postal workers protest Staples and privatization

    Jacksonville, FL – Dozens of union workers rallied outside of the Staples store on Beach Boulevard here to oppose the proposed privatization of key United States Postal Service (USPS) jobs.

    The protest was part of a nationwide day of action on April 24, called by the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the Mail Handlers Union, and National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA) supported it. Rallies, pickets and protests took place across the country at 50 locations in 27 states and drew out hundreds of workers, according to the APWU.

    The Jacksonville protest drew a sizable crowd from all four of the major unions that represent workers at the USPS. Several members of Teamsters Local 512 who work at UPS also came out to show their solidarity as fellow package handlers.

    “It’s important because the Postal Service employs a lot of workers,” said Doris Orr-Richardson, President of the APWU 7041 in Jacksonville. She said of the Staples move: “It’s a back door way to privatization by hiring minimum wage workers to do skilled labor. Each and every postal worker has to sign a ‘sanctity of the mail’ affidavit. Staples workers are told, ‘Here is the product, sell it.’”

    Waving signs that read, “Stop Staples,” and “U.S. mail, not for sale,” the protesters received honks and cheers of support from passing cars.

    Early in the rally, a Staples manager came outside to watch the protesters and photograph the event.

    The privatized outsourcing of major USPS functions to Staples is the latest in a long series of attacks by major corporations and monopoly banks on the publicly-owned postal service. Congressmembers and Senators from both the Republicans and the Democrats have pushed harmful legislation that puts undue financial burdens on the post office in order to make it fail. In 2006, a bipartisan Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which forced the USPS into a 75-year liability for retirement benefits. Although the Post Office is an incredibly efficient operation, this requirement has USPS overfunding retirement by paying for postal workers who have not even been born. No other federal agency is expected to fund their retirement plans 75 years in advance.

    The USPS administration handled this artificial crisis predictably by cutting over 200,000 postal jobs, closing down mail distribution centers and local post offices, and now contracting work out to non-union employers like Staples. The American Postal Workers Union is demanding that these new Staples mail centers be staffed with union postal workers and not minimum-wage retail workers.

    Earlier in 2014, International APWU President Mark Dimondstein announced a nationwide alliance between the APWU, the NALC, the Mail Handlers Union, and NRLCA. The focus of this historic unity between the four postal unions is to reverse cuts made to the USPS service, resist privatization attempts like Staples and work with the people to better the post office for workers and customers.

  • The real significance of Cinco de Mayo

    Tampa, FL – It is Cinco de Mayo, or May 5, but before you participate in “Cinco de Drink-o” and yell, “Happy Mexico Independence Day!” read this article.

    In the late 1960s the Chicano movement started to commemorate the battle of Puebla and held annual events to mark that history. Over the years the Cinco de Mayo events spread to the point that they reached the ‘mainstream.’ Then U.S. beer companies started to sponsor the Cinco de Mayo events. Eventually Cinco de Mayo increasingly lost its political significance and became a marketing tool for alcohol and other products.

    Looking back, it all started around 1862. Mexican President Benito Juárez, of indigenous, Oaxacan descent, declared Mexico would not pay any foreign debts for two years. France reacted by sending in troops to Mexico and demanding payment. What happened on May 5 was the Mexican victory in La Batalla de Puebla, or the Battle of Puebla. The battle was fought in the state of Puebla, Mexico and it was one of the few victories against the French. The poorly-equipped Mexican army defeated the powerful French army.

    Just under 15 years earlier, in 1848, Mexico was invaded by another foreign power – the United States. After supporting pro-slavery American settlers who broke Texas away from Mexico, the U.S. took one-third of the land of Mexico, which is now the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and even parts of Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.

    Once-Mexican people would now become trapped in a land that would not acknowledge them as Americans and one that Mexico would shun as non-Mexican. This was in 1848 – the U.S. war and takeover of what is now called the U.S. Southwest would become the homeland of the Chicano nation.

    In Mexico, the Battle of Puebla is still remembered and will forever remain a victory for the Mexican people. But Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated in Mexico the way it is commercially celebrated in the U.S. In the U.S., we see major companies and various types of businesses push for parties, drinking, new liquors and ‘Mexican’ memorabilia.

    The fact is, Cinco de Mayo is not mentioned in the U.S. as a day when Mexicans fought and won against foreign domination and in particular against France, which is still sending its troops to other countries. Never is the day called “La Batalla de Puebla,” and much less is it ever linked to the Chicano Nation and how it came to exist.

    Donning ‘sombreros’ and shaking maracas is just plain incorrect and should not be encouraged. As far as the Independence of Mexico goes, that day is the 16th of September. In 1810 when father Miguel Hidalgo gave the Grito de Dolores, a cry for independence from Spain. And while U.S. beer companies and Dos Equis will keep finding a new beer to market, we remind everyone Cinco de Mayo meant much more to the people than getting drunk. The fifth of May symbolized the day people united to fight back against colonization and against the pillaging of their people by a foreign occupier.

    Marisol Marquez is a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Marquez organizes in Tampa with a group called Raices En Tampa. If you wish to contact her, you can message her on her twitter account: twitter.com/elmaryelsol

  • Jacksonville young workers celebrate May Day

    Jacksonville, FL – Around 40 workers from Jacksonville attended a backyard May Day cookout to celebrate International Workers Day. The event, hosted by the newly-formed Young Workers of Jacksonville (YWJ), drew workers from across many industries and unions. A giant black-and-white banner welcomed them, “The future is ours, Young Workers fight back.”

    The atmosphere was alive with solidarity as workers discussed the problems at their workplaces over burgers and union beer. Union members from AFSCME, International Association of Machinists, Teamsters, American Federation of Government Employees, and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees came out, with many wearing their union shirts to the cookout. Non-union workers who also attended work in warehouses, floral design shops, cafes, retail outlets, call centers and fast food restaurants.

    The North Florida Central Labor Council (NFCLC) sponsored the event. Several veteran union members, including officers from the NFCLC, came out to show their support for the new generation of labor leaders. As darkness set in, speakers stood on chairs and addressed the lively crowd by torchlight.

    “We’re often told that if you’re a worker, you didn’t make it in life, like it’s something to be ashamed of,” said Richard Blake, a Teamster and an organizer for the YWJ. “But I’m here to tell you that I work alongside some of the greatest people of my generation. Many coworkers work two part-time jobs to take care of their families. Others work long hours at work and come home to take care of the kids. And then there are the people who work while going to school. These are good people, and we should honor them.”

    Other speeches talked about the importance of the workers’ struggle in the U.S.. “In the U.S., we’re told constantly that we live in a democracy and that every four years you get to go vote for who becomes president,” said Dave Schneider, a Teamster and organizer for the YWJ. “But I challenge each of you to think of this: for at least eight hours a day, we struggle under a vicious, ruthless tyranny of the bosses, the corporations and the banks. That’s not a democracy. It’s a workplace autocracy.”

    As the speeches came to a close, the crowd broke out into song. A chorus of voices belted out the lyrics to Solidarity Forever, a famous union song written for the Industrial Workers of the World in 1915. The song, which talks about capitalist exploitation and workers organizing to fight back, became an anthem for the labor movement in the U.S. Solidarity Forever is sung on picket lines across the country.

    The Young Workers of Jacksonville will hold its next general body meeting at 2:00 p.m. on, May 31 at the Communication Workers of America hall. To find more information, see the YWJ’s Facebook page or follow its twitter (@JaxYoungWorkers).

  • Florida students win vote on Tuition Equity

    Tallahassee, FL – Students achieved a victory late last week when the Florida Senate passed tuition equity. On May Day, 2014, the Florida Senate passed House Bill 851 mandating tuition waivers for undocumented students at public universities. Presently, Florida’s undocumented students pay out-of-state tuition, three times the in-state tuition rate. After attending and graduating from Florida high schools, many are denied equal access to higher education by the out-of-state tuition rate.

    Students rallied, prayed, and protested over the course of last week at the Florida Capitol, organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and members of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. Passing the bill hit a roadblock when some Republicans refused to move it out of committee or bring it to a floor vote. Students quickly mobilized, despite studying for final exams. Education For All activists arrived outside the Senate Chambers to sit-in and protest demanding Senate President Don Gaetz and the bill’s sponsor, Senator Latvala, put the bill onto the floor. With the constant presence of student organizers and press, the Senators passed H.B. 851 with a vote of 26 to 13. Now it is only a matter of days before Governor Rick Scott signs the bill into law.

    Students in Florida won this victory by organizing on their campuses, passing student government resolutions, meeting with university administrators and presidents to gain their public support, and rallying outside and speaking at university board meetings. Statewide organizing by immigrant rights and student groups built a broad movement that the politicians were forced to respond to. Many of the student groups work within the national Education For All campaign, which fights for tuition equity throughout the country.

    “I’m happy to announce that tuition equity has officially passed in the Florida Senate!” said Colleen Baublitz of SDS at a May Day event in Gainesville. “I also want to emphasize that the struggle does not end here. Students in Florida should keep fighting locally to protect these tuition waivers, and students in other states should fight for tuition equity, financial aid for undocumented students, and their admission into universities in states where it is still prohibited. The campaign is not over until equality for all immigrants is achieved.”