by Maya John The high profile case of sexual harassment reported from the workplace of a reputed media house initially triggered much discussion not only on this grave and rampant problem but particularly so on the issue of its redressal within the workplace. Before this case and the resulting discussions completely fade from public memory […]
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The 1960s and the New Left
This upcoming event might be of interest to supporters and friends of the Anticapitalist Initiative The 1960s and the New Left MEETING AND DISCUSSION Saturday 1 February 1:30pm – 5pm Room 153, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, WC1E 7HX Entrance: £3/£5 […]
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MP of the radical left in Argentina to speak in London
These upcoming meetings might be of interest to supporters and friends of the Anticapitalist Initiative Christian Castillo, recently elected deputy for Buenos Aires Province, will be speaking on the recent election campaign, waged by the Workers’ and Left Front (FIT) […]
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Corporate greed at the root of late UPS holiday deliveries
Jacksonville, FL – Many UPS customers woke up on Christmas morning with a few packages missing under the tree. On Dec. 25, UPS management admitted that they failed to deliver many packages to expectant customers due to a surge of late holiday orders. FedEx customers reported similar delays in package delivery.
Although UPS spokeswoman Natalie Black tried to place the blame for the service failure on high volume, the actual cause of the late deliveries is the greedy and exploitative policies of UPS management. November and December are the busiest and most profitable months for the giant logistics corporation, which reported fourth-quarter revenues of $14.57 billion in 2012 alone. This period, dubbed ‘peak season’ by the company, is also the time when UPS workers are asked to work the longest and most intense hours, with many drivers working 14-hour shifts.
During peak season, UPS hires a large seasonal workforce to deal with the higher volume. Most seasonal employees receive low pay and little to no training, while many permanent part-time employees work two or three jobs to make ends meet. During peak season, these part-time employees work shifts often over eight hours and many are forced to go without sleep to work their second job.
“The issue is instead of working people to the bone they should hire people full time,” said Cory Oliver, a UPS worker and member of Teamsters Local 344. “There are way too many people pulling 13 to 16 hour shifts when they’re only scheduled for 3.5 hours minimum. It creates dangerous working conditions when you’re working with a person that exhausted. They also rely on people who are months-in with no insurance or knowledge of their rights and take advantage.”
UPS delivers high profits to shareholders by keeping their labor costs low, which means low wages and long hours for workers. In southern states, like Florida, UPS hires temporary workers to deliver packages using unshielded golf carts. These workers are barely paid over minimum wage. UPS cuts corners by hiring these temporary workers off of the street, rather than adding more jobs and delivery routes for permanent employees during the holidays.
UPS’s long-established practice of inadequately staffing their operations seems to have finally caught up with them. Oliver put it this way: “So then they rely on drivers who don’t know their routes and seasonal loaders who don’t know where the boxes go, creating a back-up in service that then makes service failures for the company and customers’ gifts.”
Oliver continued, “We had one night where our entire belt, short of one load, was unable to scan [boxes]. So we were yelled at to work faster to pick up the company’s confusion of what boxes went where.”
On Dec. 26, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) released a statement about the massive service failure, saying, “For years, management has been boosting profits by shrinking the workforce – cutting and combining routes and eliminating full-time jobs inside on the package trucks and in the hubs. Excessive overtime, supervisors working and production harassment are no substitute for having enough Teamsters to get the job done right.”
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represent UPS workers across the country. According to Article 3, Section 7 of the National UPS Master Agreement, UPS “shall make every reasonable effort to maintain a sufficient workforce to staff its operations with bargaining unit employees.”
As of Dec. 27, UPS customers continued to report late deliveries.
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Dec 28: Little Hala And The Herods Of Israel
http://www.countercurrents.org/vlazna271213.htm Little Hala And The Herods Of Israel By Vacy Vlazna On Christmas Eve, while Christians knelt in churches to honour the birth of the eternal light of the Child of Bethlehem – the Child of peace, Israeli Herods struck Gaza and the life-light of little Hala haemorrhaged into eternal death. Hala Ahmed Abu Sbaikha, […]
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Report on workers’ strikes at Munjal Kiriu, Autofit factories in Gurgaon-Manesar
Report from: Workers Solidarity Center, Gurgaon Stand in Solidarity with Striking Workers at MUNJAL KIRIU factory in IMT Manesar and AUTOFIT factory in Dharuhera, Haryana ! Strike at Munjal Kiriu A strike of workers at MUNJAL KIRIU (Plot 92, Sector 4) automotive parts plant in IMT Manesar since 18th December 2013 has again openly questioned […]
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Report on workers’ strikes at Munjal Kiriu, Autofit factories in Gurgaon-Manesar
Report from: Workers Solidarity Center, Gurgaon Stand in Solidarity with Striking Workers at MUNJAL KIRIU factory in IMT Manesar and AUTOFIT factory in Dharuhera, Haryana ! Strike at Munjal Kiriu A strike of workers at MUNJAL KIRIU (Plot 92, Sector 4) automotive parts plant in IMT Manesar since 18th December 2013 has again openly questioned […]
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U.S. hails its efforts to destroy Iraqi weapons, yet promises to send more missiles
Washington D.C. – According to widespread media reports, the U.S. is sending Hellfire missiles and surveillance drones to the government of Iraq. The arms shipments come amidst growing turmoil in Iraq.
In an odd, but related, development, the U.S. State Department issued a statement Dec. 26 praising U.S. efforts to destroy conventional weapons in Iraq. The State Department describes the destroyed weapons as “ranging from pistols to 120mm mortars.” While some of the destroyed weapons are landmines, the State Department claimed credit for destroying “more than 135,430 pieces of unexploded ordnance and abandoned or otherwise at-risk munitions.”
Increased arms shipments and the efforts to destroy weapons come in the context of the weakening of Iraq’s central government as areas of the country slip beyond its control.
In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq, removed the independent government of Saddam Hussein from power, and established a puppet regime. Deeply unpopular, U.S. influence and that of its supporters is declining. The result is that more weapons are finding their way into the hands of opponents of Iraq’s regime. The U.S. is trying to combat them by speeding up arms shipments to Iraq’s central government.
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Statement condemning the political assassination of Telangana people’s leader Akula Bhoomaiah
Press Release by Revolutionary Democratic Front Condemn the political assassination of Telangana People’s Leader Akula Bhoomaiah! Boomaiah’s murder is a preplanned act of Seemandhra leaders and bureaucrats! Senior Telangana people’s leader Akula Bhoomaiah was brutally murdered by the state actors in Hyderabad on Tuesday night (24th of December) at 9:45 pm. Bhoomaiah was returning from […]
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120th Anniversary of Mao’s birth: Reprint of has statement in support of African American struggle
In honor of the 120th anniversary of Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong’s birth, Fight Back! is reprinting his April 16, 1968 statement in support of the struggle of the African American people.
Statement by Comrade Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in Support of the Afro-American Struggle Against Violent Repression
Some days ago, Martin Luther King, the Afro-American clergyman, was suddenly assassinated by the U.S. imperialists. Martin Luther King was an exponent of nonviolence. Nevertheless, the U.S. imperialists did not on that account show any tolerance toward him, but used counter-revolutionary violence and killed him in cold blood. This has taught the broad masses of the Black people in the United States a profound lesson. It has touched off a new storm in their struggle against violent repression sweeping well over a hundred cities in the United States, a storm such as has never taken place before in the history of that country. It shows that an extremely powerful revolutionary force is latent in the more than twenty million Black Americans.
The storm of Afro-American struggle taking place within the United States is a striking manifestation of the comprehensive political and economic crisis now gripping U.S. imperialism. It is dealing a telling blow to U.S. imperialism, which is beset with difficulties at home and abroad.
The Afro-American struggle is not only a struggle waged by the exploited and oppressed Black people for freedom and emancipation, it is also a new clarion call to all the exploited and oppressed people of the United States to fight against the barbarous rule of the monopoly capitalist class. It is a tremendous aid and inspiration to the struggle of the people throughout the world against U.S. imperialism and to the struggle of the Vietnamese people against U.S. imperialism. On behalf of the Chinese people, I hereby express resolute support for the just struggle of the Black people in the United States.
Racial discrimination in the United States is a product of the colonialist and imperialist system. The contradiction between the Black masses in the United States and the U.S. ruling circles is a class contradiction. Only by overthrowing the reactionary rule of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class and destroying the colonialist and imperialist system can the Black people in the United States win complete emancipation. The Black masses and the masses of white working people in the United States have common interests and common objectives to struggle for. Therefore, the Afro-American struggle is winning sympathy and support from increasing numbers of white working people and progressives in the United States. The struggle of the Black people in the United States is bound to merge with the American workers’ movement, and this will eventually end the criminal rule of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class.
In 1963, in the “Statement Supporting the Afro-Americans in Their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism,” I said that the “the evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the Black people.” I still maintain this view.
At present, the world revolution has entered a great new era. The struggle of the Black people in the United States for emancipation is a component part of the general struggle of all the people of the world against U.S. imperialism, a component part of the contemporary world revolution. I call on the workers, peasants, and revolutionary intellectuals of all countries and all who are willing to fight against U.S. imperialism to take action and extend strong support to the struggle of the Black people in the United States! People of the whole world, unite still more closely and launch a sustained and vigorous offensive against our common enemy, U.S. imperialism, and its accomplices! It can be said with certainty that the complete collapse of colonialism, imperialism, and all systems of exploitation, and the complete emancipation of all the oppressed peoples and nations of the world are not far off.