Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Bolivia - and Solidarity with Ahwazi Steelworkers
Report on a May 2018 delegation of US trade unionists, Black Lives Matter, and other social movement activists to trade unions in Korea, sponsored by US Labor Against the War and the Korean Trade Union Confederation.
Back in September, the International Association of Machinists and United Steelworkers ended their labor-management partnership with Harley-Davidson over the company’s plan to build a plant in Thailand. The partnership agreement, two decades old and praised as a model by some, is the latest iteration of the ‘jointness’ trend first pioneered by UAW and General Motors in the 1980s.
Puerto Rico has been hit by a triple disaster - Hurricane Maria; outrageous debt owed to vulture hedge funds; racist, colonial indifference by the Trump Administration. Puerto Ricans - on the island, and in the U.S. have called for the lifting of the Jones Act, as it applies to Puerto Rico; canceling the debt; and abolishing PROMESA. Yesterday a solidarity flight of medical and emergency organized by AFL-CIO unions brought needed supplies and aid workers to the island.
The signature dish at its restaurants is the famed Maryland-style crab cake, and its dining rooms feature models of antique fishing boats and romanticized images of the bay watermen culture that is fading fast. But organizers say it’s mostly fake—a cover story for a rapacious, globalized business that preys on poor Indonesian women to extract rich profits for its U.S. owners.
UE's General Executive Board denounced Trump's racist and jingoistic proposals for a renegotion of NAFTA and instead called for a new set of trade policies that prioritize workers common interests and relies on international solidarity as its cornerstone. Any renegotiation of NAFTA must be oriented around the improvement of workers’ lives and protection of the environment focused on those regions of the continent where conditions are the most desperate.
In the past 11 months, 151 workers and trade unionists have been arrested in Egypt and at least 2,691 have been fired taking legal strike actions. Repression of conflicts in the workplace has increased dramatically within the last few months, together with the worsening economic crisis. Recent economic and monetary policies have caused a dramatic deterioration in the living conditions of workers and the middle classes.
U.S. and Brazilian union activists joined May Day celebrations in São Paulo. More than 14.2 million Brazilians were without a job in March. With young workers and workers of color especially hard hit by rising unemployment and proposed legislation that would undermine fundamental worker rights, they are standing up for the their future by mobilizing in the streets, through their unions and other associations.
UAW Local 2865 took a brave stand for BDS -- but their decision was undemocratically overturned by the UAW International Executive Board. Help us send a strong message - that Jews and allies around the world stand for BDS, and with Local 2865. BDS - a time-honored, non-violent form of political protest, supported by millions around the world. The labor movement stood in solidarity with the people of South Africa, Local 2865 has bravely stood with the people of Palestine.
Following a day of massive walkouts at three logistics centers in Germany on Monday in which a record 1,800 people participated, Amazon workers continued their strikes in Leipzig and Bad Hersfeld. In Seattle, multiple unions turned out to protest Amazon in solidarity with their union brothers and sisters in Germany.
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