Orlando Barrantes. Photo courtesy of Orlando Barrantes Orlando Barrantes has dedicated his life to improving the conditions of poor and working people in Costa Rica. For many years he was the General Secretary of the National Council of Banana Workers (CONATRAB) and is currently a leader of the Movement of Workers and Campesinos (MTC). Now… Read more »
workers
Unions must join forces to defeat anti-labor lawsuit before US Supreme Court
Public sector unions face a threat to their existence from a case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court sometime in early 2016. As the day of decision approaches, union leaders seem to be resigned to watching the wrecking ball headed their way. However, rank-and-filers don’t care for this defeatist approach, and they are… Read more »
South African students stop fee hikes, fight for their future
Growing protests against the South African government of the African National Congress (ANC) have spread to campuses. In October 2015, thousands of college students nationwide rallied to stop planned tuition hikes of 10-12 percent. Students at nearly every major university shut down their schools. They engaged campus workers in the struggle and turned #feesmustfall into… Read more »
La criminalización de la protesta — Radicales y sindicalistas perseguidos en México y Costa Rica
El presidente Peña Nieto de México se jacta de sus políticas neoliberales de privatización de los recursos públicos, de disminuir los servicios sociales, y de introducir “reformas” educativas antisindicales por la fuerza. Su gobierno también ha sido expuesto por sus vínculos con los carteles de la droga y el asesinato y encarcelamiento de activistas políticos…. Read more »
The criminalization of protest — Radicals and unionists persecuted in Mexico and Costa Rica
President Peña Nieto of Mexico brags about his neoliberal policies to privatize public resources, cut social services, and force anti-union education “reforms.” His government has also been exposed for its ties to drug cartels and the killing and jailing of political activists. There’s a connection. Increasingly, Peña Nieto’s economic plans hinge on crushing all opposition… Read more »
Labor Weather Report Feb 2016 — A glance at how some workers and their unions are faring in the class struggle.
November 2015 — Korea attacks unions. On November 21, police raided the offices of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, seizing papers and computers. The government hopes to silence the KCTU as it leads protests to proposed new “labor reforms” that would gut workers’ rights and protections. Ongoing — Strikes soar in China. As the… Read more »
Mexican farmworkers take on growers and a corrupt union
Up and down the Pacific Coast, a largely indigenous workforce does the grueling labor to grow and harvest the fruits and vegetables that land on grocery store shelves. Now their relentless struggle against poverty wages and demeaning treatment is picking up speed like a freight train. In March of 2015, tens of thousands of farmworkers… Read more »
Karl Marx on the struggle for a shorter workday
The 8-hour day didn’t just happen.
The racist past and present of right-to-work leglislation
Slavery and Jim Crow paved the way for the misnamed, anti-union legislation.
Stopping Friedrichs
The current attack on organized labor.
