Workers Issues in the US
UAW silent after Fiat Chrysler worker injured at Kokomo casting plant
By Shannon Jones, 8 September 2018
The injury of a worker this week at the Fiat Chrysler Kokomo Casting Plant underscores the seriousness of workers’ concerns over health and safety conditions.
Thousands of rank-and-file US Steel workers cast unanimous votes to strike
By Jessica Goldstein, 8 September 2018
Workers at US Steel mills in Indiana, Pennsylvania and other states voted unanimously to strike in order to oppose the steelmaker’s demands for historic givebacks.
A warning to the working class
Facebook’s partnership with the Atlantic Council
By Kevin Reed, 8 September 2018
The campaign against “fake news,” “election meddling” and “disinformation” is emerging as the integration of the social media monopolies with the US military-intelligence apparatus.
Reject the sellout in Seattle! For a statewide and national teachers strike!
By WSWS Teacher Newsletter, 8 September 2018
The WSWS Teacher Newsletter urges Seattle teachers meeting today to vote “no” and immediately constitute themselves as an independent rank-and-file committee to plan a serious struggle.
What is the Teamsters for a Democratic Union?
By Tom Mackaman, 8 September 2018
Since 1976 the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), long a faction in the union bureaucracy, has been trying to replace IBT officials with those it claims will be more accountable to the rank and file.
Striking Tacoma, Washington, teachers demand better pay, funding for education
By Kayla Costa, 7 September 2018
On Thursday, teachers in Tacoma joined thousands of striking teachers throughout the state of Washington as the unions work to contain and isolate the struggles in each district.
In wake of credit downgrade huge job cuts looming at Ford
By Shannon Jones, 7 September 2018
The downgrading of Ford credit to near junk status is a shot across the bow by Wall Street to pressure management to intensify its attacks on workers.
Tacoma teachers strike as walkouts spread across Washington
By Alec Andersen, 6 September 2018
School officials in three districts threatened disciplinary action against striking teachers while educators in Tacoma joined walkouts in 10 other districts Thursday.
Teamsters announces October 5 vote deadline
Vote “no” on the UPS-Teamsters sellout contract! Form rank-and-file committees to organize opposition!
By the WSWS UPS Workers Newsletter, 6 September 2018
On Tuesday, the Teamsters union announced that the contract vote will be counted on October 5, more than two months after the expiration of the current agreement.
BMW auto worker describes conditions at Spartanburg, South Carolina manufacturing plant
By Keisha Gibbs, 6 September 2018
A young worker at the giant BMW sport utility vehicle plant described oppressive conditions, including the widespread use of contract workers and the general neglect of safety.
Tacoma teachers vote to strike Thursday
Walkouts by Washington state educators spread
By Jerry White, 5 September 2018
More than 2,000 teachers in Tacoma voted overwhelmingly to strike as the struggle in Washington escalates, despite union efforts to prevent a statewide walkout.
Life under capitalism for an American youth
Injured Texas Wal-Mart worker describes how and why she switched to socialism
By Eric London, 5 September 2018
Ashley represents a new wave of workers who are not content with their oppression and are drawing broader political conclusions.
Seattle Education Association orders teachers to work without contract vote
By Kayla Costa and Alec Andersen, 4 September 2018
The move comes after teachers in Washington’s largest district voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike last week.
United Steelworkers union extends contract at ArcelorMittal and US Steel
By Jessica Goldstein, 4 September 2018
The USW has called for a strike vote at US Steel to let workers blow off steam while the union works behind the scenes to push through another sellout deal.
Labor Day 2018: The growth of the class struggle and the case for rank-and-file committees
By Jerry White, 3 September 2018
This year, Labor Day takes place amid a resurgence of class struggle in the US, bringing workers into direct conflict with the corporatist and anti-working class trade unions.
As union seeks to wrap up strikes, Washington teachers rally and call for statewide walkout
By Nancy Hanover, 3 September 2018
Educators demand statewide strike action in Washington state, while the union seeks to quash walkouts and prevent new ones.
“Amazon thinks I’m a piece of trash on the ground and they’ll walk all over me”
Amazon Nightmare: Grandmother injured on the job goes homeless, suffers pneumonia
By Eric London and Zac Corrigan, 3 September 2018
Carol's story exposes the nightmarish conditions and brutal exploitation that has fueled the growth of online retailers like Amazon.
Los Angeles teachers vote 98 percent for strike authorization
By Kimie Saito, 1 September 2018
For the first time in almost 30 years, Los Angeles teachers vote overwhelmingly for strike action.
Teamsters head to UPS workers: Don’t complain, creating new tiers is “what we’ve always done”
By Will Morrow, 1 September 2018
Teamsters lead “negotiator” Denis Taylor gave a full-throated defense of the pro-company contract in an online statement last weekend.
Trump threatens pay freeze for federal workers
By Harvey Simpkins, 1 September 2018
Trump announced plans to implement a pay freeze on the federal government’s two million employees next year if Congress fail to pass a budget in 2019.
“We have to stand up and show we are not going to take this anymore”
US Steel workers rally in Pittsburgh area
By our reporting team, 31 August 2018
Steelworkers rallying outside of the Clairton Works spoke to the WSWS about their determination to fight US Steel’s concession demands.
Steelmakers in US demand historic concessions as contracts for 31,000 workers set to expire
By Samuel Davidson, 31 August 2018
With US Steel and Arcelor demanding deep givebacks, the United Steelworkers union has made it clear it is opposed to any strike.
Foxconn dramatically alters plans for Wisconsin facility
By Jacob Crosse, 31 August 2018
A smaller, robotic-based factory will be built, swindling the working class of Wisconsin for billions of dollars.
Two construction workers killed in scaffolding collapse near Disney World
By Jessica Goldstein, 31 August 2018
What the official investigations will not expose is that the deaths of Bell and Zavala have a deeper cause: the profit interests of JW Marriott, DCS, and PCL.
Seattle teachers vote to authorize strike
By Kayla Costa, 30 August 2018
In a mass meeting Tuesday night, thousands of teachers voted to join ongoing strikes by educators across the state of Washington.
075 Foxconn changes plans for Wisconsin plant
29 August 2018
For a statewide strike in Washington to defend public education!
Build rank-and-file committees to unify educators, parents and students
By the WSWS Teacher Newsletter, 28 August 2018
To fight for better schools and living wages, teachers in Washington must break through the straitjacket imposed by the unions and Democratic Party and mobilize the broadest sections of the working class.
Five and one-half year sentence for ex-Fiat Chrysler executive Alphons Iacobelli
By Shannon Jones, 28 August 2018
In bribing officials of the United Auto Workers, the former Fiat Chrysler labor negotiator has insisted that he was carrying out management directives.
More Washington state teachers strike as unions seek to contain struggle
By Alec Andersen, 28 August 2018
On Monday, teachers in Vancouver, the state’s second-largest city, voted to authorize a strike if no deal is reached by the start of school on Wednesday.
Teachers across Washington state demand strike action and big pay increases
By Nancy Hanover, 27 August 2018
In their fight to reverse years of budget cuts, Washington teachers are giving voice to the anger and determination of educators and workers across the US.
“The Teamsters is not a voice for us”
UPS workers respond to Teamsters campaign of blackmail
By our reporters, 25 August 2018
UPS workers throughout the US continue to express opposition to the sellout deal that Teamsters officials and corporate management are trying to strong-arm them into ratifying.
Teachers across Washington state prepare to strike over wages and conditions
By Alec Andersen, 25 August 2018
The opposition of Washington teachers and support staff is a continuation of the teacher revolt that started at the beginning of 2018 and comes amid an upsurge of working class struggle.
“We need a united front of auto and UPS workers”
Autoworkers warn UPS workers: Don’t trust the union
By Will Morrow, 24 August 2018
An autoworker from Toledo, Ohio told us that “if UPS workers could find a way to break away from their union, the autoworkers would follow them.”
Seattle-area crane operators strike following rejection of sellout deal
By our reporter, 24 August 2018
Crane operators in western Washington state walked out Tuesday after voting down a deal negotiated by the operating engineers’ union that contained an inadequate wage increase.
The Teamsters/UPS conspiracy to slash workers’ health care
By Kayla Costa, 23 August 2018
The current effort of the Teamsters to push through a concessions contract follows a series of attacks on UPS workers, including a scheme adopted in 2013 to cut health care benefits.
Teamsters blackmails UPS workers: Strike and you will lose your health insurance
By Will Morrow, 22 August 2018
The Teamsters is threatening workers that they will lose their health benefits if they strike, and that the concessions contract backed by the union is the “best we could get.”
“The whole world is watching us”
Teamsters local meeting erupts in anger as union official calls UPS workers’ poverty wages “subjective”
By Norisa Diaz, 21 August 2018
Teamsters official Andy Marshall told the room of 100 UPS workers that “in a perfect world” workers would get what they wanted, but “when I was a kid, I wanted a pony.”
Texas firefighters denied workers compensation for cancer
By Todd Denton, 21 August 2018
More than 90 percent of firefighters in Texas are being refused medical coverage and paid sick leave for cancer caused by on-the-job toxic exposures.
Teacher hostility grows to Michigan Department of Education’s curriculum changes
By Walter Gilberti, 20 August 2018
The Michigan Department of Education has proposed new social studies standards which remove references to essential democratic rights and aim to censor the study of history.
Arbitration panel cuts real wages and health care benefits for Washington DC Metro workers
By Nick Barrickman, 20 August 2018
The amount awarded to the public employees averages to a yearly pay increase of little more than half the annual rate of inflation.
“A new organization would be able to unite us all”
UPS workers oppose isolation by Teamsters, call for united struggle with Amazon workers
By Evan Blake, 20 August 2018
The Teamsters union is opposed to any effort to connect the struggles of workers at UPS, Amazon and other logistics companies.
Sixty-one-year-old worker dies in horrific fall into vat of oil near Disney World
By Jessica Goldstein, 18 August 2018
John Korody was killed shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning when he slipped on a grate and fell into a vat of oil.
Late Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne lied to federal investigators about gift to UAW official
By Marcus Day, 17 August 2018
The latest revelation of bribery in the UAW corruption scandal follows Monday’s statement by lawyers for an indicted Chrysler executive that the conspiracy “started long before” 2009.
UAW bribery predated 2009, lawyer for former Fiat Chrysler executive tells court
By Shannon Jones, 15 August 2018
In a sentencing memorandum, the lawyer for Alphons Iacobelli asserted that the bribery of UAW officials dates back “many years” earlier than has so far been charged by federal prosecutors, and involves many more officials.
Puerto Rican teachers’ anger builds against privatization, firings and lack of pay raises
By Shelley Connor, 14 August 2018
Teachers have had no pay raises in the past 10 years, classes are overcrowded and hundreds of teachers are starting the school year with no knowledge of where they will be placed.
Break the UPS-Teamsters conspiracy! Mobilize opposition to the sellout contract!
By the WSWS UPS Workers Newsletter, 14 August 2018
The Teamsters union is keeping workers totally in the dark, five days after its endorsement of the cost-cutting contract.
500 Trane Co. workers strike in La Crosse, Wisconsin
By Michael Walters and George Gallanis, 14 August 2018
The strike at Trane is in danger of being smothered by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Allentown, Pennsylvania credit union employees strike over wages and health care
By Samuel Davidson, 14 August 2018
Employees of People First Federal Credit Union went on strike against the company’s demand to shift health care costs onto the backs of already low paid employees.
UPS pays out $700 million to stockholders: An object lesson in the operation of capitalism
By Will Morrow, 13 August 2018
UPS announced its corporate handout the same day that the Teamsters national conference voted to endorse contracts for UPS workers that enforce poverty-level wages and introduce major new concessions.
“We need joint strike action, nationwide!”
Autoworkers call for united struggle with UPS workers against low-pay and part-time jobs
By Tim Rivers, 13 August 2018
Autoworkers expressed their support for the widespread opposition among UPS workers to the sellout contracts agreed to last Thursday by a national meeting of Teamsters officials.
Fifteen workers hospitalized after explosion at US Steel mill south of Detroit
By Jessica Goldstein, 13 August 2018
According to local news reports, workers initially refused a supervisor’s directive to clean out a dust separator, warning that it posed a safety issue.
Coca-Cola workers in Alabama on strike for better wages, health insurance
By Shelley Connor, 13 August 2018
The Teamsters union is determined to prevent the Coca Cola United workers from joining their struggle with that of UPS workers and the working class more generally.
“We are underpaid slaves”
Growing opposition among UPS workers as Teamsters conference endorses sellout contracts
By Kayla Costa, 11 August 2018
UPS management responded to the Teamsters executives vote by gloating that the contract will provide “greater flexibility” and help “address challenges from competitors.”
Amazon worker Shannon Allen opposes censorship of her video statement by Teamsters-linked Facebook page
By Will Morrow, 11 August 2018
Shannon said the censorship of her video showed that the Teamsters union is fearful of workers from Amazon and UPS forming rank-and-file committees and linking up their struggles.
Mass exodus of South Carolina teachers continues
By Hiram Lee, 11 August 2018
As the 2018-2019 school year begins, South Carolina will likely face an even greater shortage of teachers than in previous years.
Missouri referendum vote kills “right-to-work” law
By Patrick Martin, 11 August 2018
The more than two-to-one margin of the vote surprised union officials and shocked the Republican right.
Teamsters for a Democratic Union-linked Facebook page censors Amazon worker’s video calling for a united struggle with UPS workers
By Will Morrow, 10 August 2018
The Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a dissident faction of the union apparatus, is terrified of Amazon and UPS workers linking up in a common struggle.
Sixty-three-year-old pipeline worker killed in blast in Texas
By Jessica Goldstein, 10 August 2018
Bud Taylor, a 63-year-old pipeline worker, was killed in a natural gas pipeline blast in Texas that left six others seriously injured.
The fight to defend jobs and the lessons of the 1972 Lordstown strike
By Carl Bronski, 8 August 2018
An examination of the strike at Lordstown in 1972 sheds further light on how the union has acted, alongside management, to suppress the strivings of workers for decent jobs and conditions.
Arizona teachers return to classrooms with limited gains and broken promises
By Nancy Hanover, 8 August 2018
In the aftermath of the largest statewide walkout last spring, Arizona teachers are still facing a battle for decent wages and education funding.
“The UAW cannot be trusted”
Kokomo Fiat Chrysler workers kept in dark by UAW following strike vote
By Shannon Jones, 4 August 2018
The UAW local is seeking to prevent a struggle over accumulated grievances and deteriorating conditions.
Washington, D.C. metro union seeks to bury members’ strike vote
By Nick Barrickman, 2 August 2018
After an overwhelming vote by its members to strike in July, ATU Local 689, with a membership of over 8,000 public transit workers, has sought to drag out discussions between it and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
UK Parliament “fake news” report demands sweeping internet censorship
By Robert Stevens, 1 August 2018
The report calls for a crack down on individuals and political organisations, social media and alternative media sources that expose the plans of the imperialist powers.
Five months after strike, West Virginia teachers say “nothing has changed”
By Nancy Hanover, 31 July 2018
The unions double-crossed the West Virginia teachers, ending their struggle without securing funding for the PEIA, which underwrites their health insurance.
Tesla assembles cars in a tent amid investigations of workplace safety
By Toby Reese, 31 July 2018
The company continues to show a net loss despite massive outside investments as it attempts to work out assembly line problems amid reports of serious workplace safety violations.
Workers Struggles: The Americas
31 July 2018
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
As UPS, steel and telecom companies demand wage freezes
Workers in US face growing class battles
By Jerry White, 30 July 2018
Employers are not only refusing to relent on wages, they are doubling down and demanding new givebacks on healthcare, pensions and work rules.
Teamsters union blames opposition to sellout contract on “internet trolls”
By Will Morrow, 30 July 2018
The union’s campaign recalls the United Auto Workers’ denunciations of exposures of its 2015 sellout contract as “fake news.”
Mobilize the working class behind Indiana autoworkers
Kokomo Fiat Chrysler workers: Form a rank-and-file strike committee to fight for jobs and safety!
By the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter, 30 July 2018
If autoworkers are to prevent another sellout by the UAW, they must take control of the struggle into their own hands by electing rank-and-file strike committee.
UAW corruption scandal reaches the top
By Shannon Jones, 27 July 2018
The revelation that the just-retired UAW president authorized the illegal use of money from company-funded joint training centers demonstrates that the organization is engaged in a criminal conspiracy against auto workers.
Top aide to former UAW vice president makes plea deal
By Shannon Jones, 25 July 2018
Nancy Johnson pleaded guilty to charges related to the illegal payout of more than $1.5 million by Fiat Chrysler aimed at securing favorable contract terms from the United Auto Workers.
Verizon and CWA cut a deal to shift healthcare costs to workers
By our reporter, 25 July 2018
In an effort to prevent a repeat of the 2016 strike, the Communications Workers of America has agreed to a deal that will impose further healthcare givebacks.
Hospital workers go on strike in Rhode Island
By John Marion, 25 July 2018
Workers called the strike after rejecting a new contract by vote last week.
Near unanimous vote to strike by Fiat Chrysler workers in Kokomo, Indiana
By Marcus Day, 24 July 2018
Autoworkers are increasingly seeking to fight back against the deterioration of working conditions, in particular the atrocious treatment of temporary part-time (TPT) workers.
After overwhelming vote for strike action
Washington, D.C. transit union conspires with Metro officials while keeping members in the dark
By Nick Barrickman, 24 July 2018
Metro workers have been without a contract since 2016, when negotiations broke down over questions of pay cuts, job security and privatization of services.
1,700 Detroit janitors on poverty wages face a July 31 contract expiration
Workers Struggles: The Americas
24 July 2018
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Rates of black lung highest in 25 years among Appalachian coal miners
By Tom Hall, 23 July 2018
Decades after the deadly disease was nearly eradicated, more than one in five veteran coal miners now suffer from black lung disease.
Teamsters union blackmails UPS workers: Approve contract or your wages will be cut
By Will Morrow, 23 July 2018
Teamsters Local 647 president Brian Hammond sent a letter to UPS workers that wage increases will be diverted to their pensions if they fail to ratify the contract.
Boston rally supports locked-out National Grid workers
By Kate Randall and Steve Filips, 23 July 2018
Some 1,000 workers attended the rally in support of the locked-out workers whose struggle is being directed by the USW into futile appeals to big business politicians.
Democrats, Teamsters and UAW promote deal to continue robbing pensions
By Kayla Costa, 21 July 2018
The Butch-Lewis Act of 2017, backed by the Democrats and unions, only serves as a new way to cut pensions down to poverty levels.
UAW holds strike authorization vote at Fiat Chrysler’s Kokomo, Indiana transmission operations
By Shannon Jones, 21 July 2018
Workers have expressed a determination to fight deteriorating working conditions, including management’s attempt to force temporary part-time workers to perform overtime.
Seventeen dead in Missouri after duck boat sinks during thunderstorm
By Jacob Crosse, 21 July 2018
Multiple safety warnings were ignored for the sake of ticket sales.
Washington D.C. transit union calls for “cooling off period” after Metro workers overwhelmingly vote to strike
By Nick Barrickman, 21 July 2018
The struggle for decent pay, job protections and high quality benefits be removed from the hands of the ATU bureaucrats immediately.
“We should be governing ourselves in this fight”
UPS workers’ opposition grows to Teamsters sellout
By Will Morrow, 19 July 2018
The proposed deal maintains poverty level wages for part-time workers, introduces a new lower-paid “hybrid” worker, and does nothing to address unsafe working conditions.
American Federation of Teachers convention devoted to boosting Democratic Party candidates
By Nancy Hanover, 19 July 2018
In the aftermath of the biggest teachers’ strike wave in 40 years, the American Federation of Teachers bureaucracy is seeking to head off a militant movement and defend its interests by promoting the Democrats in the mid-term elections.
“Profit over people? The people make those profits possible”
UPS workers respond to surge in company stock following Teamsters’ sellout contract
By Kayla Costa, 18 July 2018
A driver with 12 years told the WSWS the union was “making deals with the company to suit them, not the members.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio agrees to contract with city’s largest union
By Ali Elhassan, 18 July 2018
The three-year deal, covering 100,000 workers, contains a paltry raise that will be paid for by increased out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Washington, D.C., metro workers vote overwhelmingly to authorize strike action
By Nick Barrickman, 18 July 2018
The “yes” vote by 8,000 Washington, D.C., transit workers sets the stage for a possible strike in the US capital, the first in 40 years, amid threats of jail time by the Democratic Party city administration.
Wall Street celebrates Teamsters deal with UPS
By Kayla Costa, 17 July 2018
UPS workers are in a direct fight with the Teamsters union, which is seeking to impose management’s dictates and defend the financial interests of the union executives.
Vermont Medical Center nurses fight low pay and understaffing
By Mike Ingram, 17 July 2018
Nurses at the University of Vermont Medical Center held a 48-hour strike last week after months of stalled negotiations for a new contract.
An interview with a part-time UPS worker
We all see “the union being paid out and working with the company”
By Will Morrow, 16 July 2018
Part-time workers make up more than two-thirds of United Parcel Service’s 230,000 employees and are paid as little as $10 per hour.
Ford contests token fines for death of electrician Ivan Bridgewater
By Jessica Goldstein, 16 July 2018
The Kentucky state OSHA office report found that Ivan Bridgewater "suffered crushed injuries to include rib fractures and hemorrhaging which killed him.”
Inflation cutting real wages of US workers
By Barry Grey, 14 July 2018
Wage stagnation amidst relatively low unemployment and accelerating economic growth is the outcome of a decades-long social counterrevolution, made possible by the trade unions’ suppression of the class struggle.
Widow of UAW vice president Holiefield, guilty of corruption, gets token sentence
By Shannon Jones, 14 July 2018
After pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegally diverted UAW-Chrysler training funds Monica Morgan faces just 18 months in jail, a $25,000 fine and one year supervised release.
“Now we’re all slaves, no matter what color you are”
UPS workers oppose sellout contract, warn of union fraud to pass agreement
By Kayla Costa, 14 July 2018
The union and company are seeking to impose a major new concession on workers after UPS posted $7.5 billion in profits in 2017.
As workers’ opposition grows
Teamsters union extends UPS contract deadline to impose sell-out deal
By Will Morrow, 13 July 2018
The union is seeking to delay any vote on the contract after more than 93 percent of UPS workers voted to authorize strike action last month.
One worker killed, one injured hours apart at Florida’s Walt Disney World
By Jessica Goldstein, 12 July 2018
Juan Alberto Ojeda, 33, was killed at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida in an accident with a Toro utility cart.
The class war over wages
By Eric London, 12 July 2018
In an article published Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal worries that “rising wages are beginning to eat into the profits of some US companies.”
The way forward for UPS workers
By Tom Hall, 10 July 2018
The World Socialist Web Site calls on UPS workers to form rank and file committees to mobilize all UPS workers, part-time and full-time, along with Amazon, FedEx, USPS and other sections of workers.
“Like you, I want justice for Jacoby!”
Workers honor young Ford worker who died at Detroit-area plant
10 July 2018
Fiat Chrysler workers in Ohio and Indiana sent messages to the family of Jacoby Hennings, who held a memorial picnic Sunday for the young autoworker who died last year.
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