Tens of thousands of Argentine workers and youth protest brutal repression of homeless families
Tens of thousands of workers and youth mobilized in protest last Thursday, October 29, in many Argentine cities. The demonstrators were responding to the savage expulsion of 1,000 homeless families from the land they had occupied for 100 days in the early morning hours of that October 29 demanding decent housing.
The attack included the burning of precarious homes and possessions, the use of tear gas and the chasing-down of homeless men, women and children, in a vacant field known as Guernica where the homeless had set up camp in the General Perón sector of Buenos Aires Province.
Mexican teachers and normal students continue holding up freight train lines
As of last week, teachers and normal school students (teachers in training) continued to block rail lines in Michoacán, disrupting the Kansas City Southern Rail lines that transport goods north from the pacific coast Port of Lázaro Cárdenas and into the United States. The blockade impacted shipments of steel, car parts and parts for domestic appliances.
St. Joseph, Missouri container workers battle demands for excessive work shifts
Workers at Silgan Containers Corporation in St. Joseph, Missouri are entering their 16th week on strike against excessive work shifts. Members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air Rail and Transportation Workers Local 2 voted 109-1 back on July 18 to reject the company’s demand for contract language that could force workers to labor 18 days straight on 12-hour shifts.
Nova Scotia shipyard workers stop work over violation of COVID protocols
About ninety workers at the Irving Halifax Shipyard, members of Unifor, refused to work last Tuesday in a job action against the company’s failure to follow the proper COVID-19 Atlantic Provinces’ “bubble” protocols. The refusal to perform unsafe work was prompted by the company deployment of a contractor from Quebec who had not been quarantined for the requisite 14 days after entering the province of Nova Scotia. The contractor had interacted with workers throughout the previous day. Irving management had not notified workers that the contractor had bypassed quarantine. Virus infections in Quebec have skyrocketed over the past two weeks.