Minn. Somali Amazon workers fight speedup, discrimination

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018

East African workers, most originally from Somalia, employed at Amazon’s 20-football-field-long warehouse in Shakopee, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, are leading a fight against jacked-up packing quotas. They have forced the company to negotiate. Some 60 percent of Amazon’s warehouse…


‘Yellow vest’ protests force French gov’t to back down

French ‘deplorables’ demand more, want ‘whole baguette’
Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018
Protesters at Arc de Triomphe in Paris Dec. 1, before cop tear gas and water cannon attack.

PARIS — In face of sustained mass, popular mobilizations from rural areas as well as working-class suburbs, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Dec. 4 a six-month suspension of the proposed hike in car fuel taxes. These proposed taxes were…


Letters

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018

Septuagenarian isn’t the issue The article “Join Socialist Workers Party Campaigning in Working Class” in the Dec. 10 issue of the Militant  describes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as backing “Septuagenarian Nancy Pelosi” for speaker of the house, in a paragraph explaining why…


25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018

December 20, 1993 Fleshing out President Bill Clinton’s campaign to “end welfare as we know it,” the administration’s task force on welfare reform has prepared draft legislation that will force most recipients to work at low wages after two years.…


Castro: ‘Internationalism is paying our debt to humanity’

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018
Cuban and Angolan fighters celebrate 1983 battle in Cangamba, Angola, pushing back forces backed by apartheid South Africa and U.S. rulers. “This internationalist mission in Angola” Castro said, victorious in 1988, “had a very big impact on Africa,” helping lead to fall of the apartheid regime.

Below are excerpts from In Defense of Socialism by Fidel Castro. The book contains four speeches by the central leader of the revolution given around the 30th anniversary of the 1959 Cuban Revolution. These speeches were given at the high…


Florida victory boosts fight for ex-prisoners’ voting rights

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018
Oct. 30 rally in Florida for Amendment 4, which passed overwhelmingly, restored franchise to over a million ex-prisoners. Victory has spurred similar efforts in Kentucky, Iowa.

Working people across the country were inspired by the Nov. 6 voting rights victory in Florida when an amendment to the state constitution was passed overwhelmingly, restoring the franchise to workers released from prison after serving time on felony convictions. …


At G-20 US, China rulers reach truce in trade dispute

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, met over dinner after the G-20 summit ended in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 1. They agreed to a 90-day truce over imposing any new punitive tariffs on Chinese imports by the White…


Canadian nationalism, tariffs dead end for working farmers

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018
Farmers march in Montreal Nov. 18 to press government to impose protectionist measures to keep out farm imports. Reliance on the propertied rulers and tariffs benefits big capitalist farmers, leaving working farmers to be chewed up by the capitalist rents and mortgages system.

MONTREAL — Should working farmers rely on the capitalist government to enact protectionist tariffs to defend their class interests?  This question was posed by the nationalist and protectionist political framework of the demonstration of 5,000 farmers and their supporters from…


Striking Kentucky concrete workers fight bosses’ ‘final offer’

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The strike by 45 concrete workers, members of Teamsters Local 89 here at Allied Ready Mix, remains strong after eight weeks of picketing. The drivers, mechanics, loader operators and batchmakers walked out Oct. 8, after rejecting the…


Canadian postal workers protest gov’t order to go back to work

Vol. 82/No. 47 - December 17, 2018
Members of Canadian Union of Postal Workers picket St. Laurent sorting plant near Montreal Oct. 30. The workers conducted rotating strikes for six weeks demanding increased hiring, end to forced overtime. Workers rallied Dec. 1 against government order to go back to work.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — After six weeks of rotating strike actions, the federal government Nov. 26 ordered some 50,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers back to work. The legislation rushed through made further strike action illegal.  “Christmas…