Telecom bosses on trial for driving workers to suicide

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019

A highly publicized two-month trial over charges top bosses at France’s former government telephone monopoly relentlessly drove dozens of workers to suicide by “moral harassment” in their push to cut the workforce and boost profits was closely followed by working…


Socialist Workers Party champions desegregation fight

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019

A brief, but acrimonious, exchange about busing for school desegregation between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden at the June 27 Democratic Party debate in Miami received lots of news coverage but had little substance.   Neither Harris nor Biden are…


Ruling is gain for working class

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019

The Lorain County jury ruling in favor of the Gibson family in their legal challenge to baseless “racism” smears by the administrators of Oberlin College is a political victory for the working class. It is a break with years of…


Debs: ‘Our hearts are with the Bolsheviki in Russia’

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019
Eugene V. Debs speaks in Canton, Ohio, against imperialist war, June 1918, for which he was sentenced to prison. Inset, campaign button for Debs 1920 Socialist Party campaign for president from prison. He got almost a million votes, highest socialist vote in U.S. history.

The selection below is from Eugene V. Debs Speaks, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for July. Debs was a pioneer socialist agitator, railroad union fighter and supporter of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. He was jailed by the…


17,000 workers strike Walmart in Chile over wages, job security

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019
Walmart workers picket in Santiago, Chile, July 10, part of strike by 17,000 members of SIL union for better wages, and against job cuts and speedup. Sign reads, “No more abuses.”

Some 17,000 unionized workers across Chile went on strike against Walmart July 10. It is “the largest private sector strike in decades” in the country, Telesur TV News reported.  The strike vote was organized June 25-27 by Sindicato Interempresa Líder…


London train cleaners join 48-hour work stoppage

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019

LONDON — Chanting, “Low pay, no way!” 40 members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers picketed the North Pole Hitachi rail depot in northwest London July 9 and 10. Some 60 union members across two shifts…


California grocery workers rally for wage raise, more work hours

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019

LOS ANGELES — Over 300 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union and some supporters rallied in front of a Ralphs grocery store here July 9. “We work at different companies but we’re all fighting for better wages…


25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019

July 25, 1994 GOLDFIELD, Iowa — At a hearing here, working farmers from central Iowa assailed the “mega” hog confinement facilities being built. They put forth proposals that would regulate them with stringent laws protecting air, soil, and water quality.…


Letters

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019

Gary Washington Some 100 people gathered July 12 at the Martin Street Church of God in Atlanta to honor the life of longtime Atlanta union and political activist Gary Washington, who died here July 3 at age 69. Washington, a…


Walmart’s attendance policy shows need for a union

Vol. 83/No. 27 - July 29, 2019

LOS ANGELES — Workers at Walmart stores across the U.S. were informed by the bosses in February that the company was implementing a new attendance policy. The giant retailer slashed from nine to five the number of days a worker can…