25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020

October 2, 1995 Capitalist politicians continue to advance their assault on the social wage of working people with the recent vote of the U.S. Senate to end guarantees of aid for those who land on the welfare rolls. With an…


Mass protests, labor actions say down with Belarus gov’t

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Over 100,000 people rally in Minsk, Belarus capital, Sept. 13 demanding President Lukashenko, who falsely claims he won Aug. 9 elections, resign to make way for “free and fair elections.”

Well over 100,000 people flooded the Belarusian capital Minsk demanding the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko Sept. 13, the fifth massive Sunday protest in a row. Simultaneous protests took place in 16 other cities. Ever since Lukashenko blatantly falsified the…


Ocasio-Cortez says ‘glam’ can improve your politics

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Women coal miners from U.S. visit British coalfields in 1987, to learn about miners’ resistance. As millions of jobs are erased today and wages and working conditions come under attack, the bosses of the cosmetics industry come in to try and boost profits off women’s insecurities.

“If I’m going to spend an hour in the morning doing my glam … it’s because I feel like it. … My body, my choice!” U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says, describing her daily beauty regimen in a recent film made…


SWP: Join the fight to defend jobs, wages, safety

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy speaks to Alexis Santiago Avila, at Farmer John packinghouse in Los Angeles Sept. 14. “People want their voices to be heard,” he said of demonstrations against cop brutality, but “violence in the protests is a problem.”

LOS ANGELES — How can we change worsening working conditions, combat cuts to our hours and deal with rising prices? These questions were at the center of discussions among meatpackers, retail workers and farmworkers when they met the Socialist Workers…


Univ. of Illinois workers strike over staffing, safety, higher pay

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Members of Illinois Nurses Association, above, and other hospital workers at University of Illinois Hospital systems are out on strike, demanding increased staffing and safer conditions.

CHICAGO — Members of the Illinois Nurses Association walked off the job at the University of Illinois Hospital and its clinics here Sept. 12, five days after their contract expired. The strike vote was 995-12. Their central demands are for…


Solidarity with Dominion grocery workers in Canada!

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Teamsters fighting for first contract picket DSI Tunneling in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 10 with IBEW Local 369 members who brought gift cards to help strikers. Solidarity is key to building unions.

Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party candidate for president, issued this statement Sept. 15. The strike being waged by retail workers at Dominion stores in Newfoundland, Canada, members of the Unifor union, against cuts in wages and full-time jobs is in…


End US gov’t crippling sanctions against NKorea!

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020

For years Washington’s global trade and banking sanctions against North Korea — continued even as President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un began a series of talks in 2018 — have increased shortages and worsened conditions facing…


Protest hits campus worker layoffs at San Francisco State

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO — Over 200 workers, students and supporters rallied at San Francisco State University here Sept. 12 to protest layoffs of 131 campus workers. Among those slated for layoff are maintenance workers who are members of the Teamsters, as…


Workers need a union in every workplace!

Jobs crisis is biggest threat facing working people today
Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020

More workers face rising hardship and uncertainty about the future today as high unemployment persists. The capitalist governments on all levels — federal, state and local — have taken few steps to alleviate, much less reverse, these conditions. The Socialist…


Bahrain joins UAE in signing recognition pact with Israel

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Jewish and Arab bus drivers demand better work conditions in Jerusalem in July. Recognition of Israel and a sovereign Palestinian state would open door to advancing workers’ interests.

Coming on the heels of last month’s pact where the governments of Israel and the United Arab Emirates formally recognized each other, the rulers in Bahrain announced they would also restore full diplomatic relations with Israel Sept. 11. Each step…