April 1, 1996
DAYTON, Ohio — The strike here by 2,700 workers began March 5 at two GM brake parts plants and has ground the auto giant’s production to a halt. As the walkout began to cause shortages in assembly plants, more than 166,000 have been idled and GM has shut down 26 of its 29 production factories in North America. This is the longest strike against a major U.S. auto maker since a two-month strike against GM in 1970.
Some 3,000 members of Local 696 of the United Auto Workers Union walked out over plans by GM to shift work out of the Dayton plants to lower cost suppliers, a practice called outsourcing. Health and safety issues and staffing levels that lead to overtime also play a role.
Big business is watching this strike carefully. The company has made it plain it intends to make as many workers as possible suffer to win this strike.
April 2, 1971
NEW YORK — Over 5,000 Puertorriqueños turned out in the South Bronx here to commemorate the thirty-fourth anniversary of the Ponce Massacre and to show solidarity with the independence movement in Puerto Rico, under attack by the right-wing assimilationist government.
Over 160 people have been arrested as a result of a campaign of repression and terror the colonial government, along with right-wing forces, has unleashed on the independence movement.
This follows the March 11 police attack on students at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras. The government has been trying to crush the independence and anti-Vietnam war movements. Adding fuel to the fire was the arrest of 14 independentistas for demonstrating in Culebra, an offshore island used for target practice by U.S. Navy planes and ships earlier this year.
March 30, 1946
In the wake of the appalling devastation wrought by World War II, famine and disease are killing millions of people throughout the world, and menacing millions more. The imperialist bandits plan to ruthlessly exploit this misery of the masses for their own reactionary ends.
There is ample evidence that food is again being used as a weapon against the working people of Europe and Asia. Food will once again be used to impose brutal dictatorships upon the workers and peasants of Europe.
American labor and farmer organizations must undertake collection of food and medical supplies to rush abroad immediately. It is necessary to make certain that relief supplies go to the workers and farmers and not to their enemies. This can only be guaranteed if control over the supplies remains in the hands of labor and farmer organizations.