Working-class solidarity is crucial to strengthen today’s union struggles and build a more powerful labor movement.
Flight attendants are urging fellow workers to join their picket lines at 30 airports worldwide Feb. 13 as part of the fight for new contracts where they’re paid for all the hours they work and win better wages, schedules and pensions. Bring your co-workers!
Nearly 200 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 390G have been on strike at International Flavors and Fragrances in Memphis, Tennessee, for over six months against bosses’ attempts to gut hard-won union gains. They’re fighting against elimination of paid lunch breaks, cuts to their retirement plan and boss demands to take away overtime pay after eight hours of work. They deserve all the support they can get.
Bosses at Rogers Sugar in Vancouver, British Columbia, tried to force a concession contract down workers’ throats. It includes 12-hour shifts, a seven-day workweek and no overtime pay. Members of the Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 8 said, “No!” and walked out. Working-class solidarity can be decisive to the outcome of their strike.
Gains won by strikes by autoworkers, actors, nurses and other unionists last year showed what’s possible when workers shut down production and won support.
Wherever unionists are standing up to employers’ attacks, they fight for all workers. Tens of millions face difficulties paying for rent, child care, transportation and other essentials needed to hold a family together, as the boss class drives to hold down wages and profit off our backs. They push unlivable work schedules, longer hours and speedups that threaten life and limb.
Building unions is the first step in overcoming the divisions that bosses foster, including pitting native-born workers against immigrants, to try to undermine working-class resistance.
Building more powerful unions is a crucial step on the road to building the leadership of a working-class movement that can fight to take political power into our own hands and end capitalist exploitation and oppression once and for all.
More labor struggles are on the horizon. Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association at ports on the East and Gulf Coasts and the Great Lakes have eight months left on their contract. Union leaders say they’re ready to call a strike if bosses try to force through introduction of automation to cut jobs and speed up work for those still working.
An injury to one is an injury to all! Spread the word about today’s union struggles! Join the flight attendants’ picket lines Feb. 13!