New readers of Militant, books: Join SWP in campaigning!

Vol. 82/No. 48 - December 24, 2018

The Militant  welcomes the 1,400 new subscribers to the paper, and the workers, young people and others who bought 999 books on working-class politics by leaders of the Socialist Workers Party. This represents an advance for the reach of the…


Chicago charter teachers win strike for higher pay, smaller classes

Vol. 82/No. 48 - December 24, 2018
Teachers picket Acero charter schools in Chicago Dec. 4 during victorious five-day strike. Teachers won smaller class sizes, pay raises, better working conditions and prohibition against Acero giving out information on immigration status of students, teachers and families.

CHICAGO — Teachers and staff at Acero charter schools here celebrated a victory Dec. 9 after a five-day strike. “Today our students and families have won — bottom line,” Chicago Teachers Union staff member Andy Cooks told the gathering. A…


Workers face capitalist disdain in wake of wildfire social catastrophe

Vol. 82/No. 48 - December 24, 2018
SWP member Joel Britton, left, talks with carpenter Tony Worino in his RV at fire refugee center in Chico, Calif. “How do the rich control everything and manipulate us?” Worino asked.

CHICO, Calif. — Since firefighters declared the Camp Fire 100 percent contained, the extent of the social catastrophe that accompanied the blaze — a product of the dog-eat-dog capitalist profit system — is becoming clearer. The catastrophe took the lives…


Kaiser health care workers strike over heavy workload

Vol. 82/No. 48 - December 24, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO — Some 4,000 mental health care workers at Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics across California began a strike Dec. 10 that is set to last five days.  The National Union of Healthcare Workers and their supporters mounted a…


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…


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…


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 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…


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…


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. …