Myanmar garment workers strike against pay, benefit cuts

Vol. 85/No. 44 - November 29, 2021

Some 350 workers at the Gasan Apparel factory in Yangon went on strike Oct. 14 demanding that pay cuts and other reductions in their benefits be reversed. The Militant first heard about the strike from Khaing Zar Aung, president of…


Santa Fe bakery workers strike Jon Donaire over pay, conditions

Vol. 85/No. 43 - November 22, 2021
Members of Bakery Workers union Local 37 on strike against Jon Donaire Desserts in Santa Fe Springs, California, picket plant Nov. 7 in fight for $1 raise, respect and pensions.

SANTE FE SPRINGS, Calif. — Members of Local 37 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union at Jon Donaire went on strike here Nov. 3. Their chant is “Raise, respect and pension!” They make products under…


Ironworkers strike Erie Strayer over wages, attendance policy

Vol. 85/No. 43 - November 22, 2021

ERIE, Pa. — Forty-two members of Ironworkers Regional Shop Local 851 have been on strike at Erie Strayer here for over a month. After six months of negotiations went nowhere, workers walked off the job Oct. 4, rejecting the company’s…


Kaiser workers protest two-tier pay, demand more staff

Vol. 85/No. 42 - November 15, 2021
Kaiser health care workers rally in Pasadena, California, Oct. 30. “We are stretched far too thin,” said Jenny Wong Swanson, Kaiser health care workers rally in Pasadena, California, Oct. 30. “We are stretched far too thin,” said Jenny Wong Swanson, a shop steward of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals.

PASADENA, Calif. — Chanting, “From the desert to the Bay, equal work for equal pay,” over 1,000 nurses and other health care workers marched and rallied against cutbacks demanded by Kaiser hospital bosses at facilities in Hawaii, Oregon and Southern…


Barbers defeat boss move to cut pay at army bases

Vol. 85/No. 42 - November 15, 2021

“I’m glad to be back at work,” Mike Kates, a barber with 15 years at the Fort Lee U.S. Army base barbershop in central Virginia, told the Militant in a phone call Oct. 29. “After almost four months on strike,…


Clark shoe workers in UK enter fifth week of strike

Vol. 85/No. 42 - November 15, 2021

STREET, Somerset, England — “We’re not giving up, we’re keeping on,” said Trevor Stephens at the picket line Oct. 29 at Clarks shoes distribution center here, where workers have been on strike for four weeks. Stephens is the day-shift shop…


Scaffolders fight contractor for pay raise in UK

Vol. 85/No. 42 - November 15, 2021

SCUNTHORPE, England — Now in their fourth week on strike, 60 steelworks scaffolders are fighting to force contractor Actavo to pay the national rate of 17 pounds an hour ($23.63). Workers get only 15 pounds now, and have the same…


Stationary engineers strike 24 Kaiser hospitals in California

Vol. 85/No. 40 - November 1, 2021
Striking members of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 march on Kaiser headquarters in Oakland, Sept. 30, in fight for higher wages, new contract at 24 hospitals.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Some 700 members of Local 39 of the International Union of Operating Engineers continue to maintain picket lines around the clock at 24 Kaiser hospitals in Northern California. The strikers are demanding respect and a contract that…


Minnesota nurses strike 3 days over holiday pay, benefits

Vol. 85/No. 40 - November 1, 2021

PLYMOUTH, Minn. — Some 50 emergency room and urgent care nurses, members of the Minnesota Nurses Association, struck Allina WestHealth here Oct. 17-19 over holiday pay and benefits. The workers by a two-thirds majority had voted down the company’s most…


Child care worker walkouts spread across Quebec

Vol. 85/No. 40 - November 1, 2021

MONTREAL — Some 600 child care workers, members of the Confederation of Quebec Unions (CSQ), rallied in front of the Ministry of the Family here Oct. 12 demanding higher wages, better working conditions and an end to forced overtime. The…